Staying the Course When Everything Says Stop

Over the past month, my body has thrown just about everything it could at me.

It started with something I would not wish on anyone. A double kidney stone diagnosis. The kind of pain that does not build slowly or give you time to process. It hits hard, fast, and demands your full attention. One moment I was fine, the next I was in the ER trying to make sense of what was happening. If you have ever experienced kidney stones, you already know there is no “toughing it out.” It is survival mode.

The days that followed were about recovery. Slowing down. Letting my body do what it needed to do. Not something I am naturally good at. I like movement. Progress. Forward momentum. But this forced me to pause, whether I liked it or not.

Eventually, things settled. The pain faded. I started to feel like myself again.

And then came round two.

Not long after recovering, I began dealing with a completely different kind of pain. This one was quieter, but persistent. A deep ache in my shoulder that started limiting movement, strength, and even simple things like getting dressed. After getting it checked out and going through imaging, the answer came back clear. A torn rotator cuff.

Not exactly the follow-up news you want after just getting through something else.

The plan is surgery. That will come after my upcoming trip. In the meantime, it is all about managing pain and staying functional. Prednisone has helped calm the inflammation. A cortisone injection has taken the edge off just enough to keep me moving. It is not perfect, but it is enough.

And that is really what this past month has been about.

Not perfection. Not ideal conditions. Just finding a way forward.

There have been plenty of reasons to stop. To postpone. To say, “maybe this is not the right time.” Between the kidney stones and the shoulder injury, it would be easy to make that case. Honestly, it would be a reasonable one.

But something in me does not work that way anymore.

I have spent too much of my life waiting for the “right time.” Waiting for things to settle down, to align, to feel easier. What I have learned is that life rarely does that. There is always something. Always a reason to hesitate.

This time, I am not hesitating.

If anything, these setbacks have reinforced something I already knew but maybe had not fully embraced. My spirit is not tied to perfect circumstances. It is not dependent on everything going smoothly. It shows up when things get hard. It shows up when plans get tested.

It shows up now.

I am still moving forward. Still preparing. Still showing up for this next chapter with the same level of intention and excitement.

Not because everything is easy, but because it is not.

There is something powerful about proving to yourself that you can handle more than you thought. That you can adapt. That you can take a hit, reset, and keep going.

This past month has not slowed me down.

If anything, it has made me more certain of who I am and how I want to move through the world.