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I went for my daily walk just now. It's two miles - 1.5 miles straight up a heavy incline and .5 miles coasting down. This works perfectly for me, because I can only go up hills. Going down an incline is one of the hardest physical things that I could do.

You see, between the ages of 9 and 19, I had 8 surgeries on both my ankles and one on my hip. My right ankle is fused, so I only have 15% of the movement left. It just doesn't bend. So having my foot meet inclines is a very hard thing to do. But I've managed to work around it.

In fact, I hardly ever think about what I can't do, because I always try to figure out a way to do it. I just carry on with the adjustments I make and don't think twice. However, on a recent trip to Hawaii, I was reminded by others what I can't and can do.

Chris & I had signed up to do a waterfall hike on Maui, however, the waterfall had dried up. So the hiking company took us to this ranch where we were going to hike through the hills instead.

The first part of the trip was a straight incline down a mountain. No sign of leveling, just straight down. I knew it would be tough but I started to walk down. Slowly.

It's extremely difficult to go down a hill, I have to walk differently and use every muscle in my body to keep me upright. I didn't think anything of it though but people started to pass me because I was so slow. A very huge, out of shape woman even passed me, despite the fact she kept huffing and puffing and slipping. People started to make comments about how far back I was, and why I had bothered to go on this trip at all if I couldn't hike it. I started to get really angry, because it wasn't like I was out of shape, I just had a little set back. The main thing I thought was that I was going down the hill.

The group had to wait for me at the bottom, and it did take me a long time to get down. This made people angry and catty. I wanted to explain why it took me so long to get down, but I didn't. What business was it of theirs I thought?

After hanging around the bottom, we had to go back up, but a different way. The grade was just as high and it was straight up.

Straight up, I thought. I can do that.

So up the hill I went. I hiked and I hiked without stopping. When I go up an incline, I have to spread my legs apart and walk in a triangle type way - an amusing site I'm sure. But it works. And twenty minutes of hiking nonstop almost straight up, I made it to the top. I wasn't breathing hard and I wasn't slow. In fact, I was the first one to the top. And once I was up at the top, I had to wait for everyone, the next person came in 10 minutes after me.

Everyone was surprised that I had made it to the top first, especially since I was the slowest and most useless going down. People were quiet around me at the top. I was smug.

You see, for every one thing you can't do, there is one thing you can do. I can't go down a hill, but I can go up it faster than almost anyone I know. If I had just given up the first time I tried to go down a hill, I would never have realised the beauty I feel by going up one. Everything in life is a challenge, you just have to figure out what you can do and do it. Even if part of it is a little hard.

Everyone has a hill they can go up. You just have to figure out where yours is.