Hey! It's been awhile since I've shared with you. I've been ‘busy’ with school, work, and trying to stay on my feet. ‘Busy’. That word has a whole new meaning now that I'm 'back to normal'. I've actually been working on a few things that I feel would be beneficial to share with all of you!
Prior to my diagnosis, I was always into working out, eating healthy and overall, just putting my health first. I had let myself down the moment I was told I had cancer. The irony of people coming up to me and asking what they could do to prevent it was not arrogant, per-say, but more shameless. They had no clue about cancer, but neither did I, at the time.
I became a certified personal trainer in 2017 when I decided it was time to really take matters back into my own hands after recovering from my hip replacement. I joined a gym and was back on the "fitness craze" that everyone else was on, using those infamous Instagram accounts that claim to educate us to the point where gyms could probably lose business with all these "At-home workouts" and "Quick-fix teas". It wasn't about aesthetics for me anymore. It was about celebrating my body and what it could do. During treatment I worked out through Wellspring where I was supervised by registered kinesiologists and certified Personal Trainers. I saw the difference it made on my energy levels and just my overall mood - even when I was coming off of steroids. It helped me feel like me again.
Since that recovery time, becoming a student in Health & Fitness Promotion at George Brown College really helped me see the different paths I can take after I graduate. I'm only in first year but I've opened myself to many opportunities which I feel will help me get to where I want to go .... and deserve to be. As a personal trainer now, I am helping educate women about the importance of putting yourself first, while using my experience with cancer. I am teaching them that showing up to the gym or just going for a walk, are celebrations of what our bodies are capable of. As women, we become fixated on how we look, but cancer taught me that it's about feeling STRONG. EMPOWERED. I didn't think that I would be able to squat 175 lbs without support and an artificial hip. My surgeon was in awe after I showed him videos of me dead lifting my body weight. My oncologist was speechless. These are the reactions I've wanted my healthcare team to have of me. This is the impression I want to leave them with as I enter my fourth year in remission.
I want to help you! INSPIRE you. MOTIVATE you. Going forward, I plan to make this the mission of my blog - by using what I learn in school, on my own, and relating it all back to my personal experience with cancer, to share with you how you can take your life back during and after cancer with exercise, health & fitness. I am no scientist or healthcare professional. I just want to SHARE with you how I was able to get myself back on my own two feet and how I keep fighting every day to only be better.
