Be Like a Kangaroo!

By Kiara Tatum

A few days ago, I was reading my daily devotional, and it was talking about how kangaroos -- due to their shape of bodies and large tails -- cannot walk or bounce backwards.  However, they bounce in forward movements very easily.  And I thought about how I move in my life, and how I can get stuck in certain places.  But the kangaroo can’t go backwards, and they move forward as part of their nature; I want to be like a kangaroo.  I want to always be moving forward.

This sounds easier for a kangaroo to do; since, it’s their animal nature, but it’s a lot harder for people, especially those with a chronic illness like PH to follow this concept.  To add this concept as part of our human nature; it seems almost unnatural.  As a PH patient, I’m always having thoughts about why did I get PH; what if I didn’t gain so much weight, would I have gotten PH; if my pediatrician saw the whole in my heart when I was younger, would I have PH now; if I didn’t decide to go back to work would I be dealing with Social Security complications; and so on and so on.  I don’t want to stay stuck on those things of the past because it's a lonely, dark, sad place to stay.  As I read in the devotional I can’t really live there, and I don’t want my PHriends to live in the past either.  I had to learn and I’m still learning these lessons in life:

1. Leave the past behind you
2. Reach for things ahead of you
3. Think positively 
4. Be hopeful
5. And know you’re never alone

I will be like a kangaroo; always moving forward.  I will learn from my past, but leave it behind me, so that I can live a more fulfilled, joyous life.