November is the month of Thanksgiving. Although I truly believe that gratitude should be practiced year-round, I like to practice it especially in November.
November 16th also happens to be a significant day for me.
It’s the day I re-discovered my potential.
My health and fitness was – for many years- something I took for granted. I was a swimmer and a gymnast, a tree-climber and an outdoor adventurer, but I wasn’t what you would call “sporty.”
I never liked the gym. I never liked running or rowing or competitive anything. But I stayed active in work and in life. So for many years, this was enough.
Until it wasn’t. Age and lifestyle changes and all the things took a toll on my health and on my self-esteem.
This trip to Nashville. Shortly before the photo was taken, my friends and I had wandered to an arts and crafts market. I’d purchased a little trinket there, and as the cashier was ringing me up, she asked, “So… when are you due?”
I WAS NOT PREGNANT.
Heck, Connor was almost two so I wasn’t even postpartum. And in fact, this was the THIRD time a complete stranger had assumed I was pregnant.
(For the record, unless you’re in the delivery room and can see the baby’s head crowning, it’s NEVER okay to assume a woman is pregnant).
Shortly after I returned from this trip – around November of 2017 – I decided to make a change. I signed up at a local group-fitness gym and found an exercise program that resonated with me. But I also found a community and I started to learn more about nutrition. I realized that I could actually grow to love broccoli and brussels sprouts. Slowly but surely, things began to change.
This was not an overnight process. It was a journey. It still is a journey, if I’m being honest. The one thing I’ve discovered as I’ve gotten older is that we never know as much as we think we do: there’s always something new to learn.
So here I sit, five years later.
Wow, FIVE YEARS. Who’d have believed it.
But I am so, so grateful. None of this could have happened without support and privilege. So I take a moment to give thanks for all of that.
Thank you to my husband, for supporting me on this journey. For understanding that my workouts aren’t just for my health, they also give me an outlet to do something that brings me joy. They are a stress relief and an endorphin boost and an opportunity for new friendships. And many thanks to your employment, which allows us the time and money (nominal, but not insignificant) that it takes for me to pursue this life choice.
And, hey, thanks to me. For doing this thing and seeing it through.
One day, I’ll type up a whole post about my blood clots and my long-term post-thrombotic symptoms and how exercise and nutrition has had a massively positive impact on them… but that deserves a post of its own.
For now, I am just grateful. It’s something else I’ve learned as I age- to be excessively grateful for every moment. To cherish your health and the health of your loved ones. Never take a moment of that for granted.
And appreciate the wins.
