Happy?

Today I returned to the gym to work with Jesse.  I am totally impressed with all the training that the gym has offered so far, and his tips and motivation have definitely gotten me to where I am right now.  I will tell you I am fairly impressed with where my body has brought me from 2 years ago to today.  It has been an incredibly trying process, but with that process came a lot of patience and determination.  I jogged the total of a mile today, which is a big change from barely walking unassisted!  I know I have a long way to go, but that alone gives me motivation to continue.

This evening, after dinner and assorted chores were out of the way, I settled into a hot bubble bath.  I have found this calms the soreness better than anything else.  I set the music to a random shuffle and sat back.  During one song, I looked over to the mirror to notice movement, and heard noise... Was I singing and dancing in the bathtub? Could it be? Have I moved beyond content?

Yes, I believe it is true... I am now to the point of saying I am truly HAPPY.  It's a good feeling... :-)

Let the journey begin... I am SO ready. ;-)

The Girl That Gave You a Story to Tell...

Today I woke up at about 4:20am, and I was REALLY sore...  I sat in bed and thought about how I used to be in pain all the time.  Every moment of every day.

And then I rolled over and got out of bed. :-)  I knew if I wanted so badly for change to occur, lying in bed wasn't going to make it better.

I went to work and decided to convert part of the day into a self-advocacy lesson.  The classes like hearing the updates on the training anyway, so I decided to bridge that talk into a full lesson.  It turned out to be a great motivation for them, and helped me as well.  I talked with a regular education high school class for a brief period about my project.  They were all ears, and were nodding as I told them the only person responsible for making me succeed was myself.  I am beginning to see that my daily success in this project is going to have a tremendous impact on myself and my family, but I also think it will carry over to the school. A few of the girls asked if they could work out, and were very interested in getting fit.

I redecorated my classroom door, so that all the students that passed by will get some daily motivation in all aspects of their life.  There are assorted quotes that I love, and I will add more as time goes on.  One of my favorites is on there:

I want to be the girl

that changed everything.

The girl that made a difference.

The girl that gave you a story to tell.

This was perfect for me, because I knew I always wanted to lady that grows old and has a collection of stories to tell.  But even more, deep down inside of me there was a part of me that wanted to inspire a story NOW.  And now is my time!

And I do realize that I promised an explanation of my goals and their significance tonight.  That will have to wait for tomorrow's update.  Today was an action-packed day of teaching and training, and my body has had all it can take.  The trainer has asked me today if I have brushed up on my Italian over the night.  I told him I was just going to find me an Italian man. ;-)

P.S. Today I DID train... Upper body weights, elliptical machine, and stair machine... Whew!!!