Unseen Obstacles, Something to be Thankful For.

Overcoming adversity is a quality that is defined as overcoming difficulties, obstacles, or misfortunes. Over the last year, no matter who you are, what you do, or where you live, I am sure that you have had the opportunity to overcome some sort of difficulty, obstacle, or misfortune. You have overcome adversity. This has in no doubt been a very hard year for everyone all over the world. With the still growing, COVID-19 pandemic, life looks a lot different today, than it did a year ago. It would be wrong of me to say that we are all growing and learning from these hardships. I can't express my condolences to those who have been impacted by COVID-19 through the death of a loved one, neighbor, or friend. I think that in these difficult times, it is more important now than ever to take a second on this day of thanks and reflect on what we are truly grateful for.

I am personally grateful for every aspect of my life that has shaped me into the person I am today. I am grateful for my parents, who raised me to always consider others, and understand that even if you are going through hard times, there is so much to still look back on and be thankful for. I am thankful for the home I grew up in. I know now, however, that four walls didn't make my home, a foundation of four arms, my mom's and my dad's, as well as the other important people in my life did. I am eternally grateful for the love, support, and compassion that I received and still receive. I am thankful for the opportunities I was given, the lessons I have learned, and the people I have met. Every aspect of my life, the good, the bad, the easy and the difficult, I can look back on and realize that those experiences shaped me into the person I am now.

I wrote this week on my page about training your thoughts to flip negatives into positives. I think that that is something we should all strive to do. I think that for all persons and especially people my age, it is difficult to see the events occurring in our everyday lives as positive, but humor me for a moment. What if we looked at the pandemic as a way to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them? What if we could change our ways? What if this was a reset of our last year? I know that for those who have lost a loved one the pandemic will never be able to be spun into a positive. However, what if those graduations that were canceled, saved us from tripping on stage and showing how clumsy we really are, or those missed practices saved use from a career-ending injury. I know that it sounds very inappropriate for me to say this but what if the struggles we have faced this year, are showing us where we need to be, what we need to let go of or hold on to.

This time last year, I was devastated with a possible career-ending injury. However, through reflection, I now am grateful for that time in my life, the lessons I learned and most importantly I am grateful for my injury due to the fact that it has shown me where I am meant to be at this point in time in my life. It slowed my life down and allowed me to gain a perspective on my life. Which now I see was going in a direction that wouldn't have been a good fit for me or my mental or physical health. I would have never seen this if it had not been for my injury last fall, which made me reflect and evaluate what I truly cherished in my life. Whether or not the obstacles we are meant to overcome are big or little, we are strong enough to overcome them. For athletes, this year we lost our seasons, our passions, and loves. For seniors, who weren't "blessed" like me with a reason to come back another year to finish their career. I hear you and all I can say is my sincerest apology. I am sorry that this devastating virus is plaguing our world. I am sorry that the days seem a little less bright. I promise you this, one day when we have understood that everything happens for a reason and that we are meant to learn from this, we will see a brighter day. A happier one. As hard as it seems, spin your negatives into positives. Accept that our lives don't always go as we plan and that if we change our perspectives and learn from our failure we might see that we do have a happy, fulfilled life that is worth being thankful and grateful for. Let's smile, laugh, and look around a little more. Let's realize that this is just a moment in time and that all too will pass. The pictures below are a day, a week and a year after my pulmonary embolism, as you can see with a new perspective, and a positive outlook, we can turn our smiles brighter and make everyday something to be grateful for.

I will leave you with this, "And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed." - Kitty O'meara

About the picture:

1. Myself and Drew, first day home post pulmonary embolism hospitalization.

2. Mom and I, at a Utica College Men's hockey game seven days post pulmonary embolism hospitalization.

3. Myself, retaking my "last action shots" because I was lucky enough to be a senior twice.