Today

Well, I survived January! Yay!  I didn't make any new year's resolutions because I don't really believe in them.  I don't believe in trying to do something because it's the beginning of a new year, or a new month, or beginning a diet (or whatever) at the beginning of a new week because tomorrow is always a new day and new months, or news years are really just arbitrary dates.  If you 'break' your diet on a Wednesday (it's an easy example), who says you have to give up for the rest of the week?  Just strengthen you resolve and start again tomorrow.

I really feel that looking at things from that kind of perspective is what helps me cope with everything just now - and there is so much advice like that (one step at a time; one day at a time; little by little etc.) so when I have a bad day, or an extra-painful day, or I feel disappointed that my movement hasn't been good one day; I always tell myself it has just been one day and tomorrow is a new today.  It might sound a bit weird, but I think it helps.  And I think there are so many situations in life that are made easier by focusing on the present; not worrying too much about things we can't control.

So, to end January, and welcome the second month of 2013, and another new day:  

"Today My Life Begins"

Bruno Mars

I've been working hard so long

Seems like pain has been my only friend

My fragile heart's been done so wrong

I wondered if I'd ever heal again

Oh just like all the seasons never stay the same

All around me I can feel a change (oh)

I will break these chains that bind me, happiness will find me

Leave the past behind me, today my life begins

A whole new world is waiting its mine for the taking

I know I can make it today my life begins

Yesterday has come and gone

And I've learn how to leave it where it is

And I see that I was wrong

For ever doubting I could win

 (Chorus)

Life's too short to have regrets

So I'm learning now to leave it in the past and try to forget

Only have one life to live

So you better make the best of it

  (Chorus)

  (Again: I don't own any music/ videos etc. All linked to Youtube and artists accredited)

And the perfect sentiment to finish January with my all-time favourite quote:

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

~ Albert Einstein And now to think of a February challenge..

Dance

I've had a really sore day today after all the pushing, pulling and testing my muscles went through yesterday so I've chosen what I think is a simple, but beautiful, inspirational song. It always makes me think about how tiny and insignificant we really are in this amazing world we live in - but we still get the chance to live one life and we should always choose to dance; to experience every opportunity that we get and to live life to the max, as much as we can.

"I Hope You Dance"

Lee Ann Womak

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,

May you never take one single breath for granted,

GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',

Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,

When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,

Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. 

Dance....I hope you dance. 

I hope you dance....I hope you dance. 

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.. 

(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along 

Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)

 (Again: I don't own any music/ videos etc. All linked to Youtube and artists accredited)

It's too hard to choose just one quote this song inspires, so I have three:

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”    ~ Emily Dickinson

To live is the rarest thing in the world.  Most people exist, that is all.

  ~  Oscar Wilde

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

  ~ Mark Twain

EXPLORE ~ DREAM ~ DISCOVER ~ DANCE

BE AMAZED

BE AMAZING

I AM A FIGHTER

I've always loved this song for its phenomenal feel-good, tough girl, motivational lyrics and beat.  It's just the kind of song that should be offended by being left out, so here it is!

This song makes me think of my fight with my body.  It's a really difficult thing to realise that your body is not infallible; that it can let you down with such emphatic defiance.  I know lots of people who have coped with that in different ways, each has gone through (and is going through) his/her "fight" to get back to that thing we call normal (does it exist, anyway?!)

The reason I called my blog "out of the lyme light" was, obviously so the world "lyme" was in it, but because I really did feel, when I started writing and reflecting, that I was emerging as a different person from the person who began the journey.  I feel the same about dealing with all my shoulder issues and I think this song captures that idea - that when something bad happens, we can choose how we deal with it; and we can choose to let it break us; or we can choose to fight, emerging from the battle... or maybe the war... a different person - someone who has proven to themselves what they are capable of; learning new things about themselves; and using their newly found skills to help other people too.  Not despite it all, but because of it all.

"Fighter"

 Christina Aguilera

[Spoken:]

After all that you put me through,

You think I'd despise you,

But in the end I wanna thank you,

'Cause you've made me that much stronger

  *        *        *        *        *        *        * 

But uh uh, oh no, you're wrong

'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do, I wouldn't know

Just how capable I am to pull through

So I wanna say thank you

'Cause it

[Chorus:]

Makes me that much stronger

Makes me work a little bit harder

It makes me that much wiser

So thanks for making me a fighter

Made me learn a little bit faster

Made my skin a little bit thicker

Makes me that much smarter

So thanks for making me a fighter

  *        *        *        *        *        *        *

I am a fighter and I

I ain't gonna stop

There is no turning back

I've had enough

[Chorus]

You thought I would forget

But I remembered

'Cause I remembered

I remembered

You thought I would forget

I remembered

'Cause I remembered

I remembered

[Chorus]

(As usual, I don't own any music/ videos etc. All linked to Youtube and artists accredited)

“Dwell in possibility.”       ~ Emily Dickinson