week 16: nice and steady

this week on the little dream farm

First things first! I’ve got something special for ONE of you!!

Remember how I mentioned us getting together in person for a weekend retreat on a farm? Well, several women reached out and said they’re SO IN and booked their flights and I reserved the farm house for us, so we are officially(!!!) meeting for a summer weekend retreat on a farm in Rhode Island and there is ONE spot left!

Email me at bergsteinsarah@gmail.com to claim the last spot—can’t wait for you to join us, we have such a fun getaway in the works!

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And now onto the Farm Note…

It’s been 17 weeks since I woke up in so much pain in my mid-back that I could hardly do the dishes, couldn’t wear a bra, had trouble standing for long periods of time, had constant pain and tightness in my chest, was having trouble sleeping without waking up from the pain, struggled to wash my hair, and couldn’t bend over to do chores like scooping litter boxes.

I’m telling you…I have a newfound appreciation for both my health, my body, and for people who struggle and live with chronic pain or suffer from serious injuries or illnesses or diseases where pain is an ongoing side effect.

It’s no joke, and the start of this year has made me think about and look at things—a lot of things in my life—in a totally new light.

Several years ago, Chris and I stopped training in the gym for vanity or for intensity, and we started thinking a lot more about longevity—incorporating consistent, daily movement, and using our workouts to keep ourselves strong and nimble, ideally for the rest of our (hopefully long and hopefully healthy) lives.

Our workouts used to be about explosive movements and the heaviest weights in order build strength and power.

Now, we think a lot more about wanting to feel as good as possible for as long as possible—our routines now are designed for function, mobility, stability, strength, stamina, and endurance.

I’ve made some huge strides in the last few weeks:

• Went on a run!

• Sleeping through the night!

• Wearing a bra all day! (this is such a funny win but oh my gosh that pain it would cause in my ribs was so unbearable for months)

• Doing all of my daily household tasks!

• Doing the night chores for all the animals! (Chris is still scooping poop and filling water buckets and moving hay bales—anything heavy like that I’m still avoiding completely)

• Did some light gardening this week!

• Back in the gym lifting weights!

• Had a few days where I hardly thought about my back, pain, or how I was feeling!

• Chris and I went on a day trip and I could carry my (light) purse all day long!

The doctors said I should be feeling fully recovered from the four bulging discs in my thoracic spine in six months to a year. So far, I’d say I’m doing pretty well on that trajectory.

I believe the biggest contributing factors to me feeling so much better in such a relatively short time is eating really well (food IS the medicine), I passed on all the drugs and shots they tried to give me, I’ve been walking daily to keep things moving, I have been hydrating to keep the discs happy, I’ve been drinking tons of homemade bone broth for the collagen and nutrients, I’ve been sleeping as much as I possibly can for recovery, and I’ve been showing up to my physical therapy like my life depends on it (because to me, it does!).

Things really shifted once I had a little bit of relief from the pain and could see the light, if you will. That helped me shift my mindset from worry and suffering and the loss of hope that comes with such tough news…to hope and determination and the will to do the work to heal.

People say mindset is half the battle…but I say mindset IS the battle. What we say to ourselves and what we allow to rattle around in our heads and how we think about things is a direct reflection of what we make manifest in our lives.

I feel like I’m the most qualified person to say that, because I’ve struggled in this area all my life and have had to work relentlessly to quiet that seemingly endless negative soundtrack in my mind and replace it with more loving, supportive, compassionate, productive self-talk. I like to think that should come naturally—and I admire the people in my life for which it does—but that wasn’t and hasn’t been my experience. I’d venture more people can relate to me than not, since this world is constantly reminding us in so many ways of our not-enoughness.

So that’s been my main focus these last four months—how to think and self-talk and act my way into a joyful, peaceful, and healthy way of being.

I’m thinking this will be my last dispatch on this topic. I’m taking things nice and steady, counting all my blessings, and carrying on with a newfound appreciation for my body and its miraculous ability to heal.

Thank you for listening and for being supportive and for reaching out and asking how I’m doing. Sharing this here in a few Farm Notes and talking about it regularly has helped wonders…and there’s been really important lessons in that for me about asking for help and allowing yourself to receive it.

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Saturday Adventure

Yesterday Chris and I hit the road before daylight and zoomed off to Providence and Newport, RI for the day. We had the BEST adventure. Let me sum it up in a few photos…

Started the day off having breakfast in downtown Providence, RI—the weather was so nice we got to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air, buds on the trees, and the energy in the city—Providence is easily becoming one of our favorite cities!

We spent forever walking around the Providence Athenaeum—a library founded in 1836 and filled with so many old, incredible books. We’ll need to make a few stops back here for sure. It’s such an amazing place to spend a few hours.

I’ll never forget the first time we drove into Providence last year and drove across this bridge—the city just has this energy about it that we both really love. Did you know that Providence is called The Creative Capital for its arts and culture and food scene?

We popped down to Newport, RI before the summer season sets in and the traffic and crowds get crazy. We walked around all the docks, strolled up and down the streets, wandered through neighborhoods and took in nice big whiffs of that salty water.

We finally got to dine Mario’s Restaurant in New Lebanon, MA on our drive home. We’ve either not been able to get a table or we’ve needed to get home to the animals and couldn’t make the timing work in the past. Last night we got a window to sit and enjoy a meal and we’ll be thinking about and dreaming of those dishes for weeks to come—we already can’t wait to go again!

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Coming up…

Stay tuned! There are so many wonderful fun events coming up in our area in the coming weeks and we’re planning to take part in as many of them as we can. As always, we’ll bring you along for the ride and share all the fun things we get into here in the Farm Note and on Instagram.

There’s so much fun stuff to look forward to!

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