Inspiration at the Y

Since coming home from Maryland about 5 weeks ago life has been quite an adjustment.  This is an adjustment we expected but couldn't really prepare for.  How do you prepare to reenter a world that has continued forward while your world has been put on hold and fast forward all at the same time?  How do prepare to see friends and family whom you have not seen for maybe weeks, months or almost a year?  How do relearn what it means to live life, really live it, while still getting bloodwork twice a week and always waiting for the next 4 week check up in Maryland?  You don't really prepare for it.  You take it one day at a time, putting one foot in front of the other until you have reached the goal. 

Back in October when I was doing the first type of chemo that we tried my goals in the days following treatment would be something like this: Today I will get out of bed long enough to get the mail.  Or Today I will move to the couch.  I've come a long way from simply getting to the couch or the mailbox.  I am now swimming at the Y 3 days a week and I've started a once a week yoga class there as well.  I'm able to play with my daughter for hours at a time not minutes.  And I even went to a birthday party for a dear friend last night!  One of the many, many, many things that I have learned throughout this experience is that goals are important.  It was important for me last fall to get to the mailbox just as it is important for me now to get to the pool.  On the wall at one end of the pool the Y has hung 4 banners each reads a single word.  I memorized them within my first couple of laps on my first day at the pool: Responsibility, Respect, Honesty, Caring.  To be totally truthful I memorized them quickly because it was easier for me to keep track of how far I had swum by which banner I was on than to try and count and swim at the same time.  However, those banners have become a mantra for me, an inspiration.  Each lap I swim lines up with one of those words and that is what I think about while I swim that lap.

Here is a small taste of what goes through my mind with each banner:
Responsibility:  I am taking responsibility for the health of my body.  I am taking responsibility for my mental, physical and emotional health.  I am taking responsibility for my life.

Respect:  By swimming these laps I am respecting the body that I am so very blessed to have.  By swimming these laps I am respecting those cancer survivors and patients who can't yet get in the pool or won't be able to get in the pool.  By swimming these laps I am respecting the life that I have the opportunity to live.

Honesty:  Honestly can I swim one more lap, yes or no?  This swimming is good for me but I can overdo it.  Honestly, it does not matter that the woman in the lane next to me (probably 30 years my senior) is out swimming me tenfold.  Honestly what matters is that I am here and I am trying.

Caring:  I am caring about my body.  I am caring about my life.  I am caring about my family.  I am caring about my friends.  I am caring about the journey that I have been on and will continue to grow on.

If you have the chance to really think about these words and put them into your life I am certain that you will find great things inside of you.  You will think great thoughts and set and achieve great goals.  We all, no matter what life has thrown at us, can take responsibility, have respect, be honest, and care.  Give it a try, you'll be glad you did.  And as always, hug someone you love today.