Looking back at my last entry, it’s so satisfying to be in an internal and physical space that is miles away from where I was when I wrote that post. It’s very rewarding to know I’ve done that for myself and am continuing to do so!

Since that post, I’ve gotten myself a little job out here in Connecticut that I absolutely adore. I work outdoors and while I’m not currently working with horses, I do work with donkeys and farm animals in a beautiful little outdoor area. It was a bit rough in the winter when our pipes froze and I was carting buckets of water from the facility’s gymnasium down to the barn and breaking ice on some of the unheated water troughs, but it has made the warming spring feel like an extra wonderful reward. Looking from that post to this one makes me profoundly aware of how nothing is permanent. No stage of life is forever, and that’s scary but heartening. I wish I could tell last summer’s me about all the great stuff coming her way, but she’ll get to find out for herself in due time. Here’s a hint her doctor had to point out to her: she needed to take some vitamin D3 supplements!

I began logging and tracking my food again in earnest as well back at the top of January. It really is incredible how crucial that is to the success of my progress. It also just kind of feels fun to do? Trying to make better choices and staying away from the majority of the stuff that got me into trouble during my post-accident slump has been yielding some great results. As for exercise, upping my walking has been another key ingredient to a better existence. I’m looking ahead toward beginning some strength and flexibility work to supplement that, and am just a bit nervous to begin because of my back. Starting slow and small will be the key, I think, and gradually building up. Heck, I already carry water buckets and cart around wheelbarrows full of manure now, something I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do again last year at this time.

Since September I have lost 32 pounds, which feels just fantastic for me. I still have a lot to go, of course, but I’m keeping myself to a pace I know I can keep for the rest of my life. Barring any sort of devastating sidelining injury like my 2019 mauling or the illustrious 2023 falling off of a shipping container, I plan to keep progressing with my health and fitness while trying not to focus exclusively on the number on the scale, knowing that its gradual lessening is a component in me feeling and moving better.

Something I did to sort of reward myself for my progress thus far was return to horseback riding. I’ve recognized by now that horses are a key part of my life and I need to be around them in some capacity or other or I will go crazy. Alas, there are no horses at my job, though we do have donkeys. While hilarious equines that are full of character and such fun to work with, they’re very markedly not horses. I am still feeling a bit tentative as I am both out of condition and still too heavy for my own liking, but knowing that those things are being actively worked on helps and motivates me. Each pound I lose is a pound off a beloved school horse’s back. Each workout I do strengthens my core and takes me further from the sack of potatoes that core has come to resemble. There’s nothing like the feeling you have when you get back to something you can’t live without. The second I got back in the saddle I realized I’ll do anything at all and pay whatever cost I have to to stay here. It’s where I belong. I was never the best rider, I never won blue ribbons or rode the problem horses to perfection or flew over huge jumps or anything, but I sure did and do love riding. That connection you build, the feeling like you own the world and that you’re just hanging out with your best bud, that’s what it’s about for me.

Other than that, I’ve been trying to wake up my creative impulses, and I have a few ideas I’ve pecked at lightly over the past year but nothing that wants to come out into the light and let me really work on it. I’ll just have to be patient on that front. I have been doing a project that involves me writing every day in a paper journal, though. I started it on the same day I started logging my food again, and while it doesn’t seem like a related project, I’ve found it very much weaves into my health journey at large. Maybe I’ll write on that another time, when I have a few more months under my belt on it.

Until then, I’ll just go on making progress, grateful that life comes in seasons and it’s spring for me in more ways than one.