It’s Spring Break, and we’re out camping — my husband, my dog, and me. We like camping at the lake near where we both attended college, so this is often a week of reminiscing as well as camping.

A little over two years ago, we planned to camp here and couldn’t get a site in the section we wanted, so we drove down and looked at available campsites; it’s not far from our home, so why not? The section wasn’t yet open for the year, so we parked our vehicle and hiked in.

I remember that hike. I felt brave enough to walk the circle of campsites, but not all the way around; I couldn’t make that distance, and the distance I did walk required stopping about every third or fourth campsite and resting. Yes, I weighed a bit more than I do, now, but the biggest difference was my knees. Even with a fairly high pain tolerance, it’s not at all comfortable to walk hills and concrete with knees that have no cartilage or synovial fluid left. Bone on bone — it’s painful, as anyone with severe arthritis will tell you.

Without bashing you over the head (again) with the vast improvements in my abilities since then, I will say that that life is much easier without so many restrictions, and I am immensely glad that I made the very conscious decision to get out of my own way, both with weight loss and with knee replacement surgeries.

It’s amazing how different the world can be when we actively work toward changing our limitations, regardless of what they might be. Setting out to conquer the small things will eventually pay big dividends. Picking something relatively easy can lead to successes that make you want to go just a little farther.

Two years ago, my abilities were much greater than they were three years before that. I would never have even have attempted a hike at all, for fear of falling as well as the immense pain from just carrying my weight. Two years ago, I was pretty happy to have made it as far as I did, and I think I even wrote about it, here. And now? I’ve happily made the same trip several times over with no stops, just to walk to the bathhouse and back.

Next week, my feet will carry me even farther. Just watch!