Source: Facebook
“I joined the gym a little less than a year ago. At the time, both my mental and physical health were struggling and I knew exercise (and a 2.5 hour day care included 😉) would really help. The very first day I went, there was a father with his son, who was about 4 years old, and they were walking around the track. His son was born with a disability where he could not walk, and his legs could barley support him. So his father walked behind him, completely hunched over, supporting him while litterally moving his legs to walk, building the muscle he needed.
This was clearly a painful and daunting process. They would take about 5 steps and stop, stretch out, and start again. For hours. Day and night. Their dedication was both inspiring and extremely humbling. I didn’t have the courage to tell them in person how much I looked up to what they were doing, so I left them an anonymous card. I wrote how my husband, and dedicated father to our two babies had unexpectedly passed away a little over a year prior, and life had been very hard since. I wrote that there have been so many days I have been exhausted, sad and angry, but when I come to the gym and see them working together in hopes that he can walk, it gives me so much strength and inspiration to keep my head up and continue on. I said that I was sure I’m not the only one who felt this way seeing them, and to keep up the good work because we are all rooting for them and they were an inspiration to us all.
Today, almost a year later, and I’ve seen them dozens of times, but as I walked in this morning, there they were, and the boy was WALKING! Still unsteady, still was falling, but there he was, now next to his father, holding his hand and WALKING beside him! I was blown away. Absolutely amazing. I am sharing this because we all have a battle we are facing. It might be your job, your health, maybe you are struggling with addiction or drowning in grief from losing a loved one, but we all have something. Never, ever give up. Even if it’s just 5 steps at a time, eventually you will be strong enough and can accomplish anything. We all just need to put one foot in front of the other and keep walking forward.” ❤
