Some Good Ol' Ralph

A friend of mine in high school would always tease me about my love for Ralph Waldo Emerson. I've always had this deep love for inspirational quotes. They make you open your eyes, open your heart, and open your mind. I think I'd like to incorporate my love for these quotes into this blog I have goin' on here. (By the way, www.tinybuddha.com is awesome. Check it out!) When I took my huge leap of faith out here to CO from NC, my life took a bit of an unexpected turn when I got hit by a car while riding my bike. I look back at it and it really has all just been such a blur of events. My life has gone through more sudden change in the past 3 months than it has in the past 3 years! I found myself back in NC after one week of being in CO with a broken hand and a tibial plateau fracture. Two words sprung to mind at the time: Holy.shit. I don't think I ever understood at the time the amount of change I would experience and what an impact that accident would have on my life. I think I still find myself trying to comprehend everything that is going on in my life still because it's all happened so fast my eyes are just glossed over and I'm watching life happen. But here's a good quote for today:

“Make the most of yourself, because that’s all there is of you.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson


This has been one of my favorites since high school (oh, Ralph, how I love thee!). But today I read this quote with a new outlook. I have never in my life sat here and said "Thank heavens I can walk to the grocery store!". Sure, I have said aloud how I am grateful to have my two legs and I am grateful for my family and I am grateful for this, that, and the other. But I have never actually been able to feel grateful because I never had it taken away from me. I walk down the streets in Capitol Hill that I walked down when I first came here before my accident and I literally find myself holding back tears. And while I curse myself for being such a darn baby, I can't help but smile because I never really understood how amazing it is to just walk down the street. To have no destination. To look at the people and the houses, hear the leaves rustle by, listen to the dogs yap at me for passing near their yard. And it is these simple things, ladies and gentlemen, that make life worth living. It is getting out of bed, feeling the sun on your skin, the wind in your hair. This has also been one of the most trying times of my entire life. I have never experienced more frustration in all my years. It is watching my body change and lose gains I worked so hard at. I get back into the gym and go on as I normally would except that everything is different. I can't lift what I did. I can't do what I used to do. And it's because I physically can't do it! It becomes a physical and emotional exercise for me every day at the gym. But it is the quotes like these that push me and inspire me. I know that every day I can work at it. I know that with time, things will change because things always do change with time. The only person holding us back from our dreams is ourselves. I can do whatever it is that I want to do, and because of that I know that I will come out of this a better, stronger person.