Author Archives: David Truss

Bad back

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At the end of Grade 9 I was 4’11” and at the end of Grade 10 I was 5’6.5” tall. I grew 7.5” in 1 year, and during that growth spurt my back torqued a bit giving me mild scoliosis. That year, and for a bit longer, my heals hurt. They couldn’t handle the extra weight I put on. A couple years after that, I started having issues with my back.

But I was young and full of energy. I dealt with back pain by just putting up with it… until it crashed on me, then I was basically in survival mode, incapacitated. I’d sleep on the floor with my feet up on a pillow or coffee table, and I’d take a combination of pain killers and alcohol to get me through 2-4 days of agony before I could get myself back to ‘normal’… with that normal being consistent but manageable back pain.

When I met my wife, at 28 years old, I was at a point where I’d been coping with a high level of daily pain for almost 9 months. It was debilitating. My wife, who was just my girlfriend at the time kept recommending her physio, and I didn’t really want to try someone else, I was getting massages and seeing a chiropractor, and thought I was doing enough.

Then one day I was feeling the pain more than usual. I used to ride my bicycle to work, but my back was bad enough that I took the bus. It was an unusual day where I had to sit in an all day meeting and my back couldn’t handle sitting all day.

I was in agony by the time I got on the bus headed home, and after I got on the crowded bus an elderly lady got up from her seat and said something like, ‘I think you need this more than me’. I declined, thanking her and saying that the last thing I needed to do was sit. This exchange hit me hard… an old lady got up to offer me a seat. How bad must I look for this to have happened. That day I asked my wife for the number to her physio.

That decision changed my life considerably. The physio had me doing these tiny movements to push my hips over to the left and after 2 sessions with him, I woke up one morning and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I took a shower and I couldn’t shake this bizarre feeling. After the shower, I was shaving and it suddenly hit me… I wasn’t in pain.

In the 3 decades, since that experience, I’ve never had my back be as bad as that, but I’ve had some tough episodes. One involved a herniated disc in my neck that sent nerve pain down my left arm. Scroll back a few years on this blog and you will definitely hear me talking about it because it was really all I could think of for a few months.

And now again, for the past few months, I’ve been dealing with sciatic pain down my right leg. My new diagnosis: piriformis syndrome. Basically my butt muscle is squeezing my L5 sciatic nerve. I’m now waiting for an appointment with an anesthesiologist, who will likely give me a shot to ‘cool down’ the issue so that my physio work can actually teach me to keep that area more relaxed. But in the meantime, the pain is triggered, not by sitting, but rather by standing. Even a three minute shower is long enough to initiate the pain.

I’ve joked for years that my mind feels 20 years younger than my actual age, and my back feels 20 years older. A funny remark when I’m in my 30’s, which feels a bit scarier at 58. But if my back has taught me one thing over the past few decades it’s that if I don’t care for it well it will humble and age me.

And so, here I am in recovery mode again, in a slow but steady and dedicated way. I’m trying to stay positive, knowing that discipline and care will help me overcome my back challenges. No appointment scheduled yet with the anesthesiologist, I’m still waiting for the call… in a seated position as often as possible.

Intentionally disconnected

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Is it just me that has been intentionally disconnecting from the news and even social media around the war in the Middle East?

I truly understand my privilege in saying this, since I don’t have loved ones in jeopardy. And understand the desire of some people to know what’s going on because there are global ramifications. Yet I find myself unable to concern myself with the political posturing, the doublespeak, the justifications, and the outrage. I feel like I don’t have the mental capacity to either partially engage and feel insignificantly informed or to delve in and be fully informed… and ultimately powerless to do more than fill my brain with visions of destruction and violence.

Even though I usually choose to ignore the negativity of news, I still tend to keep myself updated on global issues and major news stories, but I’m struggling to engage right now. I find it too disheartening.

It makes me question the humanity of humans. That as a species we can construct such diametrically opposed ideologies; that we can live in societies that value greed over the welfare of the community; that we can choose leaders who do not care for the people that elected them into ‘service’… these are things I don’t understand. Or rather, things I don’t want to believe that humans could value more than peace, love, and kindness.

And so for now I lack the capacity to engage. It seems like a futile activity that will anger and upset me, with no gain. It is rare for me to actively choose to be uninformed, but right now is one of those times.

Robots, robots, everywhere

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In the world of robots two things are happening at lightning speed:

  1. Capabilities – A year ago humanoid robots were clunky, unstable, and for lack of a better word, robotic.
  2. Production – A year ago if a company could produce 5,000 robots in a year, they were industry leaders.

Have a look at this video and you’ll see just how much farther along robots and their production have advanced: ‘China’s New AI Robots Shock Everyone With Impossible Skills’

It might be cliche to say, but the future has arrived. First in factories, then in homes! If one thing is certain about our future it is that humanoid robots will be all around us. We’ll have to wait and see how this impacts work, chores, and even social interactions, because there isn’t going to time to think of long term implications before they arrive… everywhere very quickly.

Pushup update

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The goal was 3,000 pushups in February. My buddy Dave and I decided we’d do 120 a day over 25 of the month’s 28 days. However, when we were 15 days in and hadn’t missed a day, I upped the ante and said let’s do 3,500. Only a couple days later I missed my 120-a-day goal, and then missed it again the next 2 days as well. So I made up the deficit all in one day by doing 9 sets of 30.

Here is the final tally:

  1. 25+25+25+25+20 = 120
  2. 30+30+30+20+10 = 120
  3. 30+30+30+15+15 = 120
  4. 4*30 = 120
  5. 4*30 = 120
  6. 20+25+25+25+25 = 120
  7. 3*40 = 120
  8. 3*40 = 120
  9. 20+20+20+30+30 = 120
  10. 50+35+35 = 120
  11. 20+50+25+25 = 120
  12. 40+40+20+20 = 120
  13. 4*30 = 120
  14. 50+20+50 = 120
  15. 3*40 = 120
  16. 3*40 = 120
  17. 2*30 = 60
  18. 3*30 = 90
  19. 2*30 = 60
  20. 9*30 = 270
  21. 40+30+25+25 = 120
  22. 2*60 = 120
  23. 3*40 = 120
  24. 3*40 = 120
  25. 6*30 = 180
  26. 5*30 = 150
  27. 5*30 = 150
  28. 35+3*25+30 = 140

3,500 pushups in 28 days.

My goal this morning was to do 4 sets of 35 to get my last 140 done. (Since 28*120 is only 3,360, I had a few more than 120 to do the last few days). However, I did the first 35 in the gym after doing my warmup and stretching, then Dave and I did a heavy chest workout. I hit a PB (personal best) on bench press. Then we did heavy incline press, and finished with a superset of chest fly machine and push-ups, and the 3 sets of 25 that I did today were easily the hardest sets I did for the entire month. The last 30 were easy again, I only just did them with a nice long break after my workout.

It’s great to have small goals like this in addition to regular workouts. This is especially rewarding when I’ve had to put training for ‘Everesting the Crunch’ on hold due to sciatica pain in my leg. I’m doing my physio, taking painkillers, and following up with doctor visits, but standing for more than 3 minutes triggers the pain, and it’s hard to go through a day not standing. That said, pushups don’t require standing and so they have been a great goal, fully achieved with no pain.

I’m not sure what our next small goal will be, but if I don’t come up with one, I know my buddy Dave will.

Parents as Partners

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This week we had a student IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting with a family. It was a meeting that really could not have gone better. It involved both parents and an advocate, myself and three teachers. From start to finish the meeting was focused on one thing: how do we work together to provide the best possible environment for their child/our student to thrive?

When everyone has the same objective, it almost always makes a meeting go well. But sometimes it’s clear that it isn’t just the objectives that are similar but also the approach, and then it’s easy for strategies to be put into place and for everyone to come out of the meeting feeling like we truly are partners working together.

Way back in 2009-10, when I was living in China and working as a principal in a foreign national school, I shared a series in my school newsletters that I called ‘Parents as Partners’. While some of the links I shared no longer work, the messages still hold true.

I started the post saying this:

“I firmly believe that “It takes a community to raise a child” and so without cooperation and communication between a school and their parent community, ‘we’ cannot fully support our children and their learning. That said, I often wonder about how we can more meaningfully engage parents in a way that they want to be engaged.”

You can head to that post to see some of the ideas I shared… and you are welcome to use anything there for yourself, editing as you see fit.

Understanding my limits

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I’m dealing with a form of sciatica down my leg that is triggered from standing up. I spent the majority of my adult life avoiding sitting, and now it’s sitting that gives me relief. I’m also dealing with golfer’s elbow, which is easy to aggravate in the gym, but doesn’t usually bother me in my day-to-day activities.

I know the golfer’s elbow has lingered because I use it a bit too much in my workouts and I don’t always stop when it bugs me… in other words, I don’t really know my limits for what I can do with my elbow, until I do too much.

My leg is keeping me humble. I’m really being careful and that’s because I’m tired of this pain lingering. I’ve stopped walking on the treadmill and I ride a low seated stationary bike for my cardio, I am avoiding leg exercises for now, and I’m choosing to sit every chance I get. And of course I’m actually doing the physio exercises I’ve been given… every day!

Still, I’ve now gone to a doctor and I have painkillers to help me reduce the leg pain. My challenge now is to still understand my limits and not try to do too much just because the pain isn’t as bad. It’s hard to do this, despite the fact that I need to be smart and patient. I’m just stubborn, and always feel like limits need to be pushed all the time. I need to remember that there is only a small gap between stubborn and stupid.

Live a Lifetime in a Day

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I love this metaphor for how to live a meaningful life, “Live a lifetime in a day,” shared by Harvard physician Dr Aditi Nerurkar on The Diary of a CEO podcast. I took the liberty of emphasizing each of the 5 stages for easy reference:

“[w]hat creates a meaningful life… is to live a lifetime in a day.

And so that sounds like this big thing, but all it is, is that when you start your day, think about five things,

five things that you can do in your day to create an arc of a long and meaningful life in one day.

So what does that mean?

Spend a little bit of time in childhood.

So in wonder and play, even if it’s for a few minutes, do something that brings you joy for joy’s sake.

Spend a little bit of time in work.

We all know what that is, and for most of us, it’s a lot of time, but for, you know, it doesn’t have to be paid work, but just something that helps you feel a sense of productivity agency that I can do difficult things and I can overcome.

Spend a few minutes in solitude,

very important for all of the reasons that we’ve talked about today.

Spend some time in community,

so engaging with others, and then

spend some time in retirement or in reflection,

really taking stock of your day. So at the end of the day, when you’re going to bed and you’re putting your head on your pillow, you can say, okay, yes, I lived a meaningful life. I did all of those things.”

~ Dr Aditi Nerurkar on ‘The Diary of a CEO’ with Steven Bartlett: Brain Rot Emergency: These Internal Documents Prove They’re Controlling You!, Feb 15, 2026.

What a beautiful frame to start your day with. Usually I’ve got more reflection to contribute after I share something like this, but I really don’t this morning.

We’d all be a bit more happy, more appreciative of the life we live, if this was our daily goal.

Specialist appointment

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My hearing isn’t great. Compounding this is the fact that I have tinnitus. It used to be in one ear, now both. It used to be something I could ignore, now it’s ever-present.

I miss silence. I’ve probably mentioned that here a dozen times before, but I really miss it. I want to not just remember what silence was like but actually experience it again.

After months of waiting, this afternoon I have an appointment with an ear specialist. My expectations are low while my hopes are high, that I’ll get some relief… or at least advice to try different strategies to reduce the constant tones my ears feed my brain.

I’m not expecting silence, but I’m hoping that one day soon I’ll get some moments that are close to quiet, even if it’s temporary. I’ll take what I can get!

Working weekend

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I’m at school putting the final touches on a presentation I have to give tomorrow. The presentation is to the Ministry as part of a quality assurance process for provincial online schools. I find that working at my workstation with multiple displays makes this kind of work much easier than trying to do it at home.

The hard work is done, all I’m really doing to the presentation now is redacting personal identifiers of any students for privacy, and checking my math on the stats I’m sharing.

If you were to give me a grade on the prettiness of this presentation, I’d probably get a failing grade. A lot of the slides are dense with words and information. However, I’ve been assured by the ministry that it’s the story I’m telling that matters, not what the slides look like, and I think our team is telling a pretty compelling story about how we support a few of our most vulnerable kids, as examples of the supports we have in place.

That said, when telling a story, it’s easy to miss key elements or not recognize how they connect to more universal supports we offer. So, we will tell the stories, the slides will make the connections to evidence requested… and that means we’ve got some dense slides to share.

As an online vice principal and principal for the last 15+ years I’ve seen how online schools can be a great choice to get extra credits for a multitude of good reasons, and I’ve seen students come to us as a last resort when nothing else is working. For the students who come to us by choice, we do an amazing job getting them what they want. For those that come to us out of necessity as a last choice, we might be less successful statistically, but each of those statistics is a student, with their own stories and challenges, and we don’t forget that. These students take much more of our time, and resources, and we do everything we can to help them. It is these efforts I hope to share with the ministry tomorrow. And so the stories are what matter most… but the slides will (dense-as-they-are-with-information) demonstrate the evidence and details we are asked to provide.

More health data tracking

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A while ago my wife bought a Hume scale. You pull a handle with sensors up from the base, stand on the scale while holding the handle, and it gives health data far beyond what a simple weight scale does. That said, I’ve questioned the accuracy, and it definitely took some time to adjust, or should I say acclimate, to what it was reading about me.

The thing that really didn’t seem right at first was the heart rate, now with my Garmin watch to compare, I think it is about a heartbeat or two per minute above accurate, but that isn’t a drastic difference. The other thing I wasn’t sure about was body fat percentage, but I just did a scan at my gym that tends to be more accurate and it was pretty close there too.

One stat that all 3 sensors, the Hume, my watch, and this gym scale, all tell me seems to be accurate but the information is useless, and that’s BMI – Body Mass Index. The stats shared with me are 25.3, 26.0, and 25.2 BMI respectively and the Hume app says,

“25.3

High

A ratio of weight to height squared, widely used as a general health screening tool. It is generally regarded as an outdated measurement for health as it does not differentiate between muscle and fat. We have included it here for users which find it useful.

ⓘ Your rating is scored against medical and scientific benchmarks established for people your same age, sex at birth and height.”

And my watch bluntly says,

“Average BMI 26.0

Reducing your BMI to 21.9 can help lower your Fitness Age.

To help achieve this goal:

• Focus on both diet and exercise.

Cutting calories has been shown to be most effective for weight loss, but both regular exercise and calorie maintenance are important for keeping the weight off.”

However, further down in the description of BMI my watch also says,

“Keep in mind that BMI may not be a useful metric for everyone. Highly trained and muscular athletes, for example, may report high BMI numbers even though they are very fit.”

I don’t know if I’d call myself a ‘highly trained and muscular athlete’, but when my Hume app tells me that my body fat percentage is 14.8% and the fancy gym scale says it’s 14.6%, I’m definitely not cutting calories and trying to keep weight off… in fact I’m hoping to gain another 8-10 pounds this year.

All that said, I’ve learned that BMI is not a measure I plan on concerning myself with. And while it’s flattering to have such a low body fat percentage, I wouldn’t mind if that went up a bit while I focused on gaining more muscle. And so it’s good to have data to track but I’m not fixated on the numbers as much as the trends I’m seeing, as these numbers fluctuate.

I’ve learned that my diet does affect my weight and when I’m active I need to maintain my calories and especially my protein. I’ve learned that sleep affects my ‘health score’ and that sleep really is important for my strength, recovery, and overall health. And finally, as mentioned, trends matter more than concerning myself with daily numbers.

I’ve enjoyed tracking these and more data points on my Hume scale and Garmin watch, I do wish theses apps spoke to each other and shared data, but both put product loyalty (buy our watch AND our scale) over customer convenience. What I like is that I can see how my stats are trending, and while I do pay some attention to the numbers regularly, I’m not preoccupied or worried about them… which I think is healthy.