Eat Your Bananas

Have you ever had a muscle cramp that made you want to punt a small adorable animal? Me neither (you answered yes, didn't you? Terrible person)

At least, that was my answer until last week. It all happened on a Monday, as all terrible things do. I was swimming, and on my last lap when my calf (the muscle... not the baby cow I brought with me) seized up. So I had to finish the swim on my back like a floating appetizer for a shark.

Now, it still irks me that a calf cramp ruined my swim. It feels like you barely use that muscle when you're swimming. But, it was enough to leave me limping for a week, icing it, heating it, oiling it, keeping off of it... all the things. Meanwhile, what did my empathetic wife say?

"Eat a banana."

Like, seriously? This is the injury of a prime athlete. I've trained and overworked this muscle. It needs some serious TLC. No mere banana can solve this!

After a week of nursing my calf, it was almost back to normal, and that's when it happened. I woke up on Friday night with another epic calf cramp! Only this time, it was in my other leg. I got up, walked on it, shrugged it off, prayed it would go away, and went back to sleep. An hour later, I was up again, and the original calf was cramping again.

Saturday morning, I was back at square one. So, I sent an SOS text to a friend, and in five minutes they texted me all the vitamins to take to get on the mend. What vitamins, you ask? (I know my wife did)

Potassium. Yup. It really was as simple as eat a banana. My wife was glowing with vindication.

Here's my takeaway: the next time I think my problem requires a fancy diagnosis, or special treatment, to fix it try the simple things first. In faith, it's what we call the Sunday School answers. The basic stuff (read your Bible, pray, give, serve, community... rinse and repeat) you've been told from the beginning would help you live a better, abundant life.

Don't cheat the simple things. Eat your bananas.