Strength – AP's Blog

Wow, I can’t believe it is March 1st! Spring is finally in the air waking up to birds chirping is always a good sign. Poured me a cup of coffee this morning and I can just hear the birds chirping away outside. I am so grateful to see another season of life. I have always appreciated life and the ups and downs but after my diagnosis I cherish every bit of it.

This past Tuesday after 6 months of not exercising I laced up my brooks and stomped the pavement. I finally did it! It was nice enough outside and I was feeling pretty good so I decided to go for it. I made it 2 miles in 24 minutes and 20 seconds. I knew I wasn’t going to come out running 9 minute miles like before and I was A-OK with that. As I was running I did catch this little voice in my head telling myself to not give up as I wanted to so bad. Before my diagnosis I was very active so not working out for 6 months has been very challenging for me not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. Have you ever heard that saying, ” you never know what you can do, until you can’t do it,” this journey has made me realize that. Don’t take things for granted because there may come a time where you don’t have the ability to do those things. We also never truly realize that our setbacks are setting us up for greatness and that our setbacks surprisingly turnout to be our greatest strengths.

I remember about 5 years ago when I started my weight loss journey. I never realized that journey was inspiring others to get healthy and helping achieve personal goals. It was then when I realized what my PURPOSE was in life! TO HELP OTHERS and to share my life journeys.

When I was diagnosed October 13th, 2017 with Stage 2A Invasive Ductal Carcinoma I thought to myself, should I share my journey or do I keep it private. I decided to share it because I could help bring awareness and the importance of self breast exams, and also I wanted to open up and provide not only the good days but also the bad days. Cancer is a scary disease but I chose to embrace this journey for the positive. I have been so incredibly grateful for the support and love that not only I have received but also my family. This setback has turned out to be the greatest blessing in disguise. I have been able to pursue my passion and purpose. No matter what season we are in we will have to overcome obstacles that we never thought we would have to so embrace all obstacles.

I found my PURPOSE! Have a blessed day!

So most of you know or maybe you don’t 🤔 but I’m a very open person. I enjoy sharing my life with people. No matter what path I’m on I’ve always enjoyed sharing it. It brings me joy! Why, because I hope that I’ve inspired someone, 👈🏽 (that brings me happiness.) I love seeing people with a smile on their face or happiness in their heart. And if I can do that for one person then my heart is complete. Have you seen that quote that says, “don’t allow others to steal your joy,” yeah I’m not going to allow that anymore because sharing my journey brings me joy not a pity party.

Like I’ve said before what you see on social media are my good days. But damn I’ve had some extremely, challenging days that I want to share with y’all. The last few days I have been extremely emotional and stand-offish because I am struggling both physically and emotionally. Friday was really hard for me because being a marathon runner and a person who loves to workout I have not physically been able too. What hit me was when I had to stop half way up my stairs because I was out of breath 😭. I was so frustrated that I started crying. Just mad and angry that this is my life right now. That I’ve been dealt these stupid cards in life. (No I don’t want a pity party) just simply stating my frustrations. I did make my way to the top of the stairs to get ready 🙌🏽 and yes I got over it but it still pisses me off.
So as I went to bed last night, I got about✌🏽 hours asleep as I was awoken by night sweats. And when I say night sweats I mean drenched in sweat 😓. Why do I have these could be a couple things; chemo, or medications I’m on. Who knows but they are annoying too. Needless to say I’ve been up since 1:30 am watching tv, and trying to go back to sleep. So since that didn’t work I made a cup of joe ☕️ (my grandpa👴🏼 used to call it that) and started to read a book that I was given by my dear friend Jill, called, Option B. I didn’t even make it through the Introduction without crying 😢 because I felt like it was written for me to read at that very moment. And was Gods way of speaking to me at that very moment. In the meantime I’m racing to the bathroom to get sick (which is a first) because I was nauseous from the side effects of chemo.
But there is a quote in this book that I think we could all benefit from in some aspects of our lives.

~Option A is not available. So let’s just kick the shit out of Option B~

~Life is never perfect. We all live some sort of Option B, so let’s all kick the shit out of it~

So what I took from the book and the last 6 months of this not so planned journey I’m on is, no matter what obstacles are placed in front of me if what I’m doing isn’t available go to Option B and kick the shit out of it!

With all that said I pray that each and every one of you has an amazing Saturday, whether you’re enjoying warm weather ☀️ or this cold weather ❄️ enjoy your Saturday! MUCH LOVE, STAY BLESSED ✌🏽💖🙌🏽😘

Tag: Strength

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