Jen,
One day at a time is right! I hope the walking does help you heal.
You could add some upper-body strength training if you wanted. If I do
tons of light reps, I can get some cardio exercise from lifting as well,
although it doesn't take much exercise to get my heart into overdrive.
My work uses OR methods, and some people in my family work in
decision sciences, so I won't give you the glazed over look, but
I know what you mean about smalltalk taking a sudden dive. In my
opinion, OR gives some really unfortunate names to common and
useful tasks. The names are correct and precise and everything,
but totally opaque to typical person with, say, a bachelor's degree
in science or engineering. Maybe when you become a leader in
the field you can try to change that.
I went off my diet for a few days and I'm navigating the process
of getting back onto it, or onto some variant of it. The problem
is I'm not feeling very motivated. I guess it's a chance to prove
to myself how disciplined I can be.
One day at a time!
Lisa