Be-YOU-tiful Adaptive Warrior

….. And They’re Watching You, Too. I know, that sounds creepy but it’s not what you think.  Did you know that you influence and impact more people daily than you realize? As a parent I knew right away that my boys were watching me, my every move, even when it appeared that they were enthralled in a movie, game, or activity! They’d say something, or repeat me, or act the way...

Climbing That Hill Yet Again! Want to be back on top? Then start now! No better time than the present.   Life is a journey, one meant to be enjoyed, but of course, not all parts of our journey are enjoyable.  When we feel down on our luck, when we are hurting, or when things aren’t going our way, we find very little to enjoy.  But don’t fret.  That IS part of the journey, those mo...

In a Sink or Swim World, Become a Gold Medalist in the Breaststroke   Each one of us struggles at one time or another. No one goes through life without challenges, even those who look like they have it “all together”, don’t go unscathed, they have just figured it out how to swim. They tackle the situation, use positivity, and keep pushing forward until they make it through t...

Everything you want in life is on the other side of fear.  To be able to accomplish those goals you will have to face those things that scare you or stand down and not accomplish them.  The choice is yours, every single time. You may have also heard the saying that fear can either represent: Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise   I understand fear, and the chance that I may n...

Now is the time. You deserve it and you probably need it, too.  It’s time to slow down, breathe, and enjoy your life. If you can spare 5-10 minutes each day to stop what’s on your schedule, slow yourself down, and put aside your to-do list you can reap the benefits.  Set down your phone, eliminate distractions, and make time for YOU! It’s not always easy to find the time, I get i...

Create Positive Change One Breathe at a Time Things may not be the way you want them right now, but you can do a lot with what you do have and where you are at. Just breathe!   I’m going to keep this week’s post short and simple. Learning to breathe the RIGHT way is so important for your body and mind.  Diaphragmatic Breathing is when you allow long, deep breaths to come in and ou...

The time is now! Let’s find the warrior within you. Let’s dig deep and create the life you have always wanted to have. After all that I went through these past several years with all the “down time” I had while I was healing from surgery after surgery, I realized that my life was shifting and changing, and I felt that God was giving me a new path and my future had so many p...

To New Year’s Resolutions…. …and YES to a new, healthier lifestyle. Welcome back to my podcast and the start of season 2!!! I am beyond grateful for you! If you are new to my site and haven’t been following me then you can go back and listen to my first season here or, better yet, subscribe to my podcast on Apple, iHeart, Spotify, or any other site you see below so you neve...

Just a quick podcast today as I am getting ready for the upcoming holiday season.  Life is moving at warp speed and even the tiniest of kindnesses seem to get lost in our hurried lives.  Stop, relax, look around you, and remember what this time of year is all about. My 1st Christmas as an amputee   Smile! Bring joy into people’s lives by simply spreading joy, with a free smile.   &...

Creating Positive Habits to Live a Healthy Life The holidays are upon us and the hustle and bustle can really bring us down and out of our routine and comfort zone. I don’t know about you but when I think about the holidays I think about all the goodies, baked goods, alcohol and dinners out that will be happening with friends and family.  Then I think how this happens every year and by Janua...

Managing Expectations   Sometimes we just feel like nothing is going right, we can get down on ourselves, or worse,  OTHERS, because of what we are going through.  When we expect certain things to go a certain way we can be setting ourselves up for a let down of epic proportions.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive for your best, or to set those types of expectations/goals for yo...

A Grateful Heart Leads to a Happy Heart It really has to be said that where our minds go, our hearts go, too.  If you are stuck in a bad way, and can’t seem to find happiness or joy in your life then check your thoughts.  How do you speak to yourself? How do you speak to others? Everyone goes through trials, that’s just life.  The way each of us deals with those trials, those valleys i...

Staying Active Through the Hard times…and Making it FUN! Me out hiking on a “good” day…. However, you may ask,  “How about those bad days, Angie? How do you stay active and in a good place when you’re struggling?”   I have found ways to alleviate the pain I feel in a socket that’s not fitting properly (which happens every few months, the first c...

Positive mindset is your friend! We all face struggles in life. Some people it’s more obvious than with others but no one goes through life unscathed.  It’s how we deal with those struggles that define us and give us the opportunities to live a great life or struggle to make ends meet. Which are you? Are you making the most of your life or struggling to move past your circumstances? Ou...

  What’s holding you back from achieving your goals? What fears are keeping you from living your best life? Today I talk about creating baby steps to reaching the goals you have and how I faced a fear of my own yesterday. Baby steps to reaching your goals are still steps toward your goals. They need to be celebrated and you should feel great when you do accomplish them. So much of my past few...

Be Strong! You Can Get Through This! Pain is a tricky thing.  Each of us experiences pain multiple times in life. It comes and goes. It happens when we have an accident, when we’ve had surgery, and sometimes it is invisible to the people around us. It is always very real to the person dealing with it.  Pain is different for each of us, too. Some of us have a low tolerance for pain while othe...

“Nana korobi, ya oki”-Japanese proverb Translation- “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” Are you struggling with getting up and getting active?  Are you afraid to fail? To fall? It happens. If you decide to try something new then be prepared to fail, and fail again, until you finally succeed.  It takes trials and errors to make the necessary adjustments, in anything you d...

What You Wear Makes a Difference Did you know that as an amputee the type of shoe we wear can make all the difference in our performance and outcome of wearing a prosthetic? When I was learning to walk for the first time I needed a shoe that was stable and would help me be more balanced. Now, 2 1/2 years later, I need a shoe that is rugged and can take me to mountain tops. Depending on your newnes...

Set ‘Em, and Slam Dunk ‘Em! No better time than the present!  It doesn’t need to be a Monday or the first of the month or, even worse, January 1st to set and achieve any goal you set for yourself. Now is the time to get started on the path you want and desire for yourself.  What do you want from your life? Do you want to be healthier? Eat better? Quit smoking/drinking? Get moving...

Finding Joy in the Hard Moments My joy and why I do what I do. So not everyday is roses.  It may seem like that if you check out some people’s social media.  Don’t buy it!  We all struggle, and we all go through valleys.  I’m smiling in the photo above because I am surrounded by the people I love, doing something we love- together.  Today, however, as I put on my prosthetic, I re...

What drives you forward when you hit hard times?     When days get hard we look to find purpose, I think that’s human nature. Somedays we fall short of finding what gets us up and motivated.  Today, after a very hard hike in the heat and my prosthetic rubbing my leg raw, I pushed myself to a point that I wasn’t sure I’d make it back to the car but when I did, I sat ther...

Dealing with Phantom Pains, Part 2 As a continuation to last week’s podcast on Phantom Pain, and how my faith has helped me through, I thought I would add in other ways you can try to deal with these inevitable pains we go through, as amputees. If you experience phantom pains you know how unpleasant and downright horrible they can be. They can mess with your head, bring you down, and keep yo...

Phantoms and Serving Others: How do they fit together?   Ok, so maybe it’s not THAT easy to rid yourself of phantom pains, but it does help.   SERVING. When we distract our minds then we can free ourselves, even temporarily, from pain.  So why not help others while you help yourself?  I can’t think of anything better than serving where I’m needed, helping someone else o...

How do you deal when hard times come a knockin’?   Do you throw your hands up in defeat or do you reach deep down and find the strength to carry on? Do you belittle yourself into an out of control spin or do you use words of affirmation and pull yourself up by the bootstraps?   I have been realizing, of late, that I am struggling with motivation. I think the move did me in and I&#8...

How about that fit, though? Randy, my prosthetist, with the cast of my residual limb   This is the first step, for some prosthetists, when it comes to making their patient’s next socket. There are many steps, and it can be frustrating with how long it can take, only to realize you may need to make a bunch of corrections to the final socket over the course of the following weeks of recei...