Jet lag showed up again. I woke at 4:30 and could not fall back asleep, so I leaned into it. Early mornings have their own rhythm. No noise, no interruptions, the sun slowly coming up. I got a lot of work done on personal projects before the kids even woke up.
Saturday energy. The kids are still on vacation, so we had a slow, lazy family breakfast. The recent trip clearly brought us closer. Seeing the kids mature through travel and shared experiences has been one of the quiet wins of this whole period.
At 10:00 I went to the gym. Back, biceps, and a bit of core. I ran into a neighbor who had ACL surgery last year. A short conversation, a few encouraging words. It helped more than he probably realized. Being able to train standing on two feet still feels like a privilege. I am tired from travel, but my routine is slowly reassembling itself.
Back home, the Saturday pace returned. In the afternoon I focused on flexion. Yesterday Cleyber was clearly not happy when I admitted I skipped it, and he was right. This is the priority now. I pushed through the pain again. It is hard, uncomfortable, mentally draining, but progress is visible. The knee gets painful and swollen, yet movement afterward feels easier and more fluid.
Later we dropped the kids at their grandparents and went out just the two of us. Drinks, wine, movies, friends. It has been almost a month since we had time alone together. That mattered. I skipped the second flexion session because of it, but this time, it felt like a fair trade.
Key Takeaways
- Early mornings are a powerful productivity window during recovery
- Flexion remains the hardest but most necessary work
- Pain and swelling do not always mean regression when movement improves
- Recovery still needs to coexist with relationships and real life