I’ve always loved hiking and the outdoors, but finding time and energy to venture there definitely takes a back seat to finishing all necessary graduate school activities, making sure everything is taken care of for work, and of course the unrelenting Arizona heat when you DO end up having some free time in the summer. And that’s before you have to factor in the limitations imposed by fibromyalgia.

Despite worrying that I would not be able to finish the hike or that the exercise would trigger a flare, it was a wonderful experience, helped by the following:

• Travel as light as you can. My wonderful boyfriend Marc suggested we take only one bag with water and snacks for the both of us, and it made a big difference not to have to carry extra weight. Especially when going uphill.
• Get a good night’s rest prior. Make the odds in your favor by having a quiet evening and an early night before heading out to hike. Since having a good night’s sleep is hit or miss with fibromyalgia, consider rescheduling your hike if it’s a day where you just couldn’t get enough sleep.
• Take as many breaks as you need. I was worried that Marc would get frustrated if I stopped too often, but taking breaks to catch my breath and gently stretched allowed me to go further than I thought I would be able to.
• Listen to your body. If after catching your breath you feel you are starting to get worn out, turn back! Pushing through an upcoming bout of fibro-related tiredness is one of the best way to trigger a flare. Although, that said…
• There is some pain you’ll just have to push through. This may be an unpopular piece of advice but hear me out. There is some underlying fibro pain that just is going to be there regardless. When we started hiking my knees started aching within half a mile, and for some reason my wrists (???) started aching too. However they were the kind of dull, fibro-just-hates-me pains, so I decided to push through and enjoy my hike anyway. And I did.
• Enjoy the achievement. 4.5 miles is not that long for me compared to what I used to be able to do, but I managed it; I told fibro to go eff itself and had a wonderful time with Marc, enjoying the beauty of the Arizona desert. And it felt GOOD.
• Take the rest of the day off. I had grand plans of doing grad school work in the afternoon but my brain just wasn’t into it. Running errands (groceries) for the week was almost more than I could handle. It’s best to think of hiking as something that will take your whole day or even your whole weekend, that way, you don’t end up panicking because you’ve fallen behind for school or work.

I want to go for another hike soon, and perhaps go longer. This particular hike was a little challenging because there was quite a bit of climbing up and down and scrambling over rocks, but it makes the achievement even better! With fibromyalgia, it’s important to make all the little victories count.