I’m thankful for a lot of things this season — and these years I’ve spent investing in my health.

I’m thankful for being able to walk. Not too long ago, I could only walk with a great deal of pain. If I needed to walk any distance, my husband pushed me in a portable wheelchair. Even when I got better, I walked with a cane. I’m thankful, now, for being able to walk without assistance, and for fair distances — I don’t walk marathons, but I can cope like a fairly normal person.

No, really. Thank you!

I’m thankful for feeling so much better than I used to feel. I don’t live my days in pain; not anymore. Nor do I live them in depression, feeling bad that I have not achieved the things I set out to do. I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I used to feel for myself, feeling fat and unloved, and yet powerless to change those feelings.

I’m thankful for being able to eat a Thanksgiving meal (or two, as the case may be, because Friday is Friendsgiving!) and knowing that I can, with confidence, return to where I was before eating large meals. I know now that what I do in the short term matters less than what I do in the long term — I can, on occasion, enjoy a meal as a treat. I may pay the consequences, but I know what they are before making the decision.

I’m thankful for my friends who have helped me over the numerous hurdles, even when I have resisted their advice. That includes my orthopedic surgeon. I’ve been studying information he’s given me and it makes a ton of sense. It’s never too late to adjust the journey. Sometimes you just have to take a different route than what you planned on, and it works out.

And finally, I’m thankful for the world that’s opened up to me since committing to change. My life is far different than it was when I started this journey, and it’s definitely more joyful and satisfying. Taking this journey has meant endless discovery; not only in figuring out who I am, now, but in becoming more me than I have been in a very long time. Being authentically me is the best gift I can ever give myself, and I am grateful to those of you who have been on this journey with me. Thanks for being there.