Just over a year ago, I broke my ankle. While at the time it seemed like my recovery would be interminable, it actually went pretty quickly, and my life was pretty much back to normal before I knew it.

There was one big test of my ankle left, though, and it was just as much psychological as physical. Every year as Thanksgiving approaches (well, except last year, due to the aforementioned ankle), we visit Cahokia Mounds to take a long walk, which includes climbing the 154 steps to the top of Monks Mound. I always love this outing, because we see lots of beautiful fall foliage and encounter wildlife we don’t see a lot (mainly turkeys and deer), but I was dreading it a bit this year. Not because I didn’t think my ankle could handle it (although it does still get sore sometimes, especially in the cold), but because I still have a mental pause every time I go down a flight of stairs, and the staircase at Monks Mound is way more than a single flight! I didn’t know how I’d react when it was time to descend the mound, and that scared me.

I try not to let my hangups get in the way of doing fun things, though, so off we went in the brisk weather today. Our walk was amazing as always (we saw tons of deer!), and it was a beautiful morning. And I made it up (and back down!) Monks Mounds without re-breaking my ankle or having a panic attack. We also went over to Woodhenge, something we don’t always do, and enjoyed the views there, as well.

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I have a feeling that stairs will always make me a bit uncomfortable, because now I know how easy it is for something to go wrong really quickly, but I’m determined not to let that get in the way of doing things I enjoy!