Blue-Eyed Breather

"Be kind, for everyone's fighting a battle you know nothing about." I love this quote. It drives my attitudes towards others and reminds me to treat others with kindness and respect. I've talked several times on the blog about how strangers give me death glares when they hear me cough and how difficult that is on my self-esteem. I get frustrated by the lack of humanity of some people when they are concerned for their own well-being and think I'm dangerously ill and contagious when in fact I am struggling to breathe with a genetic, chronic, non-contagious disease. Similarly, in my stuttering class, we're talking about how people who stutter often fear talking to strangers because they don't want to be judged based on their speech. They are anxious of what people will say when they stutter. They dread listener's reactions. All these attitudes tend to stem from a negative experience that clouded all the positive experiences with distrust. The more I...

Sweating has never felt so good. Today, I walked for a minute, jogged for a minute for 40 minutes, which equated to about 2.3 miles. I then walked for 2 minutes, jogged for a minute for 10 more minutes, getting my exercise time up to 50 minutes and going a distance of just over 3 miles. I've never felt so fit. Even when I was in marching band in high school and in pretty great physical shape, I don't think I could run that distance or for that long. My PFTs are still at 59%--I did PFTs after I got home from exercising--but I feel so much more fit than I ever have. The numbers aren't the only factor that matters when it comes to determining health and wellness. As some of you know, I am participating in my first 5k on April 30th. This semester, I have been working hard on pushing myself in exercise. I figured the best way to make me stick to my goal was to sign up for a 5k. I know that I will not be able to run the whole race, but I will be able to walk/jog and make it to ...