Compete

Find Your Purpose, Set Goals, and Get to Work This is me BEFORE my knee injury that led to amputation Competition gives you focus and direction in life. It helps to define your day, provides a sense of purpose, and helps build character and resilience. All my life I have been competitive. I had big brothers around always “toughening me up”, and sports were an every moment event, whether competing on our home basketball court or joining teams that played every weekend. I think these moments served me well, and prepared me for a life after limb loss. For some of you, the journey has been a long and hard one. It hasn’t been easy and you may feel like giving up. Maybe you even think that “this is as good as it gets”, but I’m here to tell you, DON’T GIVE UP!!! You can do this! Last week I talked about mindset, well, this is the time to put your mindset to the test and work on positive self-talk. On the hard days, when things hurt or you feel out of sorts, or maybe you are not at a point of wearing your prosthetic yet, you may get discouraged…heck! Maybe you ARE discouraged. Now is the time to buckle in and dig deep. This is the time to set those goals and reach for them. When I find myself in the struggle where pain is winning and I feel like doing nothing and getting depressed about this moment in life that things aren’t going as planned, that’s when I find something to take my mind off of it. I usually find something that brings out the competitor in me. This gives me a goal, a purpose, and consumes my time which takes the attention off of what I’m struggling with. How about you? What do you do to fill your time? Give yourself purpose? Or distract your thoughts changing them into a positive flow? Now it’s your turn. Let’s turn your situation into something positive and meaningful, even if you feel like everything is going wrong and you aren’t where you want to be. Set goals. Be realistic but challenging. If you aren’t able to wear your prosthetic just yet then don’t get down on yourself, remember life is a journey, the good and bad of it, so make some lemonade while you wait. Once you’ve reached those goals, then go ahead and set more. Keep creating challenges for yourself. Setting yourself up for success in the waiting will eventually make you see that you are not waiting for life to happen to you anymore, but that you are living it. Enjoy the process. You deserve it and you are strong enough. You are a warrior! Hope your goal setting is epic just like you! And until next time, and as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!! Much love,