A Birthday Wish

A birthday wish and birthday cheer create smiles for another year. With friends by your side, we gather all night with hugs and cheers to start a great year. 

I had such a great birthday surrounded by so many great friends with lots of hugs and smiles. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life and I look forward to making this year a fantastic year! 

"A friend is someone who understand your past, believes in your future, and accepts you today just the way you are."

Acceptance

                   "Some people confuse acceptance with apathy but there's

all the difference in the world.  Apathy fails to distinguish

what can and cannot be helped; acceptance makes the

distinction.  Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action;

acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens."

-  Arthur Gordon

Acceptance is recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it, protest, or exit. It is a response to anything occurring in any moment of life. There, strength, peace and serenity are available when one stops struggling to resist, or hang on tightly to what is so in any given moment.

Apathy is lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and/or passion.


Sometimes life brings us curve balls that we can't dodge from. Now of course if we had a time machine maybe we could go back and do something differently. But as far as I know there is no time machine. And would we really want one if it did exist? This is life. People get hurt, sick, die and most of the time for an unknown reason. Things aren't really fair or even make since. People who get sick didn't do anything wrong most often to be put in that situation. It just happens.

I think this is why acceptance is so important. It will help us to make the life we have the happiest life we can. Really if you think about it our life doesn't have to be long to be great. It doesn't have to be full to be meaningful.

I definitely know what its like to struggle, to accept life for what it is. For how it is. I feel its about creating a balance between determination to never give up and acceptance. I think we can have them both at the same time. Just because you accept this moment for how it is doesn't mean you are not going to continue to move forward in your life. I also don't think of acceptance as giving up. Because giving up and doing nothing will not only keep you from moving forward in your life but it will always push you further back.

I know when I went to my doctors appointment yesterday he really said something that clicked with me. When I told him I refused to give up hope that things can be better he said that was good because if you give up hope you won't even try to get better anymore which means you will actually get worse. So just say you try to get better but you end up maintaining it still seems like a much better quality of life then getting worse. If you don't like your situation now you certainly won't like it then. If I sit at home on the couch and take pain pills my health will deteriorate. That is a fact. But if I keep pushing obviously within limits and those limits will be a learning lesson but if keep pushing I will continue to improve the quality of my life and happiness.

Just remember we all struggle, we all fall down and you are not alone. Remember things can be better even if it is just accepting in our mind that it is so.

New Year Better You

                              After

                          Before

Even though we don't need to wait until the new year to set goals and change our life sometimes we need something to help kick start us and I firmly believe a new year is a great way to get you on the right path to a newer and better you. 

Starting January 1st I am going to do the Whole 30 Diet again to get my new year off to a good start. I know from experience that healthy eating makes me feel incredible. And with my current injury preventing me from being able to workout at this time I know the one thing I can control is my diet. That is the one thing that can keep me feeling and looking good. Of course the holidays brings lots of temptation and challenges in this area so even I need to get back on track. 

Whole 30:

http://www.whole9life.com/2013/08/the-whole30-program/

I have so many goals I want to accomplish fitness wise but at this time none are possible. If this changes by the new year it will be the most exciting new year I have ever had but if it doesn't I will work with what I have. That's all we can do in life really. 

Water vs. Rock

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!"

— Peter Senge

This is really so true if you think about it. If the change in our life is our idea we are very happy with it aren't we? But what if the change is an obstacle we didn't choose and that is steering us away from the life we were planning. In some ways we can choose the direction of our life but sometimes we can't. Sometimes to get to that life we dreamed or try to get there we have to stop resisting. We have to move with change and not against it. Accepting things as they are. If you think of it like water. Water is one of the strongest things on earth if not the strongest. But its strength lies in its flexibility and persistence. And really that is how life is. We may not always get what we want right away. We may have to work for it. But if we stand firm and resist we may never be able to penetrate the obstacle we face but yet if we are flexible and move with it we may just be able to sneak through the cracks. Look at a boxer for instance, if the boxer stands firm he will get hit and risk defeat. But if he moves with the punches, flowing in between them he can get out of the way and in the end suffer less and stand longer through the fight. This task is not easy but with practice we will find less resistance and with that greater strength to endure what we must and cherish what we can. 

"Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds."

-  Dan Millman

Learning the hard way

"The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."

- Rocky Balboa

Many times in life we have to learn the hard way. When you were a kid and your mom told you not to touch the hot stove cause it would hurt did you believe her or did you have to try to out for yourself to see if it was true. Seems like unnecessary pain doesn't it? But if you never tried it out you may always have this curiosity about it. Do you ever have a gut feeling about something but you ignore it and find out it was right? How often does that gut feeling lie? But ultimately in life there is no manual. It's a series of trials and errors. Love and heartbreak. Pain and happiness. 

This week I learned a pretty big lesson. I didn't listen to my body once again. I thought I could push through. I thought I was strong enough to keep going. But really it turns out strength would of been letting go. It's funny how we feel giving up for the moment and saying no, shows we are weak, when really giving up and letting go portrays true strength. 

One week post injections - Prolotherapy series 1

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way." 

- Abraham Lincoln 

So I was told by my doctor that I could try to go for a walk a week after my injections in my back. Here we are one week later and I walk 1.2 miles. I even ventured out into the woods for the beginning of the walk which isn't surprising that I would start off the hardest way. Hills and uneven terrain had me thinking to myself here you go again getting too overzealous. But it was sure beautiful letting go of the fact that I was also turning into an ice cube. It was so worth it anyway.

But I walked very careful and slow and it all turned out ok. Of course I am a bit sore but no shooting pains which I consider a good sign. Slow but steady wins the race they say.

Today I started working on some laundry and doing a little more around the house. Now let's be real this girl is a clean freak and is getting very tired of not being able to clean the house well. But I also know that if I do too much I won't be much. Meaning I will never recover if I don't play the game right now. So I have been wearing my SI belt. I even started using this ridiculous move I was taught by a physical therapist called the golfers lift/squat. I remember when I was taught it I took it as a challenge of course. I showed him I could do a one legged squat without holding onto anything. Needless to say this is harder then is seems and I was never very good at one legged squats in the past. Previously I thought to myself I can't be caught picking things up like this in public. Am I really going to let my ego stop me from doing what I need to do. Maybe we should all be a little more ridiculous and vulnerable at times. But ultimately this move definitely seems to save your back in certain instances. Just make sure you don't kick anybody on your way down. ;)

http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/pain/back/how-to-prevent-back-pain8.htm

This whole process and recovery will be trial and error but hopefully my determination and conscious effort to continue moving forward toward better health will get me where I want to be.

Strong Body

Strong Mind

Prolotherapy Series 1

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."

-  Rumi

Last Wednesday November 27th I received my first series of injections for my prolotherapy treatments. Was definitely unsure of what to expect and I guess am still living in a world of unknown. Talk about feeling vulnerable. The unknown. It seems we always want to know what is going to happen. We want to know why, how, if and when. But the truth is this is not reality. I can say the injections definitely hurt but it's a hurt I can take. I don't think the saying no pain no gain applies to all situations but I do think it applies to some. Prolotherapy is supposed to stimulate an inflammatory response to create a natural healing process in the ligaments. It involved an injection of an irritate into the ligaments in my lower back and my si joint, iliolumbar ligaments, facets and surrounding attachments. I would say I must of had 15 or more injections all together. 

Now what happens...

Well I guess rest and at some point strengthing. It will take at least 4-6 weeks to go through the healing process and then on January 6th I get another series of injections. My treatment will include 3-6 series. So needless to say this will be a long recovery process. Am I going crazy right now trying to rest. You betcha! Why is it when you have all the time in the world nothing really sounds appealing. But sometimes you have to give a little now for what you want later.