I say a lot of things in this column and most of it assumes you are sitting upright on your own accord and engaging with these thoughts in a meaningful way without distraction, but I do very much realize how much of a gift that is.

I'm reminded of that by a simple back injury. Saturday, too ambitious, you know how it is.

My Monday usually ends in editing the week's column but sometimes I am starting from a blank screen and somehow produce a finished column all after dinner, before bedtime routine, not because I procrastinate—though that is true—but because I do my best work under the gun.

But tonight is different. I want to do anything but write a column. I want to rip my spine out of my back and ring it out, then go to town on my back muscles with a mallet.

And it made me think of you and wonder what pain you may be going through.

I do understand that some people are in pain for years and years, some physical, some emotional, some spiritual—and my regular life that this back injury interrupted is something you haven't experienced in decades.

You understand, of course, that I’m not naturally an empathetic person—I’m primarily a problem-solver and a thinker.

But it just ain’t human.

After tonight, after this timely reminder, I don’t want to miss opportunities to express things in a human way.

Life’s too short.

The world’s too big.

Problems are too common.

There will always be problems, always be tweaks to make or lessons to learn or habits to create.

But there will only be one today, one present moment like this one.

And if you have decided to pick up your self with all its pains and weaknesses and join me here, again, today, then I hope you receive a blessing today.

That’s it.

There aren’t any big epiphanies or clever sayings today. No goals to set or records to break.

There’s just us, here for a little break from the pace of life to stop and consider how blessed we are, how much we’ve come through, and who all helped us in our journeys.

I’m thankful for the back pain, I really am.

But I will be even more thankful when we can get back to normal.

It’s all part of the journey, and if we don’t stop to recalibrate from time to time, I don’t know why we pretend to keep going.