Feed Your Soul: A Stroke Survivor Finds Joy And Purpose Through Roller Skating!

It’s not often I think about my stroke experience, much less talk about it. You see, I am one of the fortunate ones, I recovered fully in a short amount of time. I was a very healthy 37-year-old woman with four kids, exercised, and had a good life. I guess it was a sign that I was overloaded, doing too much, worrying too much, taking on too much the list goes on and on, I know many of us can relate. Stroke victims all have our own individual experiences that speak to where we were or how it happened, and I would be glad to discuss the details with anyone but that’s not the important part.

Like most life changing experiences people have, the reality of not being on this earth to enjoy life, watch your children grow up, experience new things and places, or to just go through the normal ups and downs of life was something that I took for granted before my stroke. While I support and believe in healthy habits like exercise and eating healthy (yes, I still eat way too many Little Debbie Swiss cake rolls), I know that my mental health is just as important. While I went to the gym, lifted weights, did my cardio, ate well, like all the Dr.’s say to do, I was stressed! I wore too many hats. I was a mom of 4 highly active kids, led a stressful career, managed a household, and wanted to do everything for everyone but myself. My body reacting in a stroke was my wake-up sign that I needed to change my mental health. When people are stressed, their body responds, it’s not uncommon to hear about the stress levels people attributed to their stroke (or even heart attack).

After my stroke, I knew I had to continue to exercise which felt so much more like a chore. I absolutely hated it. Meanwhile, I knew that I had to also lower my stress levels by doing things that brought calmness, laughter, and just pure happiness into my life. That was a real struggle for me, probably like it is for many of us; especially those of us that put everything they have into their kids or career or hell even both! We often convince ourselves that we are happy if our kids are happy or if our career is going well. The reality is for a lot of us that’s not true. I found that I had lost myself over the years. I had no clue what would make me happy. Then magic happened one day out of the blue when we decided to go roller skating as a family. Now we had gone skating over the years when the kids were young but I never really took the opportunity to get on the rink floor because managing 4 kids was too much for me to actually have fun myself. I would just tell myself that I was happy just watching the kids have fun when reality, I wanted to be skating too. You see, I competed in skating in my younger years and loved it so much. The carefree feeling of rolling around with the wind in your hair, music blaring and hanging with my friends was my ideal way to spend my weekends. Not a care in the world during that time.

So that one magical day just a short three years ago, after a fun night skating with my daughter, I knew exactly what my mind, body and soul needed. I needed roller skating back in my life. All of those feelings I described earlier came right back. All of my worries went away, I laughed hard, I actually enjoyed the exercise instead of dreading it. Most importantly, I felt on cloud nine and my soul once again felt full of life. At that moment, I decided at the ripe age of 47 years old, I was going to be a kid again. I am fortunate enough to have my beautiful daughter enjoy skating too so she went with me. I was on cloud nine. We went every Friday night together, and the best part is my teen actually wanted to spend time with me! Once my daughter Rylee started working at the rink regularly, she was the one that encouraged me to come more often, join the adult nights, meet new friends. And here I am, now skating 3-4 times a week, surrounded by friends that are now family, and being the best me I can be – for me and not for everyone else.

I am now turning 50 and my daughter is turning 18 this year. Realizing that I may have never even reached 50 if things turned out differently with my stroke, I wanted to do something that brought me purpose and feeds my soul. Knowing how fortunate I am to have recovered fully, I also recognize that many have not. Some of those people are in our skate family and they have graciously told me their story and I have shared mine. I am doing this event to support all of those impacted by strokes themselves or a loved one, for those that have recovered or are fighting their battle now. I am hoping that you all will join me and my daughter and our skate family in raising funds and awareness for stroke prevention and treatment. Allow yourself to be a kid again, feel the wind in your hair as you skate and exercise, laugh uncontrollably, and no doubt… “FEED YOUR SOUL”.

Giving Back

Through Heart 2 Shuffle, Angie aims to bring the community together to support the American Stroke Association, which plays a crucial role in stroke research, education, and advocacy. Click here to read about this amazing event, and learn how you can help!