"Your Joy is Your Job"

Hello Everyone :)

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this video (from 24:40 onwards is what I'm talking about) whilst I was planning for a small group that I lead, and it had some very interesting points in it that really made me think...

One of my goals for this year is to be happier and a more positive person and to just enjoy life. So when I watched this video, I decided that I needed to make some changes in my life and in my thinking.

Steven Furtick (a Christian speaker), says in part of this talk that we need to "own our emotions", and stop looking for someone else to blame for our state of minds. So we shouldn't be blaming others for the way that we feel, or for "putting us in a bad mood"...come on now, even I'm guilty of this!

Rather than just letting everyone and everything get to us, we need to own our emotions, and say to ourselves that "our joy is our job"...

This simple saying struck a chord in me and really challenged me because so often I rely on others to make me happy and to bring me joy. But in reality, people will always let us down because no one is perfect. We are all flawed. So if we want to have joy in our lives, it starts with us! We need to make a conscious effort to be more joyful, to fill our lives and our thoughts with the things that make us joyful.

We can't control what happens to us in life but we can control how we react to it. There is a famous quote by Charles R Swindle that says "I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.... We are in charge of our attitudes". And I 100% believe this! There are so many situations in life where we can go off the handle and flip out at others or ourselves, this sometimes being the easier way out of things. Or we can choose to ride out the storm in a calm, collected and joyful way.
Now, I'm not saying that this is super easy and that it will come naturally to everyone, because let's be honest it won't. But that's ok!
Good things take time :)

After 2 months of this type of thinking, I feel so much happier and a lot more positive. And sometimes it won't be something that I notice on a daily basis, but more when something challenging arises and I don't feel stressed or anxious, because my way of thinking has changed and I know that those feelings won't get me anywhere. But feeling positive will! 
So, give it a try...

I'll leave you with this thought "Happiness is dependant on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature".

If you've got the time I would really encourage you to watch the video! And let me know what you think... Are there any motivational quotes that help you to keep your joy? Leave me a comment, I would love to read them!

Have a great week!

Jess x

MY ACL STORY: The Week When I Finish....

Remember this!

Hello Everyone :)
Week 13:
I've actually done it.....
I've finished college for good.....
I had my last 2 exams this week, and they didn't go too well but I'm just so thankful to finally have college out of the way - especially after the year I've had! Now I am free to spend my summer as I wish (which will consist mostly of sleeping).
Recovery wise things weren't too great this week, but I'll explain later on in this post why.

I started at the ACL class this week. This is a special class where all of the ACL patients at my physiotherapy place come together for an hour and work on their recovery together, whilst listening to some "hype" music. The room is set up with 10 different stations, ranging from the cross trainer to balance boards and all that comes in between, and we then go round in a circuit spending 3 minutes on each station.
However, because my physiotherapist was ill this week, I was left with another physio who ran the class too - but he didn't know what I was good at or what I struggled with. So he basically just observed me the whole time, rather than helping or encouraging me. So I didn't really enjoy it too much as I feel like I work better with a bit of encouragement.
Also my knee was super wobbly this week. No matter what I did it just wobbled like crazy! It was incredibly frustrating, especially when it came to doing the jumping from side to side and then balancing on my operated leg on the trampette as it was too wobbly to even balance. Also when I was doing the step ups and step overs on the step box my leg wobbled and ached so much. The physio seemed to think it was because my knee was tired which would explain the wobbling.
After this session, I had quite a lot of pain in the muscles around my knee and it ached really bad. Hopefully next weeks session will be better because right now I'm not too keen on this new class. I'm not sure if it's just because I don't like change (and this is a big change for me), or because my knee was tired, but I'm really hoping this feeling goes away for next week.

This is going to sound so random, aha, but this week I had a dream that I could run - like a full on sprint! But when I woke up and I still couldn't run I was so so upset :(
It'll happen soon, I just wish it would hurry up. I haven't been able to do it for around 10 months (since I first injured my knee). It's funny because before the injury I was never that fussed about running, but I think it's that thing of whenever someone tells you that you can't do something, and it just makes you even more determined to do it. I think running is like that, because I'm not able to do it and now I would do anything to be able to.
But I will get there!

My scars poking through my ripped jeans aha ;)

So this week was another boring one because I spent a lot of my time revising and trying to get my last 2 exams out of the way, but now they are so hopefully I'll start being a lot more active and fun aha ;)
This week I also wore jeans for the first time since the operation woo hoo! I probably could have started to wear them a while back but I love my jeans to be super skinny, which then requires the skinny jean dance (girls, you know the one...) But I finally did it, I'm getting back to normal, slowly but surely!
If you would like to read my experience of my other weeks post-op, then you can find those blog posts here. 
Feel free to leave me a comment if you've been through this (because I could use all of the advice and knowledge), or if you just feel like leaving a comment :)
Stay positive and keep on being you x

MY ACL STORY: The Week When I'm 2 Months Post-Op....

Hello everyone :)
Week 9:
Where have these past 2 months gone?! I always thought that recovery would be like the night before a concert that you've been waiting months for, and time just goes so slowly. But surprisingly, it's gone pretty quickly!
Despite this quickness in time, it has been no less of a struggle! But I truly believe that staying positive is the key to a healthy and happy recovery.
It's been a good week :)

Okay, so first things first, I finished college for good this week (apart from exams). This is probably the most exciting thing that has happened in quite some time haha!
Finishing college meant that it was time for my Sixth Form Leaver's Ball. It is a dance type thing that happens at the end of the year to celebrate the end of college, and people dress up all fancy and it is an evening to be enjoyed by all. However, despite wearing flat shoes (and most others wearing heels) and taking it as easy as I possibly could, I still ended up sitting out the majority of the night because my knee was just far too painful. I got up to dance to "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls (let's face it, who doesn't?!) and that was it, my knee was done for the rest of the evening. This was extremely frustrating and I wanted to enjoy it more than I did but there was nothing I could do about it at the end of the day.

I had 2 rounds of physiotherapy this week, and I felt that both of them were victories in the recovery department.

Knee flexion is flexing ;)

In the first session I had my knee flexion and extension measured for the first time since the day after my operation. I have gained 30 degrees in flexion and my knee extension is nearly at 0, so I'm very nearly back to my full range of motion in my knee! This was such great news and it put me in the absolute best mood ever :D
The proper full range in the knee is around 135 degrees in flexion and 0 for extension. So I am so very nearly back at the full range of motion.
At this physio session I also went on the rower for the first time post-op. It felt super weird at first but after the first few rows, and going quite gently, I got into the rhythm of it and built up the right amount of momentum. I love adding new exercises or pieces of equipment to workouts because it makes me feel as though I've progressed enough to be rewarded with a new exercise, and that makes me happy.

In the 2nd session of physiotherapy, my physio measured my flexion and extension again because he forgot to write it down the first time - how professional?! Anyway for 2 months after ACL reconstruction, the knee flexion should be at 120 degrees, but I'm at 130 degrees. So when he told me that it made me extremely happy because it means I'm further on in my recovery than I should be, and further on than most other people.
I also started doing some leg stretches this week. This included sitting on my legs, so that they were bent underneath me. I couldn't get my bum to sit directly onto my feet, but I was really close and it was a good attempt for the first time trying it. I then tried standing up and holding my foot where the shoelaces are and pulling it up behind me - so pulling it towards my bum - whilst balancing on my good leg. Both of these exercises felt very relieving once I had completed them, almost as if I had needed to do them for a while.

So this week has been very productive, recovery wise.
In the gym at physio, there was a woman who was wearing the clunky knee brace that I had and could barely do anything. And whilst I was doing all of these crazy (well crazy for me) new exercises, I watched this woman and it really made me appreciate just how far I had come in terms of my recovery! Going from being bed ridden and barely being able to walk, to 2 months later and I'm relatively back to normal. Life is crazy :)
If you would like to read my experience of my other weeks post-op, then you can find those blog posts here. 
Feel free to leave me a comment if you've been through this (because I could use all of the advice and knowledge), or if you just feel like leaving a comment :)
Stay positive and keep on being you x

MY ACL STORY: The Week When I'm Boring....

Hello everyone :)
Week 8:
I'm not even gonna lie, this week has been proper boring, and I sincerely apologise for this post because it may bore you to tears.
Anyway, the reason for this boringness is because I had my first exam of the year, so all I have been doing is revising like crazy! The exam was AS Ethics, which I was re-taking from last year because I did awfully. And it went surprisingly well, so I was glad that I did spend a lot of my time revising as I felt like it actually paid off and wasn't all for nothing.

This week I had another physiotherapy session where I progressed to some exercises using props. Last week I was doing the same exercises but just on their own. So I was doing the bridging exercise on its' own. But this week I did it with an exercise ball under my heels/legs. This meant that I could really work my hamstrings and could work on my core muscles to keep the ball in place - without moving it too much.

Great things take time :)

Another exercise that I did last week without a prop was balancing on my operated leg. But this week I balanced on my operated leg whilst holding a football in my hands, with my arms out straight. I then had to lift the ball above my head, then back out in front of me, and then I had to turn to the left and to the right holding out the ball - whilst balancing on my leg. I had to repeat this 5 times. I also did this exercise on a blue foam block - so the surface was uneven and really tested my balance! By the 5th time, my leg was quite wobbly but at no time felt like it could give way.
The third, and final, exercise that I did last week without a prop was the sit-to-stand. But this week I was given a 1kg ball to hold out at arms length in front of me. This was so that my muscles really started to work again in my legs. By the 15th time doing this, my legs and arms were shaking like crazy!
In this session my physiotherapist kept saying to me "this is too easy for you", and then he'd find a way to make it harder. This made me feel as though I was really trying to push myself, and as though all of my exercise at home was really paying off.

I went out on a few outings this week, these included going to see Pitch Perfect 2 (which was amazing - maybe better than the first one?!) and going with my friend to get her nose pierced.
On both of these outings I wore a knee support to compress my knee and to help me feel some sort of comfort. I found that wearing this made me feel a lot more confident when walking - with it still feeling quite wobbly.
Walking is still quite difficult, and I'm still slow, but I know that with more time spent on my knee it will get back to normal.

I told you that this week would be incredibly boring *yawn*, and if you made it this far then I applaud you!
I'm not taking as much Ibuprofen anymore because there isn't as much swelling or pain in my knee, which is amazing! The only time I feel like I need it is the day after physio when I feel some muscular pain from the strain in my hamstrings.
If you would like to read my experience of my other weeks post-op, then you can find those blog posts here. 
Feel free to leave me a comment if you've been through this (because I could use all of the advice and knowledge), or if you just feel like leaving a comment :)
Stay positive and keep on being you x