Fast-forward two years, and I live in a different scenario. The realities of life and financial needs call me back into the workforce. My burning desire for adventure calls me out into the mountains. And my toddler’s need for independence and understanding calls me into the most intense throes of parenting to date. Now I am simultaneously a mother, wife, and adventure-seeking individual with a need to make money in this world.
I grew up learning how to bike by using a tricycle, and then a bike with training wheels. I vividly remember the moment I first felt what it was like to balance on two wheels, on my own. By the time I had learned to balance without any aids, I was six or seven years old. But now, a few companies, such as Burley, are changing the way kids learn to bike.
I know as well as any new mama how it feels when that-friend-who-started-trail-running-a-month-after-delivering-a-baby posts a photo of her latest baby-free jaunt through the woods. I’ll admit I still feel those pangs of jealousy as I think back to my own first month postpartum, to my post-baby body. I still feel them now. On the surface some women make it seem like they just plopped a baby out and then it’s business as usual. (Is this actually ever the case!?) Physically speaking, it seems they heal quickly and their bodies are good to them.
This just wasn’t, isn’t, the case for me. And I discovered that comparing myself to others really is futile because I don’t want others to compare themselves to me. I know that I post a lot of photos of me doing active, outdoorsy things, so I wanted to set the record straight. Since May, I have only been doing those things when I feel good enough to do them. Otherwise, I’ve been coping with health issues that have come as a major surprise to me.
A surprise and a major wake-up call.
I should perhaps find it odd when my husband comes home at seven o’clock in the morning and casually announces that he “hiked up Mt. Tongariro last night.” But, I don’t. At least not anymore. Not only is it something he does fairly frequently, but it’s the only way he’s been able to get out photographing these days.
