Monday night I was invited to talk to a group in Coldwater. And while I was heading to the event I was scanning the radio for some good songs to get me in the right mindset. Most of us call it jamming, myself included. Anyways, as I was station surfing an Old Dominion song comes on the radio & I crank it up because it’s a song I enjoy. I’ve heard it probably a thousand times & I’ve head bobbed to it just as much. But the difference between last night & every other day I have listened to that song is that I actually heard the lyrics last night. Like heard them beyond my ears and more into my heart. Into my soul actually. Which I know is kind of cheesy or excessively deep or whatever, but holy cow did it really do it. So I wanted to share it with you all. Because sometimes when we hear something we don’t really listen to it right away but, when explained in a different way, it might just hit home.

During that evening jam session I heard “you can’t keep the ground from shaking”. Like, word for word, that’s what they said & I find it to be a very fitting statement or lyric about life in general. And I’m talking anyone’s life. Not just someone who has endured gigantic mountains or have wrestled monsters triple their size. Because you just can’t always have paved paths & smooth seas. No matter how hard you try. It’s just impossible. The world is going to do what the world is going to do. Your timeline is set & all we can do is keep our head up & face forward as much as we can. We can build a strong foundation to withstand the shakes & quakes. We can build our homes with sturdy door frames that lead us from one moment to the next & also protect us when the ground does seem to begin to crumble beneath our feet. But after that, it’s up to us. All that’s left to do is ride the quake or to fall into a crack & that’s a choice we have a pretty big influence on. If we think we can stand up once more or if we are going down for the count. I know it’s a tiring task. To stand back up time after time. But sometimes it just has to be done in order to be able to see the sunset over the mountain side or to see all that you’ve overcome. And aren’t those things extremely worth fighting the tiredness for in the long run?

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it’s hard to tell if you are enduring an earthquake that lands on the upper end of a Richter scale or an F5 Tornado or a Category 5 Hurricane. I mean I’d even go as far to say that sometimes you are enduring a combination of all 3. So when they say you “can’t keep the ground from shaking” that also includes the swirls & twirls. The shakes & quakes. The wicked winds & piercing rains. Because just like weather, hard things are also unpredictable. You might be able to forecast their possible arrival but nothing can completely prepare you for it besides retreating. And when it comes to being you vs. retreating to just become a shell of a person, I hope you never choose the latter. I hope you always choose to batten down the hatches & take on the disaster, natural or not, head on. Because even if you do go down with the storm, at least you went down swinging. As the person you wanted to be and not the person who is wishing they had tried harder. And call me crazy, but standing your ground & standing tall seems to calm the crazy, if just for a minute. Like the boat seems to have stopped rocking just long enough for you to readjust & grab an umbrella. So today I’d like for you to stop trying to focus on the things that have already crumbled beneath your feet. I’m not saying don’t salvage what you can of the important things that unfortunately seemed to have crossed the path of the storm & took a hit. Because important is important no matter what they are or how old they are. But what I am saying is to focus on making what you currently have stronger. To do what you can, when you can, to make sure you can survive the next earthquake with as few casualties as possible. The earth shaking can’t be stopped but it can be withstood. Be living proof of that. You’ll be proud. I promise.

#TheOneLeggedMommy #OldDominion #CantKeepTheGroundFromShaking #Amputee #Amputation #HipDisarticulation #WithStandTheStorm #NecrotizingFasciitis