Down South Mushing: Built by miles

My heart is still heavy and I’m still struggling with everything that happened this week. But I also don’t want to live in the sadness.

So here’s a little bit of light in a really heavy week a photo taken by my friend Lauren Stierman of a few of the dogs who help me cope when life gets hard. ❤️

Sometimes the best thing you can do is surround yourself with the things that bring you happiness while you learn to carry the grief.

I fell off the wagon.

Back at the beginning of May, my dog Nakita got sick. It landed us at the emergency vet because she had a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop. After further investigation, it was determined that, with multiple factors stacked against her and the likely cause being cancer, it was time to say goodbye.

Surgery wasn’t a good option, and I would much rather have said goodbye on my terms than have her go into surgery and never wake up. I didn’t want the last thing she felt to be fear, stress, and being surrounded by strangers.

Instead, we spent the last few days loving her, spoiling her, and then peacefully said goodbye.

It was world-shattering for me.

Finding the motivation to run became nonexistent. On top of that, life continued to throw curveballs at us.

I stopped counting calories. I stopped meal prepping. I was just trying to survive one day at a time.

I wasn’t gaining weight, but I wasn’t losing either. I just kept bouncing around within the same small range, and honestly… I’m okay with that.

The point is this:

Don’t let life’s curveballs or falling off the wagon make you feel like you’ve failed.

I’ve gone through the “You’re fat and need to get it together” phase. The “I’m a failure” phase. The “I’m angry with myself” phase.

But what I’ve learned is that life happens.

Those moments don’t define you.

They’re just a small part of your journey.

They’re part of the process, and they’re going to happen. We are not perfect.

Take your moment. But then…

Lace up your boots and get back to it.

I’m slowly lacing my boots back up and getting back into the thick of it.

I meal-prepped for the first time in months. I’ve been getting in short runs whenever I can, along with walks because this heat is absolutely brutal, and I feel like I’m melting.

It may not look like much to someone else, but it’s progress.Because moving forward doesn’t always mean sprinting.

Sometimes it just means taking the next step.

Don’t let the hard seasons define you.

You’re stronger than the setback, and your comeback starts the moment you decide to keep going.