Never Give Up!

There's a story here. Some of you know that I suffered RSI (repetitive stress injuries) to both my arms nearly a year ago. It's suspected that the snowball effect of whiplash from a few years ago combined with bad ergonomics in the workplace setting over time disabled my arms to the point I could barely lift a 1 lb weight, couldn't sleep much from the pain and became reliant on my husband to do most the cleaning of our home and the frequent drying of my hair, just to name a few.

Without insurance, we sought relentlessly for the answer. Physical therapy, myofasical specialist, massage therapy, etc. I was using my arms less and less, scared to hurt myself more. Eventually, after 7 months of all the therapies we could, I went with my gut and quit my job. The computer setup there was reeling me into a more severe condition. It was a difficult decision to make, not sure if we could make it on one income in CA. If you live in CA, you know what I am talking about. I gained weight, I couldn't take it off easily because even light to moderate cardio hurt. I couldn't life weights, which was a huge downer for me. Cooking, a passion of mine, was more a displeasure. On and on the list went. The situation looked despondent. Would I work again? Could I use computers again in a work capacity? Could I hold my own child when that time came??? I didn't know the answer and as terrible as I felt I wasn't going to sit there and let life conquer me. So with husband at my side, I continued with building up my strength endurance little by little, enrolled myself in a personal trainer course and decided my future didn't end there. I am now a certified personal trainer and I have personal experience with injuries to aid my service to others, knowledge to safely assist my clients to achieve their goals and my own physical, mental and emotional strength in the making. There are still really hard days but there are really good days too. In this picture, I am sitting on my barbell. I've been hitting squats with it. I may not have all the upper body strength back yet, and it will take time, but I'm finding other ways to challenge my body.  I am happy. The road to recovery may be long but that's okay, I am making a future and one worth living!

Never give up!