Renewal

Any notions that I could one day return to my old, pre-cancer life and self, have now been permanently dashed. I really must face facts and admit, accept, fathom and, most importantly, accept that my life will never be the same again and I can't just sail through the day chasing rainbows and 'ideas' without paying serious attention to my body.

Of course, people have been telling me this for decades. 'You need to do more exercise... do some yoga... walk' - my friends advised, and admonished me. I have to say that I did take some of it on board: I went jogging with a friend and her dog in the 1970s (I hate jogging), learned yoga and did a lot of swimming in the 1980s and even got a personal trainer five years ago.

Unfortunately, I have always had a love-hate relationship with the gym. I find it almost as boring as jogging. I am a water baby and besides water sports my only passion used to be table tennis, but that's been a memory since I injured my ankle in 1996!

So, what to do? I bit the bullet and last week joined a gym with a pool.