January 1

Exercise and eating healthier is always a top New Year's resolution and that's no exception for me this year, I just started a few months earlier. I hope to continue strengthening my whole body and eating the right foods to nourish my body. I've always been pretty healthy and went to the gym, but my perception of healthiness has changed even more...I can't stand the thought of doing nothing all day. I think those feelings come from so many weeks of being in a hospital bed and literally not being able to move at all. I'm also more cautious of what foods I'm putting into my body. I only have one body and I want to take care of it the best I can. I think my state of health helped me fight whatever it was that attacked body and helped me bounce back faster than most people. 

To kick off the new year, I continued my streak of going to the pool. Like each day, there was more improvement. Things like my posture or strength seem to get a little better every time we go and more movement is seen. It's making me even more excited to get back to Philly next week and start more therapy! I've seen so much change in just 4 days that I can't even imagine what'll happen after day long therapy with people who are actually trained in strengthening and spinal cord injuries. 

I look forward to walking with God and experiencing "continual newness" in this new year. 2015 was off to such a great start and then my life fell apart and I almost lost it half way through the year. It was emotional to think about starting a new year because while I'm excited to put 2015 behind me and see all the progress I'm going to make in 2016 (including a hopeful full recovery), this wasn't how I wanted to start it...and seeing all my flashback photos from last year made me a little sad that I wasn't as healthy and had everything going my way like I did at that time last year. I had everything planned and was ready to finish my last year of schooling before rotations. But life changes and things don't always go our way. I find comfort in Jeremiah 29:11...God has a plan for me. And although I may not know it now, His plan is better than mine. So, here's to 2016...and may I fulfill God's plan for me this year.