Trudging

Learning from our family's recent happy little crisis.

Feb 14, 2024

Last Monday afternoon, this little prince joined our family.

But apparently he forgot that in this world of mortals we live by breathing, because he promptly popped a hole in his lung. Thankfully, after a few days in the ICU he figured things out, and the wonderful doctors and nurses of Tel Hashomer Hospital sent him on his way.

In the meanwhile, I managed to come down with my first bronchitis experience in a decade, followed by our two other kids, and then, finally, my wife.

By day 5 of this little guy’s life, the tables had turned: he was doing just dandy, while the rest of us were still sniffling along with fevers.

This past Shabbos, we rented an apartment on the 12th floor of one of these Ramat Gan towers around half a mile from the hospital. I got to march up and down lots of stairs to feed our new charge every three hours. Image Credit.

That was our family’s recent little crisis. Nothing terrible tragic; many people would pay for it a fortune. But putting things into perspective only goes so far. In real time, these were challenging days, and I often felt acutely distressed.

I’ve had ample opportunities to practice many of the healthy living strategies for times of crisis that I wrote about in my new book, Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness.

Some examples I’ve been working on:

Lots of short cry-prayers (Chapter 12)
Fasting every night (Chapter 13)
Staying physically active, going from here to there. (Chapter 14)
Listing my fears and gratitudes (Chapter 15).

Yet none of these things left me feeling particularly inspired, focused, or thriving.

And all my profound insights about the Land of Health completely slipped my mind while I was shuttling two sick kids to visit their sick mother but not their little sick brother because he was stuck inside a beeping box.

There’s nothing wrong with any of this. It’s exactly how crises work.

Crises are designed to snatch us out of the illusion of control over our lives, health, feelings, and time. Whether the crisis is big or small, we feel detached and distressed, unable to deal with more than the barest necessities.

Healthy living during crises isn’t in acting and feeling like regular, perhaps just a little busier. Rather, success means putting one step before the next, slowly trudging forward.

As I often explain in these pages, life lived well is a journey from here to there, that is the process of traveling with our bodies and souls to a destination that lies beyond our current selves.

This journey of life takes many forms.

Brisk walking is the centerpiece of life’s journey. Our bodies are healthy when we are Walkers; we’re spiritually healthy when we “walk in God’s ways” of balanced character traits.
Running (and other forms of vigorous exercise) are the “to” of “from here to there,” when we’re fully immersed in the process, and all distractions drop away.
Trudging is at the other end of the journey’s scale, when we’re stuck in the mud or snow of life, plodding along the best we can. We’ll often slip, get up, and continue. Two steps forward, one step back.

The image of trudging has always been close to my heart. The tenacity and consistency attract me more than inspired feats of courage that quickly flame out.

When my journey of life is over, I’d rather say I trudged through its many storms than sport a gold marathon medal that I won decades ago. I want to have showed up every day for life, giving my imperfect best to getting the next decision or action right.

That’s what I’ve been trying to do this past week, anyway.

Because of all the action, this month’s Healthy Jew program has been thrown a bit off. Now that things are coming back together, I’m planning these two exciting events:

Foraging Walk in Ramat Bet Shemesh on Election Day (Tuesday, February 27). The walk will have two parts: an easy walk in the local Yarmut Park, followed by an easy hike on a nearby hill that sports a Second Temple Period clay lamp factory and town. Each part costs 40 NIS for adults (18+), 20 NIS for kids (5+). Coming for the whole thing? Only 60 NIS. (Exact times TBA.)
Our Second Monthly Healthy Jew Workshop will be held online on Tuesday, March 5, at 8:30pm Israel time / 1:30pm EST. The topic is “What’s Real Food and Where to Find It.” More details coming soon. This workshop is for paid subscribers, so if you’re still on the free plan, now is a great time to upgrade.

Finally, if you haven’t yet ordered your copy of my new book, Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness, head over to Amazon, your local bookstore (in Israel), or respond to this email to pick up your copy in Ramat Bet Shemesh. Learn more about the book here.