“It’s always hard to deal with injuries mentally, but I like to think about it as a new beginning. I can’t change what happened, so the focus needs to go toward healing and coming back stronger than before.”
-Carli Lloyd

Ever since I’ve been laid up with this fractured ankle, all I have been thinking about is hiking. My favorite hikes, not so favorite ones, ones that I’ve done many times and ones that I’ve done once. I’ve dreamed about hiking and have already started planning my “Return to Hiking” hike that will hopefully usher in a new era of hiking for me.

Will that first hike be a difficult one? You bet. But I need to get back on the trail. I need to be out there. I already miss the warm air moving through the trees, the sound of rushing water in the streams that run parallel to many of the rock strewn paths. I miss making my way around a corner and being mesmerized by an awesome view, captivated by the colors of the season and just sitting and breathing in the awesomeness that is just being there. If you have hiked, you know what I’m talking about!

Obviously, however, I am getting way ahead of myself. As I was laying in the hospital, all I could think about was getting the surgery to repair my ankle so I did everything that the doctors and nurses asked me to do. My goal was to go home.

Now that I have been home for ten days, I have the same anticipation as I sit and wait for my followup appointment with the surgeon.  The hope next Tuesday is that I will get a positive report on my progress and soon after PT will follow. For me, PT is the next step, the next chapter in not only in my physical recovery, but in my mental salvation as well.

Thanks for reading and your positive comments!

Happy Hiking!!!