since it's the month of thanksgiving, everyone is doing those super annoying facebook posts on "what i'm thankful for on day xx". i'll just do one post, so it's only annoying once and not 30 times. (sorry friends who are doing this!! i still love you!)
obviously i'm thankful for the things you'd expect: family, friends, a job, being financially stable. then there are the things that a few people don't have: a good education, a car to get around, ridiculously fun travel experiences. but this week i was thankful for one thing more than ever.
i'm thankful i broke my leg last year.
i firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, and that God puts challenges in your life to either learn from or prepare you for something. the Dude knows what He's doing and makes no mistakes. the past 15 months since i broke my leg have sucked, only in that i've been struggling so much to get back to normal. i stayed off of it initially for twice as long as they usually have patients do, and then my recovery still took a long time. i've taken trips to australia, new zealand, korea, germany, and austria since then, and walking has always been a problem. you can ask any of the people on those trips with me - it was a pain literally and figuratively. about two months ago, i went back to my doctor and told him i thought something was wrong because it just wasn't fully healing and it started feeling "different." we did some tests and found out that not only was my knee fracturing instead of healing more, but that i had very low bone density (a step below osteoporosis). my friends that have known me the longest won't be surprised that my first reaction was "omg i'm not going to pass the astronaut medical exam." i wasn't sad or upset, i was eager to know what i could do to fix it (it can improve, so we're good there). astronauts lose bone density in space, so you can't exactly go up with low density to start.
had it not dragged on for so long trying to heal, i wouldn't have thought twice about or gone to get it checked out again.
had it healed quickly and then all of a sudden hurt again, i wouldn't have thought it was strange, only that i did something to rough to it.
had it not started hurting again, giving me a clear indication of something being off, i wouldn't have been concerned.
had it not happened now, i would have found out that i had this problem too late and wouldn't have had the time to fix it.
once you fail a medical exam to become an astronaut, you don't get to try again. you're pretty much done. this is my life's dream, so i have full faith i'll make it into a program some day and train for space. but had i not broken my leg and found out that i had a problem now, i would have failed that medical exam when it came time. having found it now, i have time to get back in the game, time to improve my health. and maybe i'm reading into it too much, but i feel like this is a clear sign that i'm on the right path and that God is looking out for my dream of going to space.
breaking my leg was a blessing in disguise. this is not even close to the first time something good has come out of something bad for me, which includes a time a few years ago that was one of the darkest times of my life. something beautiful came out of that. i thought i had broken my leg to learn to appreciate my body more and its abilities. i had gotten lazy and after this break healed, i was looking forward to running again. and then the heartbreak started over when it began to hurt more. now that i see the big picture, i'm happier than ever that i broke my leg because it was preparing me to handle even more and uncover things i wouldn't have found on my own.
count your blessings every day, but know that even your setbacks, heartaches, dark times, and problems will build you up one day. always look for the positive. you have more to be thankful for than you could ever know.
