I will start this post with a nod to Movember and its goals. You can donate to my Movember moustache here and help support research and promote awareness of important men’s health issues, like prostate cancer and mental illness.

I’ve had a beard since last Movember, but it took me a while to grow it and, likewise, growing a mustache is not my forte. It’s two weeks into Movember and I’ve grown one now, although I’ve still got some work to do on it. The fundraising is going really well so far and I again need to thank everyone who has donated!

So, that’s what my upper lip has been up to so far this month. It also came with the rest of me to Chicago at the beginning of November. I was there with four other friends and, among other things, we ate deep-dish pizza, had hot dogs at Hot Doug’s (I want to get a shirt as well) and went to a show at Second City, Let Them Eat Chaos, which was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen! We tasted some Chicago craft beer as well. I’d do that again!

I recommend it, it was a lot of fun, but returning to exercise after a trip like that is tough. My body wasn’t really in the mood to swim, do Pilates or workout, but I didn’t feel good doing nothing, so, in the words of George Costanza, “…I will do the opposite, and I will do something.” Earlier this week I registered for the first part of a Pilates teacher training course in Toronto in January. I’m excited about that because Pilates has been an enormous help to me. I feel more solid in my core, I feel steadier on my feet, and I feel more flexible. This course is also very important because it gives me something to really focus on and set my mind to. Ideally, once I complete the whole course, I could be involved in Pilates or another facet of fitness and recovery from injury. I’m getting ahead of myself, but it feels good to have a goal to target and on which to focus. Before my brain injury I took my athletic abilities for granted. After spending my early – mid twenties re-learning how to walk, I know how much I can do by focusing, and I want to help others, injured or not, realize what they can do.