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How to Adapt When Life, and Travel, Don’t Go as Planned

 

 

What do you do when you have prepared for everything, and life still throws you a curveball?

In this episode of BAWarrior Podcast, I’m continuing our Pivoting series with one of the most personal lessons I learned from international travel as an above-knee amputee: preparation matters, but adaptability is what carries us through the unexpected.

Travel after limb loss can feel overwhelming. There are prosthetic supplies to pack, accessibility to consider, energy to manage, socket fit changes, weather, long airport days, and the fear of being far from the things that make everyday life feel safe. On my recent trip to Paris, I had converters, a surge protector, and my prosthetic charging system ready, yet I still lost power and burned out my surge protector before I could charge my leg.

In that moment, I had a choice: panic and stay stuck, or pivot.

I share how I worked through the fear, asked for help, reached out to my prosthetist and prosthetic team, searched for local resources, and took the next step in front of me. That experience reminded me that confidence is not built by waiting until we have every answer. Confidence is built in the middle of the trial, when we learn that we can adjust, recover, and find another way.

We also talk about the energy budget behind adaptive travel and prosthetic life. Money may make a trip possible, but energy is a currency too. Airport delays, changing gates, standing in lines, carrying luggage, heat, humidity, fatigue, phantom pain, and the demands of walking with a prosthesis all add up. Choosing a wheelchair or asking for support before you hit your breaking point is not losing your independence—it is protecting it.

I also share the hard lesson my body taught me after returning home: recovery cannot be rushed. Sometimes the strongest pivot is slowing down before pain, exhaustion, or injury forces you to stop.

 

 

Before you go, I want you to name one thing fear has been keeping you from doing. It may be traveling, walking outside in your prosthesis, trying something new, asking for help, or giving yourself the recovery you truly need.

Prepare what you can, stay open to the pivot, and take one small step this week.

Confidence does not arrive before you begin, it grows as you keep going.

If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who needs the reminder that they can adapt, recover, and find another way.

Leave a comment and tell me: What is one fear you are ready to face with a little more flexibility and faith?

And as always, Warriors,

Be Healthy.

Be Happy.

Be YOU!!!

Much love,