Changing lives.
Enhancing the future.
Sharing the opportunity.
Helping YOU meet your fitness and nutrition goals through community support and group accountability!
While finishing college, I worked as a math tutor.Me!The algebra challenged person who couldn’t pass the class in high
school!
I know all the mistakes, so I’m good at helping reroute the
logic behind common mistakes.I helped
quite a few fellow students pass their math classes!! My confidence soared with my continued academic
success.In 2008, I started looking for
internships.I had a few interviews, but
nothing panned out for me. I continued searching. I continued to turn up nothing.
I sat for my FE Exam (that would be Fundamentals of
Engineering), and 6-8 weeks later, I discovered I had passed!Whew!
It was an 8 hour exam, and I didn’t want to repeat that experience!!
Graduation day came, and my parents were beaming as I walked
for my bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. I started casting about for engineering jobs, but there was
just nothing out there for me.It was
2010, and the job market had not recovered from devastation.I was working at Goodwill for $8.75 an hour.
In desperation, I applied for an opening with the Social
Security Administration.A few weeks
later, I was signed up to take an aptitude test.A few months after that, I was invited for an
interview! Four months after my initial application, I was offered a full time
government job, and I took it! This was not an engineering job. However, I had solid, reliable, full-time employment!I would be able to pay my bills, now! Stable employment is allowing me to pursue my passions. Horseback riding. Competing. Inspiring the people around me. And, now, sharing fitness and health with YOU!
With some very intense help from my friends, my mind was
warped and I fumbled my way through Precalculus that semester.I grasped at unit circles and right triangles
and repeating patterns.My life became
consumed. Similarly, I struggled through my physics class.I was preparing for a transfer into a
Physical Therapy program after acquiring my Associate’s degree.The last hurdle was this Physics class… I failed my first physics test with a 40-something percent.Can I fully express my devastation?
I spent hours on my physics homework.I was in the professor’s office on a daily
basis asking questions.I cried over my
textbook.I snuggled my cat…
I barely passed my next test.There was more crying involved.Crying was a daily occurrence.
It turned out that I had to completely rewire my brain, and
I had to do it fast!!I was developing a
whole new set of problem solving strategies.On top of that, I was delving into scientific concepts I had only scratched
the surface on previously.I didn’t
truly understand the material until weeks after we had tested on it.
During my second semester of physics, I was in my
professor’s office again, and this time I was reading an article on his wall
about researching in the field of physics.He said to me, “So, are you going to get a physics degree?”
No, I’m really more interested in doing things outside
rather than working in a lab. “Oh, so you want to be an engineer!” Oh, no. Engineering is for math people! “Well, you’re math people, aren’t you?”
I had not, up to this point, considered myself a math
person.That comment stopped me in my
tracks.It nagged at me.So, I started researching engineering
degrees.Next time, I would be able to
explain why I wasn’t interested in engineering.
However, that plan backfired!!I was fascinated!I really wanted to learn about that stuff!
I made an agonizing decision to shift my coursework focus
and extend my expected graduation date.I decided to get a degree in Civil Engineering!
This professor made it a point to be available to help me
with my calculus, as well as the physics, even after I had left his class.
And you know what?I
got A’s in both semesters of his class!I really did get it!I was math
people!
I’m no stranger to challenge.I feel as if I have hit many obstacles on my
road through life.The first of which
proved to be school, in general.
I struggled to pay attention in class, and I had no ambition
to do homework.It felt like senseless
repetition, to me.I failed basic
algebra several times…I couldn’t make
it through history class in the first try, either.I don’t do well memorizing names and
dates.It just didn’t connect with me… It took me 5 ½ years to complete 4 years of high school, but
I graduated!
I felt like I wasn’t capable of succeeding at college at the
time, so I joined the US Army!
My journey as a soldier involved quite a bit of
self-discovery.My military experience
sometimes feels like a completely separate world… I finally came to the realization that I really did need a
college degree if I wanted something more than a minimum wage job.I applied to the local community college and
started on a path to self-improvement in spite of my complete fear of Algebra.
Allow me to expand on my fear of Algebra.
I was discussing the prospect of college with a close
friend.I was telling her what my
concerns were about college, and when I got to Algebra, I burst into tears! We weren’t even talking about me signing up – we were just
talking about what ifs!! And here I was, bawling on her couch before I was even
enrolled in an Algebra class!!!
When I finally got started in college, I knew that math
would be a struggle, so I made it a point to set myself up with a study group
and take advantage of ALL of my resources.I was completing general education courses to get an Associate of Arts
degree and transfer into a Physical Therapy program.I got an A in my Intro to Algebra class.I tutored my friend during Intermediate
Algebra! Then, I faced a choice:
College Algebra followed by Trigonometry
Or
Precalculus
Many of the friends I had been studying with were taking the
Precalculus class.If I took this class
with them, I would have the same support group, and I would only have 1 more
semester of math… So, I commited!
The hardest thing I do in any given day is sit in a
chair.I know that doesn’t sound
challenging, but there are consequences to sitting.Within 30-45 minutes, a quiet ache settles
into my left hip.I’ll start to squirm a
bit.I usually don’t notice, but my
darling husband has begun to pick up on it.When we go out to eat, booths are the worst!
If I don’t notice or even ignore these warning signs, the
ache deepens and grows.Sometimes it
will ooze down the outside of my thigh.I learned quite some time ago that this ache follows my sciatic nerve
down my leg.At my worst, it goes all
the way to my foot!I avoid that state
at all costs!!
Have you ever noticed how much we sit, as a society?
I don’t deal very well with being less-than-functional.I get crappy.Grumpy.Snappy.Every little thing gets under my skin.Do you know the feeling?
I discovered that horseback riding usually made me feel
better, even if it was only for a short period.
I can’t take off from work to go ride a horse when that
feeling settles in, so I use a few other strategies, instead.
Stretching
I have been through physical therapy at least 3 times now,
and I get something new every time. Prone-on-Elbows is a pain relief position I have used for 12
years, now.I lie on my stomach and prop
myself up on my elbows.It can take 10
or 15 minutes for this position to reduce my pain, but it has always helped to
some degree.
Most recently, I learned an active stretching method to
reduce, and even remove, my pain.It’s
called centralization.The idea is that
if the extend of the pain decreases, or if the pain moves closer to my
core/spine, then I am improving and doing something that will make me better.I start in that prone-on-elbows position to
let my spine figure out where we are about to be moving.Then I do what I think of as “cobra push-ups”.I lower my upper body to the ground.I place my hands under my shoulders, and I
push up as high as I can comfortably go while I leave my hips on the floor (or
at least, near the floor) in a Cobra position.At the top of my push up, I take a moment to “sag” my hips.I just relax everything in my middle and let
gravity pull my pelvis toward the floor before I lower myself back down.I do this in rhythm with my breathing.I inhale as I push up, exhale to drop my
hips, and continue to exhale as I return to the floor.
Seriously, I’ll do this at work in my cubicle.I may look silly, but I can’t do my job if I’m
trying to sit through pain!
Heat
I have little pillows (complete with covers) filled with
corn.I warm them in the microwave and
apply ‘moist’ heat.I keep one at work,
and I keep one at home.If the heat
fades and I need just a little more, I shift the corn around inside and
reapply!
My last round of physical therapy, we would start my bad
days with this warm clay pack wrapped in a towel.The heat would sink into my back and dissolve
the stiffness in about 15 minutes.My
corn pillows let me recreate that same affect at home.
Ice Usually, I’m not a fan of the cold.Icing in the winter doesn’t feel good to
me.Sometimes, however, there is
distinct inflammation that can use my attention, and icing it will help.My same corn bags can be put in the freezer
and act like a bag of frozen peas (without the wetness and squishiness that
inevitable follows the pea thing).Bonus, the corn is reusable!
My husband keeps 3 neck wraps I mad for him in the freezer
to put on his neck after a tough day.There is always a wrap or two ready to go in the freezer.Inevitably, one is left in or next to the bed…But, hey! It’s a system that works!
Medication
I’m still on a prescription nerve pain blocker, but my dose
is decreasing.One day, I will be able
to do without it.In the meantime, I
continue to work from where I am.Small
steps will eventually lead me to where I want to be! I still supplement with Ibuprofen on worse days.I might take it once or twice a week.
I use these tools.They might not be right for you.I list them to share what is working for me.If they work for you as well, that is
fantastic!
I love to hear from you, so please tell me in the comments
how you cope with your pain…
