Changes Good? Say What???!!!!!

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you put your all into it? Like literally your ALL? I did! I wanted something so badly and the more I prayed about it the stronger the confirmation that I was going in the right direction so I put my ALL in to it. Physically, emotionally, mentally, and yes even financially! For four years I went for something and in the end I ended up broken. Broken in so  many ways that its hard to put it all into words. And due to this, CHANGE came into my life! A year and a half ago if you told me change would be good I would have laughed at you amid the many tears that flowed when I realized all that I had put my energy into would never be! I would have said "I don't want change!" "Change is hard"

Yes change has been hard and the road I have traveled has not been easy but I have been going down a journey of growth and rediscovery that's indescribable. Once I was back on my feet I created a mantra: TAKING BACK MY LIFE! My sister in law changed it to: REGAINING PERSPECTIVE OF LIFE because she said my life was never taken away from me. (Though I'm not gonna lie, there were many moments when I felt it was)

I decided with this new life mantra I was going to start doing things I have wanted to do but kept putting off. I would face some of my fears and begin to look at life thru new eyes with new opportunities.

This has been  my journey thus far:

 

 

I wanted to start with something huge! Something to push myself into this change. I decided to face my fears of height and repel off a waterfall! My amazing family and friends aka my support team all gathered together for this huge event:

 

 The water was closer then this picture shows!

It was AWESOME! 

 I did it! :)

It was scary exciting exhilarating all in one! After that I decided I wanted more for my life! I wanted to prove to myself that I can endure hard things and with time all wounds can heal. Even if some things take longer then others.

So with 2 foot surgeries and a broken heart checked off my list I decided I want to run! REALLY?????????

The last time I had actually run was in Junior High! I will let you figure just how long ago that was! :) Due to some physical complications at that time I had stopped running and never picked it up again!

When I told my family I had a goal to run the Poky 5K my older brother jokingly commented that the only thing that would get me thru the finish line was if some one was dangling a coke in front of me the whole time lol

 

Well without the coke in front of me lol I set off to see what I could do. I had a friend show me some great techniques!

 





Gustavo thanks for being a great inspiration to all you come in contact with!

 

I ran the above race then I set off to run the Poky race! My sis in law ran beside me to coach me a long the way! I had a few friends sign up to the race as well and my older brother ran beside us video taping the run! Warning race pictures are never the prettiest but this was the Poky race:

 video camera man :)

 My other mentor encouraging me at my side :)

 My friends who ran the race as well

 Ankle brace and all I DID IT! :)

 What a great team! :)

 Mom coming to watch me :)

 Other sis in law coming to watch :)

 

After I did the race and realized I had beat my goal, it helped me to see that change can be positive and worthwhile! So my desire to improve grew and I decided to challenge myself some more! My amazing friend who has been thru EVERYTHING with me since moving to Utah decided she wanted to run as well so she motivated me to keep running! We signed up for a race got out our running shoes mapped a course and practiced our lil running hearts out!

 

 

We had a great run! Thanks Kara for showing me my potential in all! You always have a way of showing me I am worth something! :)

 

I then hiked the Tetons that has been talked about a ton already lol and then I went back to Poky a year later from the first race to see if I really had made changes and the results were: YES!!

 



I am the funniest runner ever, but here is the finish line!:) I still need to work on so much!

I took almost a minute off my time from the previous year!

Then some great co-workers encouraged me to run the dirty dash with them! A 10K obstacle course thru the mud!

 BEFORE

 AFTER

 

FINISH STRONG OR GO HOME! Right? lol

 

And now we come to yesterdays experience which brought on this blog post! I have another friend who has supported my races as a spectator and taken the pictures. She approached me after the dirty dash and said lets run a race together! So we signed up then I found out about my foot! A lot of people told me not to run but I couldn't let her down and I was running for other people yesterday! It was to support breast cancer awareness but I ran to support cancer in general!

Gerri Miller: lost her fight to pancreatic cancer March 1992 -  miss you grandma

Kim Simons: survived thyroid cancer finding out about it while pregnant with twins - love you mom

Linda Hayes: Has survived two bouts of breast cancer on both sides - thanks for helping my mom find the gospel and being there for my family!

 

Yesterdays race was hard,not gonna lie about that one! My foot was hurting and the hills were not easy! As I was starting the climb I thought to myself why am I doing this? But then I got to the top and was descending when it hit me! The thought came to me, could you have done that a year and a half ago? And I probably couldn't have done it! It was then as I was running that I started to ponder all the changes I have gone thru! I have been thru a lot the last few years and especially the last year and half!

 Took 34 secs off from my 2nd Poky race! :)

We did it Aly! :)

 

Changes come to all of us! It's inevitable! The horrible part at times is how they come! Mine came from being broken and made to feel I was worthless and would never be good enough for anyone. From thinking I would never amount to anything that someone would find interest in! Even thou the change came thru the most painful of ways I am so grateful for the rediscovering I have been finding in myself! I am rediscovering 1. THAT I AM WORTH IT! 2. THAT I CAN ACCOMPLISH GREAT THINGS 3. THAT EVEN THOU OTHERS HURT US, WE DON'T HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT!

 

Sure, I wish I could tell you I have also found someone who thinks that I am just as amazing as I am rediscovering for myself but not yet! And that's OK! :) Really, it is! My life isn't about what others think of me or make me feel! My life is about me and feeling good about myself! My life is about finding joy in my journey here on earth and accepting whatever lies in front of me! My life is about surrounding myself with these amazing people and so many more that have come into my life the past year! My life is about setting goals for myself and striving to accomplish them!

 

Changes are hard! Changes are no fun! This past week I endured yet another change! Sometimes letting go of things can be the hardest challenge of all about the change! But by letting go we are only opening up ourselves for a beautiful journey of rediscoveries! So embrace the change! Love the change! And always remember we are never alone thru the changes of life! Find your support team, push yourself to greater heights, and keep putting one foot in front of the other!

 

You might just rediscover the person you always had the potential to be! And that's the greatest CHANGE of all! So is change good? If you look for the positives of it then YES IT IS!!! :)