A Life Defined by 5 1/2 Years

Every soldier's life is shaped by the time they are in service to their country.  it begins when you are in basic and learn a routine and how to follow someone's lead and work as a team.  Then continues when you move to advanced training and you learn to stand alone in your new job.  Rounding out when you move to your permanent duty station.

Moving to your duty station is the beginning of bad habits for most, it certainly was for me.  I could eat what I wanted, drink what I wanted and interact with who I wanted.  Most of this has a minimal effect on your body due to the PT regime you still have to maintain.  Only those unlucky enough to be injured or who end up in an environment that makes PT up to the individual instead of the group really face this while on active duty.

By the time I realized I had not been kind to my body by learning how to eat healthy, life has happened.  I got married, had a daughter, my marriage culminated in an act of unexpected abuse, which results in another pregnancy, so I got out of the military, took 2 years to get divorced from my now AWOL husband and the stress adds up.

I ended up a totally single parent, went to school for a degree, started at the bottom when I begin working at a hospital, moved to a new town and a new job at a new hospital, get my job certification, and focused all of my attention on raising my daughters.  I slowly stopped exercising as I picked up more jobs to make ends meet.  I have gotten little to no child support from the donor and continue to struggle on.  It had become a habit to eat what I wanted, but now there is no exercise to balance out my terrible diet.

Before I knew it 14 years had passed and I was 210 pounds.  My height had still not changed and my 5 foot body was starting to make me aware of it's imminent shut down.  I found myself 38 and afraid I might not make it to my youngest daughters graduation when I will be 42.

It was time to make a change!

I decided to leave the worst of the last 14 years behind and bring forward the best of the military life.  I let those 5 1/2 years define me once again and help me to become who I was always meant to be. 

Let my path help you to become who you were meant to be, a Veteran Rising.