2016 what a year of change. 

When I entered 2016 I was completely different that I am now but I have definately changed for the better. I am exiting 2016 extremely happy! 

Here is what I learned…both physically and mentally made some big changes 

1. I learned to move my hand, do a push up from my toes, run, skate and have become much stronger! 

2. I have learned to not care as much about what others think about me and have made my circle much smaller and I love it. 

3. I learned to lookout for number 1. You cannot be happy if you are always trying to make everyone else happy. You have to make yourself happy and when you can make yourself happy the people around you will be happy to. 
4. Keep your circle small. The happiest days of 2016 were spent with my closest and dearest friends. I exit 2016 with less friends than I started with but I am okay with that because the friends I leave 2016 with are the best a girl could ask for and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Friends really have become family. As for the friends I leave behind in 2016 I have come to terms with it and have decided that if I am not happy and spending more time pretending I’m someone I am not it’s not worth it. 

5. I have found mental and physical wellbeing. I started working out more regularly almost daily. Finding myself was the best thing I could have done in 2016. I have gotten myself in better shape. I have found self love. I look into a mirror and love myself not totally because of my weight loss but because I feel so much better starting my day off with a workout instead of multiple cups of coffee. 

6. I have experienced life and travelled. Watched some racing. Saw a concert. Camped. Hiked. Had a few too many drinks a couple of nights.  All in all the people I was with made those experiences ten times better!  

7. I am learning the life of an adult and not a student. I started this year off as a student upgrading my education and have ended it as a registered health care provider and couldn’t be prouder. It was one of my biggest accomplishments passing that exam. Transitioning into adulthood has had its ups and down. I have had a great job and a not so great job. I have missed school but I have not missed school it’s been interesting. 

8. I have learned that life is short and you must keep living it. We can’t spend all our time trying to please everyone else. We got to focus our energy on ourselves and those that truly matter. Healthy relationships are give and take not take take take! 

9. I have learned that it’s okay to make mistakes and fall down but only if you are willing to get back up and brush yourself off and keep going. Life is hard but you are stronger. 

10. I have learned to love and open myself up to people who deserve it. I am willing to take a leap and be the best I can be for those around me. I want to share my story and help to inspire those around me. I want to give back to those who have given me so much to get where I am today. 

2017 is going to be the best year yet I know it. 

Taking the small steps to love myself and get working out and giving myself a healthy life I have given myself a great life. The balance I have found between exercise and healthy eating with good times and nights out with the girls has made me happier than I could ever imagine. 

Picking 9 photos to sum up 2016 was extremely difficult. 

But at the end of the day the people who made this picture are the reason I have had such a great 2016 and sum up the best times. 

Girls nights. Park days. Weddings. Baseball. University. Country music. Racing. 

Happy new year everyone! Hope 2016 was great whether best year of your life or you learned important lessons take what it was and start 2017 on the right track. When the clock strikes 12 Saturday night you have 365 more days to write the next chapter in your life so do what makes you happy and spend time with those that you love. 

Have you ever just sat down and thought wow how the times have changed. How in the moment life doesn’t feel like it’s changing and then all of a sudden you sit down and life is completely different. 

If you have been following my journey you know that life can change in an instant. One minute you are rocking your internship and about to start a career and the next you are in a hospital bed reevaluating your life and what your purpose is.  Life has also changed for the better to one minute I am rolling along life and now I am living each and every moment with friends who have become family. 

This past week I hit some major goals. Some I never thought were even possible. I went skating for the first time in six years. For the first time since being told I’d never skate again. I have also had a small part of me not believe the doctors when they say that I mean I did keep my skates on a shelf for all these years. Stepping onto that ice was honestly one of the best moments I have ever experienced. High up there with learning to walk again and again and leaving the hospital. 

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Now the moral of the story is this. Life is going to happen whether you are ready for it or not. We also only get one life to live so why do anything that doesn’t make you happy. Invest in yourself. Don’t let anyone stop you from living your dreams. If you want to skate then work your butt off and reach those goals. You and only you are in control of what you do. You have to live for yourself and be happy. 

Never give up. Strive for greatnesss and greatness is where you will be. When you reach greatness and find happiness with yourself and where you are and where you are going everything else will fall into place. Whether that be relationships or a career or achieving those goals. Just be happy and do you! 

I can’t speak for you I can only speak on my experience but I can tell you when you make the mental shift to living a more positive life and loving yourself your dreams come true. I decided to put myself first and the results have been crazy. I skated. I lost 25lbs and 24 inches. I am happier. I have the best girls you could ask for. I have found a place where I belong and feel at home! 

So with New Years around the corner decide to love yourself and do something for you. Reach for your goals! 

Little #throwbackthursday picture for you. This is how far I have come on pure perserverence determination and the love and support of my family and friends! 

Merry Christmas everyone!! 

This week was an interesting one it flew by I didn’t even realize it was Friday! 

Anyways I learned an important lesson this week from one of my clients and I thought I would share it and my thoughts on it. 

He told me to stop waiting. He said he spent his entire life putting things off and putting things off until he retired and once he retired things piled up and health conditions set in and he did not get to do anything on his list. He told me if I can give you anything it’s this. Make sure you don’t wait. If you want to do something go and do it right now. Later isnt promised! 

He’s very right. Later doesn’t ever come so why do we constantly say “I’ll do it later…tomorrow I’ll start that program”. NO do it now!  I have been trying to do this more. Usually on Fridays I push my workout until after work so I can sleep in. But why wait when I wake up anyways. This morning I did my workout in the morning and now I don’t have to worry about fitting it in before the Christmas party fun tonight! 

A lady this morning reminded me again of this important message. The clients at one of the places I go for work were watching a documentary on China. She looked at me and said I’d have loved to go to china but every day something else happens. She said she regretted the time she wasted to live her days now wishing. 

We live in a society that loves to procrastinate and is constantly going fast to no where. We need to reconsider this and take the time to do what we want. I know I do not want to be living in a home regretting what I could have done. 

If you are sitting there thinking New Years is around the corner I’ll start my resolution then. Why wait!? Why not start right now. Get a two week jump start on everyone else waiting until January 1st. 

Give it a shot. Do what you want. Love yourself and treat yourself. You are number 1. 

Have you ever heard the saying “I’d rather have four quarters than one hundred pennies” Think about it. 

I have always been a pleaser. I have been the person that gives and gives and no matter how the other treated me I would still give them 110% of myself. Lately, I have come to realize that this is not the way to live. 

The number one person in your life is you! You need to be selfish you need to think about your happiness. We cannot give everyone 110% because there will be nothing left for ourselves. We will never be able to please everyone so why try?  

Here’s the thing I have come to learn and have recently been reminded of. If we take the time to love ourselves and look after ourselves we will have the energy to give 110% to those that deserve it. When we decide to keep positive people around and people who uplift you on your journey your mindset changes and you become happier. 

In life is it more important that you are happy or that everyone around you is happy? I hope you answered yourself. Do that workout, drink that glass of wine and do you! 

Being able to do this all comes with letting go of the negative. Keep your circle small. Keep those around you to a minimum. If you have a few gems your life will be so full you won’t need more! The smaller your circle the less stress you have on pleasing everyone. The less stress you have on fitting everyone into your schedule and the less you have to give. 

The circle you choose should be those who share the same values and joys in life that you do. The circle should support you and comfort you when you need. The circle should let you make mistakes without judgment and help you out after. The circle should always have your back and stand by you. 

Life isn’t about having the most friends this isn’t a popularity contest.  Life is about finding the few that will have your back and be there for you…the real you. No pretending because they have seen you at your best and have seen you at your worst! These friends may not be the friends you have known the longest but they are the ones that came in at the right time and never left! 

Keep your circle small and your heart full of love. Trust me it’s not worth it and we all need to reminded that sometimes friendships move on. Everyone comes into your life for a reason some just aren’t meant to stay but those that do! They are the real deal! 

Shout out to my circle! Love you girls to the moon and back! 

December 3rd: International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Why does this day mean something to me you might ask? Why should someone celebrate such a day?

Well let me share with you!

Being a person with a physical disability and struggles sometimes invisible to the eye has been a lot to deal with. Perceptions in society about people with disabilities are not always the best. Some say you are too young, some say you will never get that dream job, some say you probably won’t finish school, and some just say your life will never be the same.

This is not the case. An individual with a disability can live the life they always wanted, they are successful, and they achieve their dreams and goals. Sure sometimes you have to adjust but you have one life to make the most of your life.

One thing that I struggled with the most when dealing with my knee and recovering from my flare up was that I always assumed that people saw only my knee or only my disability that nobody knew who I was. I started to identify as the cripple, I didn’t know who I was without my disability. I didn’t know what people were thinking of me without my disability. I wondered if they would think of me the same way if I wasn’t disabled. This put a lot of stress on myself. I remember trying to live the normal university life and going to to the bar with my friends on crutches and guys using my knee as an ice breaker/pick up line. This turned me off and I would usually crutch away but I wondered if they saw anything else. I would wear low cut shirts to see if they would look up a little more instead of at me knee.

I remember mall walking with my friend during our breaks at school and having people walk up to me, some even from across the hall just to say things like “ouch” or “im so sorry” These phrases drove me up the wall. First “ouch” is not the appropriate thing to say to someone who is living in pain. We know it hurts we don’t need the reminder even if its just from you, because let me tell you there was probably six others who said the same thing. Second “I’m so sorry” this phrase still to this day drives me bonkers. What are you sorry for? I get it its human instinct to tell someone they are sorry there life is not “normal” but what is normal? Also there is nothing you can do to change it and you did nothing to cause it so please don’t feel sorry for me.

As a person with a disability I pride myself in accomplishments. Walking across the stage to receive my first diploma in 1/2 inch heels was one highlight I will never forget. Although my knee was taped into place so I didn’t have to wear my knee brace I felt free for a couple of hours. Seeing as I was having knee surgery 12 days later it did not really matter what happened that day except that I feel like I had accomplished something huge.

University was a struggle, as I was on crutches, a wheel chair or a cane the majority of the time. The campus was not accessible, I was a Kinesiology student, most classes were not accessible. I spent a lot of time on the sidelines, but I will never forget the classes I was included in, wheelchair basketball, adapted baseball, and a swimming class! University was tough I wrote exams on my lap, high on pain medication, and in seriously uncomfortable posisitions. I studied and did homework at the fracture clinic, in between naps from all the medication. I am not saying I didn’t want to drop out. I did want to drop out a number of times. I would not be where I am today without the help of my amazing professors and the class of 2014!

Without my experience, I would not have a new found appreciation for accessibility and advocacy for accessibility. I would not have thought up and designed my fourth year thesis and I would not be the person I am today. University helped me fight!

Finishing college in the hospital taught me that anything really is possible if you want it bad enough. I did not want to waste an entire year of my life because in the last month I was stuck in a hopsital. I finished every assignment that needed to be done without using the extensions that were given. I struggled to write with one hand before finding Dragon naturally speaking, nurses helped to finish writing and make sure things made sense it was a group effort but I was proud to say I did it!

Putting my pride aside and going back to Lakehead after my experience at the hopsital was tough. Having to take a program for a year just to determine if your limitations would allow you to proceed with attempting to find a career in Kinesiology was a scary thought. After our first practical weekend I cried my body was so tired I just wasn’t sure. The second, third and fourth though went much better with less tears.

Life keeps going no matter the struggles you are faced. Just learn to find your fight and success awaits.

Society will put a number of barriers up in front of you just be willing to knock them down one at a time. We live in a world where anything away from the normal is not okay and that we should feel sorry or bow out and just get to this finish line but this is not okay! No matter who you are this is your life and only your life! Nobody can tell you what to do or how to do it. Sure the road may be tougher than others but the joy of getting everything in life you have ever wanted will be worth it I promise!

Do you! Be you! Keep putting one foot in front of the other and get out there!

And for those who are still reading I leave you with one thought. Everybody is dealing with things, some deal with physical issues that we can see them dealing with, others deal with invisible issues that we cannot see. Please do not judge someone but the cover of the book. We all deal with things differently and have hills to climb ourselves without the added hill of someone’s judgment.

So once again Happy International day of Person’s with Disabilities!!!

Odds…what are odds?

There is a 33% chance its already raining? – sorry I had to throw in a Mean Girls quote at some point!

But in all seriousness what are odds? why do we even use them?

Science tells us odds, stats people give us odds and tell us whether its a good bet or a bad bet either way they are just odds. Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are really wrong.

People make a lot of money betting sports and people also lose a lot of money betting sports because they followed the odds and the team did not pull of the win like they should of. For instance, the odds are telling me to pick Dallas Thursday night but the Vikings are playing at home and their season is in the air so they could pull off the win.

Odds in life work the same way. Medical professionals tell us there is a such and such percentage of recovery or successful surgery. Professors tell us there is a certain percentage of people will get jobs in the field, or that will get a good grade on the final. Knowing these odds does it mean you just give up or fight those odds.

If you are given a 10% success rate do you give up and say well it won’t work 90% of the time or do you push and fight to be apart of that 10%? The ones that are willing to push and fight no matter the odds will get the most out of life and will succeed because they do not let others dictate their lives for them.

My last post discussed doubters and people telling you you can’t do something. This follows the same pattern. Odds may not be in your favour but how will you ever know which side of the odds you fall on.

Odds are just numbers they are objective. A researcher has gone through all the numbers and has determined who was successful and who was not. No subjective findings were taken into account. Usually, the persons will to fight and do what is required to succeed is not measured or the opposite. People who are not successful aren’t necessarily unsuccessful because the task failed, but because they were not willing to go along with the requirements to make them successful.

The mind is a powerful being and it plays a large role in the success we have. If we picture ourselves beating the odds we have a better chance than if we sit back and accept the odds as they are. So picture what you want in life whether it is business or fitness or other goals that you are unsure of at this moment. Know that the only person stopping you is yourself. You can be that 1% if you work hard and try but you will never know if you don’t. We only get  one life so why not give it all we got because there will come a time when we will not be able to anymore. Why wait. Make today your day to start! Start living the life you want and not what others tell you to do!

Stay tuned for a special posting on Saturday for International Day of People with Disabilities 🙂