I wrote this text on the 16th of January, 2026. It was a day when I realized I would have to take at least 2-3 weeks of break from walking and doing street photography. Why?
If you read yesterday’s post entitled “It happened for the first time,” my Dear Friend, undoubtedly, you know why. Yesterday, I got a gastrocnemius muscle injury. Today, I had an appointment with an orthopaedist. In two days, I will have an ultrasound scan. Only after this examination would I get to know if (like it happened in 2011 and 2016) I have a hematoma in my right calf. From the kind of pain I feel, I am almost 100% sure that it is a repetition of my injury from the past. I bet it is a hematoma. What are my perspectives for the upcoming 2-3 weeks of lying or sitting? I want to work, but I can easily imagine that I would work mainly remotely. This will give me the opportunity to rest on my couch more frequently, as sitting at the desk will become too tiring.
The doctor told me I should spare myself for 2-3 weeks.
Remembering that, in 2016, when I had a similar injury, I went to my office for over one week only to receive thrombosis in my right calf, which only extended my recovery time and my reconvalescence, I know that I must spare myself. What about rucking? After all, I remember writing three weeks ago, I considered increasing the weight of my backpack to 40 kg (88 lbs). Today, I think it won’t happen sooner than in March 2026. After all, after returning to walking, I won’t immediately return to rucking.
I will have to give myself time and space to do it.
Am I sad that I won’t walk and do street photography in the near future? Yes, I am. Still, I try not to overthink this topic, but focus on positive things: I will spend more time with my beloved Kamilka and our kitty Azorek, I will read more frequently, and perhaps I will work more on the www.adammazek.com blog. I simply have to accept what has happened and move on.
PS
While writing this text, I realized that the text “2-3 weeks of break from walking and doing street photography” I wrote on the day when I published the “To move means to be free” post. Isn’t it a twist of fate?
