What an amazing group of people creating opportunities for amputees who might never had the chance to enjoy freedom and independence that mobility brings.
Range of Motion Project Global is changing lives, one prosthetic at a time. I have had the honor of helping them fundraise and getting mobile for their cause the past 2 years as an amputee, because I know how my prosthetic has changed my life for the better.
I feel complete and know that I can do anything I put my mind to now that I have a leg to stand on (pun intended). I don’t take this lightly or for granted because even with amazing insurance coverage we had as a family, I almost didn’t receive a leg! There are so many people in the world that may never get one and that’s tragic.
What you may not understand is that losing a limb and then experiencing the fear of not receiving a prosthetic not only effects the physical nature of a person, it also impacts their emotional and mental health as well! We need to change this. We, as a world and one family, need to reach out and help those who don’t have a way of helping themselves.
This is what ROMP Global is all about. This is their mission. You can help!
Donate old parts from yours or your clients prosthetics.
Donate time and volunteer.
Get moving and participate in their events, like Mobility May, to bring awareness to this issue.
Donate money, any and all amounts are welcome!
We can all do something to help others feel the freedom that mobility brings. What can YOU do?
Check this podcast out, and make sure to listen until the end. The stories of the people they have helped will move you.
LP and David climbing their mountain
Want to get moving and help bring awareness to this project? Join my team today and get yourself moving for the month of May, bring awareness to this amazing cause, and really appreciate your ability to move how and when you want. It’s a freedom we all take for granted, each and everyday.
Thank you for supporting ROMP Global and myself this Mobility May and all year long!
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 the other side of pain and tribulation. Through our challenges we are given the chance to grow and find ourselves. We build character and an appreciation of the good times.
Challenges don’t pick and choose the time they come into our lives, we need to be ready to rock and roll with them when they show up. We need to be in our top form, mentally, emotionally, and physically, so we can handle them with strength, confidence, and grace.
In today’s podcast I share my journey about the most recent physical challenge that turned mental and how I pushed through and rose to the occasion. As hard as today was, I made it! While I struggled, I got a glimpse of my character and my weakness in my armor. It was then that I had to dig deep to find myself and the power I held to compete, and win.
What are you struggling with right now? What has you on your knees, begging for help? Whatever it is, know that you are not alone and that you CAN swim.
Odd as it may seem, when you’re struggling sometimes the best medicine is to redirect your attention elsewhere and do something that makes you feel good.
This week I want you to find something to challenge yourself with, something attainable but tough. Find a non-profit you believe in and go to work at helping them by raising funds and/or awareness while challenging yourself to get out and get active.
There’s nothing better than exercise and fresh air to make you feel better and alive.
So, get after it. You are a rockstar and ready to shine!
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 not succeed. The fear of failure, or looking “stupid” trying and failing, is real. I hate NOT being able to do something that I set out to do and have really had to dig down deep to push through the fear of failing at it. Losing my leg has definitely made me face that fear every single day. It became a thrive and survive situation for me with no way out except through. I have learned a lot about me, learned to control my emotions as I face fearful situations, and grace when I don’t succeed on the first try. I pick myself back up and try again, and again, and again, until I get it done, and done right.
The reality is that every day we all face something that can stop us in our tracks or push us to rise and conquer, and each day we have a choice on how we will handle the situations that confront us. What will you choose? How will you handle the fears that challenge you?
I know that each of our stories is different, but fear is fear. What I have realized from overcoming amputation is that when I choose to push through the challenges and fears in my life, I am richly rewarded with success, which then helps me drive through the next situation.
This can be your story too! Don’t let fear take hold of you and dictate your life. Grab the bull by the horns and take charge. You only get this one life, you deserve to find happiness, live well, and be healthy.
I am still learning to function in my running blade. It isn’t easy and I have a lot of fear associated with it, as I often trip and fall hard. The past few days I have worn it into the gym and gotten on the treadmill and worked out in it. I have been pushing past the fear that people are watching and if I fall and get hurt, I would be mortified, and yet I continue to wear it and work through it, at my own pace. My stress levels are a bit higher than if I went into the gym with my normal leg, but I wouldn’t learn to rise from this fear and overcome it. The only way to winning this war is straight through. I must have patience and grace with myself as I learn to function with this leg, so I will continue on this path until I don’t feel this way anymore.
Now it’s your turn:
Start now. What are you most fearful of right now in your life? Start small, if you must, fear is fear. Your goal this week is to face your fear head on and push through. You may get burned, you may stumble and fall-metaphorically or literally like in my case, but work at it. Each day spend time facing it, dealing with it, instead of pushing it aside for “another day”. This is the day to rise up and feel great about yourself. By completing something difficult or challenging yourself to something you fear you grow. You build character and come out a little stronger, and a little wiser, ready to take on the next roadblock that appears in your life.
Best of luck at kicking fear aside and rise from the situation this week. Attack and don’t give up. Have grace with yourself if you fall down, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, and go at it again, until you find success. You can do it, I have faith in you!
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 possibilities.
My family had been there for me through so much, I learned a lot about myself through my trials, and I saw my relationship with my husband grow as I saw a man who supported me and my drive even in the midst of huge trials.
In this podcast I talk to you about what was happening to me, internally, as I struggled through 5 years of failed knee surgeries and the past 3 years after my choice to amputate my leg above the knee.
Today, I am a certified personal trainer with a specialization in corrective exercise and fitness nutrition. My goal is to help those who wish to live a healthier and more active lifestyle, no matter where they are at in their journey called life.
Take a listen to this week’s podcast to hear where my journey has led me, what my thinking was behind the years of trials I endured, and how I can help you in the next step of your journey. I get it. I know what it is to rise from the ashes and reinvent myself.
Life is a journey:
Reach out to me if you need or want a change in your life and need someone who will guide and motivate you.
Share this post and podcast with someone you know could use the help. Maybe you have a friend or a parent struggling with a medical issue, or finding a healthy lifestyle and you want the best for them. I’m here and ready to help.
I hope you are having an amazing start to 2022 and remember, no need for new year’s resolutions, or feeling like it’s already too late to start anew. Now is the time to start. No more excuses!
Let’s get at it and unleash the warrior that I know is inside of you waiting to come out and attack life.
You owe it to yourself and your family to live your best, most healthy life…NOW!
Before my transformation anmd right after amputation
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 January I hate how I feel. I have created bad habits, I’m not working out or getting exercise like I should, and I have gained a new and addictive desire for sweets.
NOW is the time to build strong, healthy habits and routines.
To be totally honest, I’m not happy where I am right now. I have recently let my normal routines go to the wayside, ever since moving homes this past summer. It amazes me that even though I have everything I need for working out right here in my home, a new home with items in different locations has made my habits drop. I’m use to my workouts being in the evenings in my bedroom, but now my exercise equipment is on the other side of the house. Something as simple as that has derailed me….I have ALLOWED it to derail me.
No more!
Listen in as I challenge you to approach your holiday gatherings, and the hustle and bustle of this season, with making positive, healthy habits NOW, without giving up indulging in some holiday spirits.
Don’t depend on “New Years Resolutions” to dig you out of a unhealthy hole, stay on top, eat and drink in moderation, BUT start making healthy habits today to keep you strong, happy, and positive throughout the season and beyond. You’ll be glad you did!
Pick a time of day to do a 20-30 minute workout.
Commit to doing it everyday-Saturdays and Sundays, too.
Decide what you need to do: sit ups, push ups, planks, wall sits. Those are some good basic exercises that require no equipment but can create a good feeling and kick start your new habits.
Drink a full glass of water before every meal.
Enjoy special holiday treats but remember: moderation is key!
Take pictures along the way of your transformation. You’ll be surprised at the changes you’ll see AND it’ll be good to see these pictures down the road a bit when you fail to keep up your routine-we all have those moments that disrupt our progress. I know I do, and am in one right now. I looked back a year ago and saw what I looked like and knew I needed to get back at it…so here I am preaching about it. We all need a kick in the pants every now and then.
You got this. Starting now will help you during this time of year when social eating and drinking is at the highest.
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 couple of years after becoming an amputee, as your limb changes) or if I’m just bruised and sore from a hard workout the day before. I like to have fun and the activities I use get me out and active, but also allow me to forget, for however briefly, that I am an amputee and let’s me play and enjoy time with my family or on my own.
These are just a few ideas I wanted to share, that I use often, and have found to be a great workout while having fun. Please know, that I didn’t just accomplish doing some of these activities. Some took time and practice, practice, practice. That was where the fun, for me, came in. I found activities that I thought would be a challenge, or ones that people would tell me would be impossible for an above knee amputee. There is nothing more fun or rewarding, to me, than proving people wrong!
Listen in to my podcast and take a look at the list provided below of the company’s I have used. All of these company’s I am using are only because they are what I found, liked and pricing worked for me. IndoBoard is the only company that I am representing and I have a code you can use to get a discount when checking out.
**When you click on the IndoBoard link, above, it will take you to my affliate link where you will recieve a discount upon checkout.
I don’t have a particular scooter I like or prefer but here’s me enjoying myself on my scooter, too!
Enjoy this podcast whether you are an amputee looking for ways to stay active during hard times, or if you know someone who could use a fun way to get in shape.
Disclaimer: Please know that with any of these exercises you can get hurt. Please take the necessary precautions to protect yourself and always, start slowly and work your way up.
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 newness of being an amputee and your level, or desired level, of activity, the shoe you wear can help you or hurt you.
I realized that last week when I just didn’t feel good in my newest socket…then I looked down and realized I wasn’t wearing a normal athlete shoe. Once I changed what I was wearing I literally felt so much better and my socket wasn’t hurting me like it had been!
I don’t like changing my shoes out very often, it’s hard to reach my foot, and some shoes are stiffer than others which makes putting them on a two person job.
Below are my typical shoes I wear weekly.
My Adidas! ❤ These are incredible for stability and balance!
Saucony Trail. Great for road walking and being active.
Oboz. Awesome hiking boots… and waterproof!
I live in these three shoes throughout the week. They are great for a variety of activities.
Are you having issues with your knee(s), hip, back? Check your shoes. What are you wearing? Are they old and worn out? Are you using the wrong type of shoe for the wrong activity?
Are you an amputee and feel unstable? Your shoe might have something to do with that. Look into Adidas or Van Shoes, you might be surprised the difference they will make.
Make changes to the type of shoes you are wearing this week and see if that simple change helps your situation.
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 realized it didn’t feel right. As I started walking on it I was noticing that I was already hitting the bone at the end of my residual limb on the inside of my socket. I tried to “walk it off” by literally grabbing my backpack and heading out for a walk, only to realize I just couldn’t make it to the end of my block!
DEFEAT!
That’s what was going through my head. Then, “what if I never get back the level of activity I had last year!?”
ENOUGH! This talk was helping no one. That’s when I decided to share my journey with you. To put it all out there and show that even when it appears all is going well, that sometimes it’s just not. And for me to give up on an activity is really saying something….especially me sharing that I gave up.
It has to be known, that all of us fall victim to self-doubt, or giving up, or fears. We are all human, after all. What makes each one of us different is what we do after we fall. Do you sit and wallow in self-pity, looking for external things and people to give you strength and value? Or do you pick yourself back up and try again when you’re ready?
How we approach the hard times will inevitably be what helps us succeed on our journey called life, or fall short and make us struggle every time things don’t go our way.
I want to see you all rise up, challenge yourself, and succeed! You need to believe in yourself. Believe you ARE strong enough, and make life what you want it to be.
You can do it! Rise up! Here I am on a great day.
This is where I want to be, this is my goal!
This week stay positive! I know, easier said than done at times. Find something that you CAN do and go do it. Be outside, let the sunshine and Fall weather bring you joy, energy, and some inner peace. Do something that makes you laugh, and release those positive chemicals in your body. Don’t sit back and ponder all the negatives, that won’t do you, or anyone around you, any good. You deserve more! You deserve better!!
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’m still recuperating from the physical battles I had to overcome with packing and unpacking a home. My body has been aching more and my residual limb, well, let’s just say we are trying to come to terms with what I want to do and what it is capable of doing.
I have pushing myself to get out the door and put my walks and exercise time in, only to find that my physical game is struggling, which then plays into my mental game. This past weekend I went for a long walk with my husband, only to find that my limb really didn’t have it in it to walk as long as I wanted to… but I pushed myself and my mind won. However, that wasn’t the only win that day. I walked the longest I had walked in my new socket- 2 miles, but I also pushed myself into an opportunity to see where my mental fortitude lay. This is how this podcast came about. I realized how much I talk to myself in the “heat of the battle”. My mind was speaking to my heart and my leg. I then asked myself why I go through this pain and hurt. What was I getting out of doing this to myself?
I learned a lot about myself as I walked in the 98 degree Arizona summer sun, pushing myself to go farther, to not turn around, and not to give up. I find that this is beneficial for me to see what I am made of, to work out the kinks in my prosthesis, and build my character and create positive moments in my life. Is it easy? Was it easy? Absolutely NOT! But as the saying goes, nothing worth earning comes from “easy”. We benefit more from a situation that is hard to get through because when we rise out on the other side we claim victory, and this is great for self motivation and helps us deal with the next hard moment, which is sure to come.
This was a moment of finding out what I was made of.
A 10K race just 1 year after amputation.
The question is, how are you handling those tough moments? Do you want to do better? Feel better? Look better? Then it comes down to your mindset and the way you talk to yourself. Positive self-talk is so important. We tell our kids to not put themselves down, when they screw up, but are we beating ourselves up when we fall short? It’s easy to say this to people when you realize what they are doing to themselves, but to practice what you preach can be tough and a hard pill to swallow. I realized the day after I did this walk that I had a really hard time with the pain and my usual exercise, and I started to get angry with myself, using negative words and being frustrated…. so easy to fall into that pattern. I saw that I was doing exactly what I said NOT to do and instantly changed my inner voice to a positive tone. Did it make it easier to finish, not necessarily, but I was better for it, and learned a lot about myself that day. I know that I can be physically strong but mentally weak and will struggle. These two go hand in hand. It’s time to change how you treat yourself and how you talk to yourself.
Listen in to this week’s podcast to hear how that day went for me, as I recorded in the midst of that moment. It’s raw emotion and the reality of that struggle and hear what you can do to help yourself the next time doubt and fear creep in to your mind.
This week I want you to really listen to your inner voice.
Are you speaking negatively to yourself? Putting yourself down and beating yourself up? Be honest. Nothing good will come from lying to yourself or being in denial.
Listen to your mind when you realize you’re battling something. What do you hear? More than likely you are negative. It’s really common to do that. We hate making mistakes, and sometimes we feel unworthy of where we are. Stop! Give yourself grace to fall, talk kindly to yourself and pick yourself back up.
This week practice positive self-talk. It’s time to ramp up your mental game so you can go out with confidence into this world and kick butt. There is no room for negativity. Love yourself for where you are now, set goals to where you want to be, and speak kindly and positively. You just might find yourself reach those goals quicker than you imagined you ever could.
This is me, with Randy West, in my first prosthetic and 50 lbs heavier! Yikes!!
This picture is hard for me to look at. I had been through years of surgeries and being laid up. I wasn’t active at all because I couldn’t. I was either in surgery, elevating my knee from surgery, in PT, or in just too much pain. Sadly, my mental game took as big of a hit as my physical game. I was starting to worry that my physical health was going to continue to decline and never be good again, but my prosthetist, Randy, knew that I wanted more out of life and so he and I worked so very hard to get the best fitting socket I could get so I could get out and become active once again…after all, I hurt myself going for my 2nd degree black belt. I was actually in great shape when I got hurt.
Deciding on amputation wasn’t an easy decision but I am so glad I did it. Not only did it save me from becoming even heavier and more unhealthy, it saved my mental and emotional life, as well. I am so very happy now, even when my days are long and hard, even when my socket isn’t fitting just right, and even through phantom pain, I can say, without a doubt I made the right choice, for me, and I am stronger, healthier and happier then I had been.
Me now. What a huge difference, and I was able to achieve a healthier physique as an amputee!
I want that for you, too! And you can have that kind of life. You can find happiness and joy, peace and health, laughter and activity. It really does come down to just a few key things to get you on your way. Attitude, perseverance, choices. These key elements can turn a lot around for you and me. No, it won’t take away your challenges and struggles, but it WILL help you cope and rise above them.
Listen in today as I talk about the first 2 years of my amputation journey and what you might not expect to happen and how I’ve dealt with those low moments so I can continue to rise everyday and make my life worth living.
You can also watch my podcasts on my YouTube channel HERE.
This week I want you to LAUGH! Find ways to make laughter part of your healthy routine. Watch a funny movie, hang out with fun friends, read cartoons or watch silly, short animal videos on your phone with your family. I know you’ll feel better about yourself and your situation if you make time to relax and enjoy life. Give yourself that. Allow yourself to be happy.
Have an amazing week… and on that note,
This was the very first day I brought my leg home! My boys have such great sense of humor!🤣
