I'm having a taste of nolstagia right now. I've decided to go through my posts I made on my LiveJournal account (username: allstardiva2005) to help me with a project. I haven't started yet, but just thinking about the past makes me want to write. In my sophomore and part of junior year of high school, I wanted to be a sports journalist. I watched the same amount of sports as I do now and I actually blog more now, but I also wrote in my LJ. I wrote about everything – relationships, beliefs, pain, dreams, school, work, etc. I look back and sometimes I can't believe that I, Christy Hammond, wrote that. It sounds like it came from someone else's mind and I find it hard to imagine that I actually came up with that phrase, sentence, or paragraph.

Lately, I've been wishing I could find a way to write down the things that I have been thinking. I usually "think" my best when I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep and it's so frustrating because I rarely remember that stuff by the time I wake up. But I'm going to work really hard on writing more often because it's important for me to see how I change throughout the years and it's very theraputic for me. I currently have 5 blogs: this one, one that is acting as my exercise/food blog to help me lose weight, my hockey blog, my pre-med one, and one for teens dealing with chronic pain and illnesses.

I haven't told anyone yet, but I think I want to write a book for Young Adults Dealing with Chronic Pain and Illnesses from a Christian perspective. I know of some great Christian books on pain, but haven't really found one catered to college students and younger. I'm not doing it for money or for my resume, but because I think I have something to tell and I believe I can learn a lot from trying to do this. I'm spending a lot of my free time looking for relevant Bible verses, inspirational quotes, anecdotes, and of course researching common chronic pain conditions and chronic illnesses amoung young adults. I'm kind of afraid to tell my family because I feel like I'll either get (1) pressured to work on it more than what I want each day or (2) they'll laugh at my dream.

I just know that there are so many young girls (especially) on this knee forum that I visit daily that struggle with dealing with acute or chronic knee pain. It's hard for those who've never been through it to understand how a "simple" knee injury can impact your youth whether it's middle school, high school, college, or even work. Pain (and chronic illnesses) affect your social life, your school work, your sleep, your work, your mind, and your soul. I want to write something that will encourage kids going through what I've gone through or even worse and give them hope when they feel they are in their darkest moments.

I've decided to create a personal blog where I can talk about my knee recovery/rehab, movies, TV shows, life, quotes, books, and pretty much anything else I can think of.

My blog is titled LiveStrong, the mantra of my second favorite athlete (cyclist Lance Armstrong). I love the quote: "Pain is weakness leaving the body so LiveStrong."