Tuesday, February 25, 2014

It's About The Little Things

I guess technically I need to change the heading of my blog...I'm no longer twenty-four, but the good 'ol quarter of a century. It's been a weird last few weeks. They've been stressful and kind of gloomy almost. I don't know what it was about my approaching birthday that made me so, sad.

Twenty-five is a weird age, I'm sure anyone reading this over twenty-five will laugh at me. It's okay, I can laugh with you too. For me, this birthday wasn't just another celebration to be had, but it was an eye-opening, life-contemplating, change in age. Am I where I thought I would be by this age? I have mentioned in earlier posts that I struggle a lot of a feeling of self-worth. Feeling like I am good enough to lead this life that God has so graciously given to me. I look around at the blessings that I have, the opportunities that I have, and the people in my life and for whatever reason I am still left with a feeling of emptiness inside. I feel like I haven't given back enough, helped others enough, or made a big enough splash into the pool of accomplishments to deem my life as meaningful. It is a terrible thought process to have, especially with all the experiences that I have had in my short twenty-five years. I've been to five different countries, been a nationally ranked amateur athlete, gained multiple fitness certifications, completed a college degree, had eight surgeries, raced in some of the most beautiful parts of the country, picked up and moved to Utah to chase a dream, and now I am in grad school. For whatever reason, it doesn't feel like enough.

My birthday came and went without too much of a fuss. I ended up getting strep throat and quarantined to my house for the week. The funny thing is, is that this BIG scary birthday that was around the corner was here and gone before I knew it...and guess what, I don't feel a darn bit different.

One night when I was upset about the foreseeable future, my brother sat me down and said to me "old age is something to be cherished because it is denied to many" (I'm pretty sure someone originally said that, but I will give him props). He was right, my growing older is a testament to my strength and resilience throughout life. It's about the journey and the experiences that I get to endure along the ride, it shouldn't be something that is feared. So what if I'm behind on the marriage & a baby thing, or that I'm going to grad school later than the people I graduated with, or even the fact that I enjoy a night of too much ice cream over a night on the town.

It's the little things in life that matter the most, not the big ones. I was paid, probably the best compliment of my life a few weeks ago, by a fellow Crossfitter. She said to me "Jess, God gave you the most awesome heart. The way that you care for others is amazing." I think about that comment a lot, it helped me to realize some things. It helped me realize that helping and being gracious to others is far more rewarding that anything of value could bring. The impression that those words left with me is one that will not soon be forgotten, whether she knows it or not, she helped pull me out of my 'black hole' I'd been in.

So onto the not so philosophical ramblings of the day. Like I mentioned earlier, birthday week was spent on the couch fighting with a fever and other things you don't want to know about...but my birthDAY was fabulous at my Crossfit box. One of my good friends Jess #2, technically my other half, surprised me with balloons, princess hats, and a sash to wear. You better believe that I WODed in that apparel. Very proudly too.
Jess #1 & Jess #2
All the ladies who joined in on the celebration.


Thanks Jess #2! Best surprise ever!
Our gym, Crossfit 417, has got some of the best people and coaches that I could ask for (Also a BIG thanks to my coaches, THE Nick J. & Jared S. for always helping me to become a better athlete). All of the people have become some of my closest friends and when we aren't hanging out at the gym, we're chilling with the munchkins in daycare...making sure to give shout-outs to our sponsors.
The newest face of Forged Clothing. Making sure to start them off YOUNG.
Today for me was a big day. I got my FIRST full rope climb. Now I have been going to CF417 for more than a year now and I've barely even attempted one. The thought of climbing to the ceiling is something that I'd usually leave up to others, but today I succumbed to the peer pressure. As I was climbing all I could hear were screams of "you get on that rope!" and "come on Jess, almost there. Keep pushing!" I am definitely one of those athletes who works off of the crowd's enthusiasm, so when I was handed those tube socks (thank you Miss Kailey) and told to climb, well see ya later because climbing is what I did (definitely surprised myself with this newest feat).
That's a long way up...
...and even further down.






















I'll leave you with that friends, thanks to everyone who helped to make my special day, even more special, and to those who helped brighten my smile without even noticing. Until next time, stay cool and remember, it's all about the little things.

- j

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine's Day. It's About LOVE, Period.

Valentine's Day can be viewed in many different ways. It can be a day for the couples hopelessly and romantically in love, it can be a day to mourn the fact that you are single, or it can be a day to show love to anyone and everyone around you.

My grandpa loves to ask me every year if I have found a myself a valentine, and every year my reply is no. Always following that is the classic "well, why not??" He loves to probe into my life with questions about boys. I can't tell whether he's laying down a hint or he's just being goofy. I'll choose the latter.

As I got to college I was always so down when Valentine's Day rolled around and I was without a boyfriend, for yet another year. SAD is what my friends liked to refer to it as. Singles Awareness Day. Now looking back at it, how stupid we were to have that perception. As I've gotten older and wiser (I hope) I realize that Valentine's Day isn't merely for the couples with little animated hearts spinning around their heads, it's about love, PERIOD. It's about showing love to your parents and your siblings, love to the cashier who rings you up in the check-out line, or the elderly man/woman who needs help loading groceries into their car.

Having an outlook like that shouldn't be for just one day out of the year, but for all of them. Since I took that outlook my life has been much fuller.

I challenge you to go a little out of your way today, on this day of love and show some LOVE to a stranger or a friend. Even if it is something as small as a smile to a stranger on campus. If our world had a little more love in it, don't you think it'd be a better one? I certainly do.

Until next time friends, go spread the love.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Navy SEALs - Just the Inspiration I Needed.


I was given the opportunity over my Christmas break to do a lot of “fun” reading…in other words reading that wasn’t assigned or deemed necessary for my schoolwork. I read multiple books that were enlightening, others sad, and some inspirational. I love to read, always have, so when an opportunity like this presents itself I’m all over it. There were three books that I read this break that opened my eyes the most, were heavy on my heart, and that left me with an incredible thirst to continue my journey towards my chosen career path.

For those of you who don’t know I am currently working on my masters. A masters in Cell & Molecular Biology. I know what you are thinking….and believe me, I have thought the very same things before. I began this masters with the aspirations of becoming an accomplished Exercise Physiologist, while those dreams are still there, they have been tweaked a bit, for lack of better phrasing. With my work as a personal trainer and conditioning with the MSU Men’s Soccer Team I knew pretty quickly that training and performance was my passion. Helping a player get better at his/her sport or get back to their sport is so fulfilling for me. So I have decided to go to Physical Therapy school after my masters and work towards my DPT. I’ll finally be Dr. Martin. Ha.

Over the break I read two books that will forever leave a mark on my soul; Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and American Sniper by Chris Kyle. Two amazing books about the life inside being a US Navy SEAL. I understand war and the need for it, even though I hate hearing on the news that we have lost another one of our own. These books take you into the field with these soldiers and it is almost as if you are experiencing the action firsthand, that is how phenomenal the writing is. I cried through almost the entirety of both books, and I am not normally a crier…ever. There was something about their stories and their unselfish desire to protect and uphold the values of our country, a country that is not always behind them, but at the end of the day will welcome them home with open arms. These men are the true definition of what an American hero is, although I know from reading that they prefer to be known as the silent heroes, but I just had to give my little shout-out.

I come from a Navy family. My Grandpa served in WWII at Pearl Harbor, father at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and my uncle at the Naval Academy and all of his various expeditions. I do not however know what it is like to have a family member deployed…I will know that pretty soon as my cousin who is an Army Ranger will be leaving for Afghanistan in the upcoming months. I cannot imagine the immense pain that both parties must go through, so that I may freely sit here and express my right to freedom of speech while lying in bed and typing this blog, or working on my homework that is due for tomorrow.

Lone Survivor is a gut wrenching story about Operation Red Wing with four Navy Seals and a targeted Taliban leader. I’m sure most people have seen the movie, which I think does a FANTASTIC job at telling the story of that fateful day, but the book is something else entirely. The description that Marcus Luttrell goes into about his brothers and the hospitality of the Pashtun community is truly eye-opening. If you haven’t read it I HIGHLY recommend it. You can visit the website here. The movie is unlike any war movie I have ever seen before. Maybe it was because I read the book first, but it was amazing. The movie gave even more life to the book and put you into the middle of the battlefield where you saw and experienced the pain that these SEALs endured. You were able to see the acts of selflessness of these men in fighting to protect the red, white, and blue. My favorite line from the movie was by Matthew Axelson’s character, “you can die for your country, but I’m going to live for mine.” He fought to the death in honor of America. Mike Murphy and his last attempt to call for help, climbing to the top of a cliff to gain more reception to make that last phone call, the one that put him directly into harm’s way so that he could save his brothers, it makes me tear up as I write this. Danny Dietz, what a man of true grit. He had lost his hand, been shot in the leg, the back, and the head….was being dragged and still shooting at the Taliban. He would’ve kept fighting has a bullet to the throat not taken his life. The last guy of the squad, Marcus Luttrell. The lone survivor of the group, who lives on to share his story of that day. How they had to fall down a mountain three times trying to make it to better ground. THREE TIMES. He goes on to share his experience about being captured and then having members of the Pashtun community take him in as one of their own, fighting to the death to keep him alive because of a standard that their community upholds. I don’t know how ANYONE could read this book and NOT come away unchanged. This book is on my heart as I think about my activities in my daily life. I think about this book when I am training. NEVER again will I complain that a training session is too tiring or that my body is giving out because well, that's just crap, it is my mind that is quitting. If those SEALs can survive for that long after taking gunshot after gunshot to the body and having no food or water, you better believe I can make it through a workout for heaven’s sake.
"Been around the world twice. Talked to everyone once. I've seen two whales f*ck, been to three world fairs. I even know a man in Thailand with a wooden cock. I've pushed more peter, more sweeter, and more completer than any other peter-pusher around. I'm a hard-bodied, hairy-chested, rootin', tootin', shootin', parachutin', demolition double tap crimpin' frogman. There ain't nothing I can't do. No sky too high, no sea too rough, no muff too tough. Learned a lot of lessons in my life. Never shoot a large caliber man with a small caliber bullet. Drove a lot of trucks. 2by's, 4by's, 6by's and those big motherf*ckers that bend and go 'shhh shhh' when you step on the brakes. Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards. I'm a lover, I'm a fighter, I'm a UDT SEAL Diver. I'll wine, dine, intertwine, and then sneak out the back door when the refueling is done. If you're feeling froggy then you better jump because this Frogman has been there, done that, and is going back for more."
- Shane Patton (in Lone Survivor) 

I guess I had never given it much thought as to what our Special Operations guys do over there. All I really know is what I see on the news or hear over the radio, which doesn’t give our soldiers the credit that they so deserve. I have often been moved when I see a veteran walking somewhere in their uniform. I want to go up and hug them, about let alone kiss them out of gratitude and everything that they have done for this beautiful country of mine. I usually can’t get the guts to go up and say it though, for fear of…well I don’t really know.

My brother is super interested in the SEALs and what they have to offer and what it means to be a SEAL, so I have all kinds of books at my disposal. After reading Lone Survivor, I moved onto Chris Kyle’s book American Sniper. This book is about America’s most decorated sniper and the different missions and problems he faced throughout his four tours in Afghanistan. This website gives you a tiny glimpse into the person he was. He made it through those four tours, for the most part unscathed, to unfortunately be killed on his home soil. God must have needed a good soldier by his side. 
The stories that Chris Kyle tells seem to be something only one would see in a movie, let alone have to live through. His book took you right into the field of battle, as did Lone Survivor, except his was a culmination of stories instead of one event. It was in his book that I found my calling. He describes when he he finally had to undergo dual knee surgeries after being caught under a wall that exploded from an RPG. He describes his rehab experience with a Physical Therapist who was a Certified Strength & Conditioning Coach, explaining the pain and frustration that he went through with this PT who was there with him every step of the way. Along with helping Chris Kyle to be the fittest he has ever been, allowing him to step back into battle without missing a beat.

As soon as I read that portion of the book, I knew that that is what I wanted to do with my life. Help injured soldiers return to their passion, the battlefield. I love athletics and training players, but there is something that spoke to me after reading these two books. The desire to give back to those who have so valiantly put their life on the line for this country time and time again. That is something that takes a truly special human being, and if rehabbing someone that has done that is my contribution to the beautiful USA, then I would be honored.

So Physical Therapy school is next on the list of my educational endeavours. I have no idea where yet, but I am so excited to get there. 

To the men and women of the armed forced who serve our country, I thank you. If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be a place to call the Beautiful U.S. of A. 

Allow me to introduce myself...again.

For those of you who are new here, allow me to introduce myself...for those of you who have followed with me you can skip on down. My name ...