You want it- then make it happen

There it is...You see it... The thing your striving for, your goal. Your pot of gold, your future, your rainbow.

We've all been there. Wanting something so bad that we can almost see it, touch it, grab it. Yet for some reason, that thing always seems so far away.

I danced until the age of 13, then stopped. Well, not really stopped, but put it on hold for awhile. I entered high school, joined the marching band and was in the color guard/flag girl for the duration of my high  school career.

After graduating, I enrolled into USM (University of Southern Mississippi) theater & dance program. During my freshman year, I decided I would major in theater minor in dance. Only thing, I had to play catch up with all the these girls who had been dancing non stop at the the time I had pressed the pause button on my dancing.

I took my first college dance class the summer before my sophomore year. After that first class, I realized I had a ton of work ahead of me if I really wanted to be a minor and a good dancer.

The next few years were really stressful. I was my own worse critic. I can't tell you how many times I'd run out of class to "use the bathroom" and ball my eyes out in one of the stalls because I couldn't do a proper turn. I'd have to give myself a quick pep talk, dry my eyes, shake it off, and march right back in, determined as ever to some how do that proper turn.

Almost three years later...I got it!

After my accident, all that muscle I had spent years building, was all gone in a matter of a week. So, what then? I'll tell ya. I resorted back to the mentality I had in dance class, "I'm gonna do this".

So almost four months after my accident, I was strapped to a harness hovering over a treadmill and was just low enough for my feet to walk on it. Or at least get the sensation. So while training, and because there was no bathroom to run to and cry . I had to face the music and just do it.

Man was it aggravating but extremely motivating. Not only was it motivating but my determination kicked in in full force. The first time I actually felt the movement of my foot actually hitting the treadmill, it was on. Of course my physical therapists were helping me mimic my steps, but I was still feeling the motion and was eager to get those knees up and those feet moving.

Internally, I felt like I was channeling that same person I knew who gave it her all in dance class just to do a simple turn.

There are still moments where I fall a stray and have to channel that inner fighter I have inside me. But look, I wanted it, and low and behold, I got it.

Nicole