The Road Forward May Look Different

Finding Hope Beyond the Pivot Part Five of My Pivoting Series In this final episode of my Pivoting series, I’m sharing the reminder I’ve had to learn again and again: the road forward may look different, but it can still be meaningful, beautiful, and full of possibility. Life changes for all of us. We can make the best plans, prepare for every scenario, and still find ourselves facing a curveball we never saw coming. As an above-knee amputee, one of my biggest pivots was learning to live in a body that had changed forever. While people may see a smile, they do not always see the grief, fear, mental load, exhaustion, and rebuilding that live underneath it. But pivoting is not quitting. I can still hold onto a goal while allowing the path to that goal to change. Do some research to find a new way forward Skiing is one of the clearest examples in my own life. I had always imagined skiing more with my husband and family as we got older. After years of surgeries and then losing my leg, I wondered whether I would ever ski again. I had to grieve what I thought it would look like, learn a new way to do it with one leg and outriggers, rebuild my strength, and face a lot of fear. Yet standing at the top of a snowy mountain with my family again brought me to tears. The goal was still there, it just looked different. Together again! That is why I believe hope is not forced positivity. Hope does not deny that this chapter is hard. It is choosing to believe that hard does not mean meaningless. My faith has helped me trust that God can bring purpose from the parts of my story I never would have chosen. One of the biggest traps I had to overcome was comparing my old self to my new self—and comparing myself to other amputees. Whether it is watching someone run effortlessly on social media or remembering what I used to lift at the gym, comparison steals the joy of noticing what I am accomplishing today. I recently got on a treadmill with my new running blade, scared and holding tightly to the rails. It may not have looked graceful, but I faced a fear, showed up, and tried. That matters. Facing fears but pushing through them. Different does not mean less. Losing a limb does not make any of us less capable, less valuable, less beautiful, or less worthy of joy. We are more than our bodies and more than our parts. Eight years into this journey, I can see that I did not have to understand the whole plan at the beginning. I only had to take the next right step. One step led to a 10K, skiing, this podcast, Warrior Ground, and a community of women who understand this journey. Your next step may be researching a new doctor, calling a PT, learning about adaptive sports, or simply choosing to believe there is more ahead for you. Take a few minutes this week and ask yourself: What am I ready to leave behind? What dream am I ready to carry forward? And what is one next step I can take with hope? Share your next step with me, and if this series encouraged you, please like, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and listen back to the first four episodes of Pivoting. Keep moving forward, Warrior. And as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!!! Much love,