Victories sneak up on you when you’re not looking. Yesterday’s physical therapy session proved exactly that. The session started with what could have been a setback. Being on the shorter side, I found my feet dangling when trying the new walking mat in the exoskeleton device. But in rehabilitation, adaptation is the key. We quickly switched back to the trusty old mat, and I was ready to take on the world, one step at a time. What happened next was nothing short of remarkable. The numbers tell one story: 1,300 steps in a single session. But numbers only scratch the surface. The real breakthrough came in the form of newfound independence. Typically, these sessions start with the exoskeleton providing 70-80% assistance—imagine it as training wheels for your legs. Yesterday, we kicked things off at just 50%, meaning my muscles and nervous system had to do more of the heavy lifting. But here’s where it gets interesting. While I was confidently striding along at 40% assistance, my physical therapist pulled off a bit of therapeutic sleight of hand. Without breathing a word, she dialed the assistance down to 35%—the lowest I’d ever attempted. And I just kept walking, blissfully unaware that I was achieving something unprecedented. When they revealed their secret after the session, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. It turns out that we’re often capable of more than we think; sometimes we just need someone to remove our self-imposed limitations gently. This rehabilitation journey has taught me something profound: progress rarely travels in a straight line. The most significant breakthroughs often aren’t the ones you see coming. They’re the quiet moments when you realize you’ve been doing something extraordinary without even knowing it.I owe this progress to three key factors: the groundbreaking technology that makes these sessions possible, the visionary founders who brought this device to life, and my extraordinary physical therapy team. They’ve mastered that delicate balance of knowing exactly when to push and when to let me discover my own strength. To anyone out there navigating their own recovery path: keep moving forward. Your breakthrough might be closer than you think, hiding in plain sight, just waiting for the right moment to reveal itself. After all, sometimes the best victories are the ones that catch us by surprise.