Happy Friday!! I hope you’re having a good week…. mine has been overwhelming in the craziest of ways. The last two weeks I have been getting signs from God or the universe or whoever is running the show.
These signs have been the kind of BIG in-your-face, impossible to ignore kind of signs.
I started sharing ‘My Story’ when I launched TPB and I have gotten away from it. Why? One, I don’t feel like I know the person I used to be. I find it hard to connect with her because she was so…lifeless. The person I used to be didn’t know how to hold a conversation with peers and she faded into the background. She was unnoticeable and unremarkable. She lacked passion whether it was obvious to others or not. She was the type of girl who let things happen to her instead of taking control. I don’t know her anymore.
The other reason I stopped sharing my story is because it’s hard. Going back and reliving it is just plain hard. I have always been an optimistic person. Even at my lowest points I saw the silver lining…but writing about ten years of sickness is just too negative for the place I am in my life. I am just too fulfilled to get back into that mindset. I cannot connect with her.
In the last two weeks I have reconnected with and/or met half a dozen people that have a direct correlation with the old me. In the last fourteen days I have connected with six people… I cannot believe that it is just a coincidence.
These new friendships and reconnecting with old ones has allowed me to share the happiest part of my journey. So today we are going to skip ahead seven years and get right to the good part.
Buckle up babes… it’s about to get CRAZYYYYYY. It’s also super long but trust me it is worth it.
I was 19, blind in my left eye, forgetful, weak, achy and dull. I had different diagnosis from anxiety to Multiple Scleroses to early onset Alzheimer’s all in addition to my Rheumatoid Arthritis. I quit my job, dropped my classes and spent my life in bed. I was so forgetful I would drop words from conversation. One day I forgot how to turn on the car.
My parents couldn’t take the ambiguity and lack of urgency with some of my doctors so they called the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. After being accepted as a patient Mom and I flew half way across the country for answers. I packed enough clothes for two weeks because we didn’t know how long we would be there.
Mom and I arrived at the teeny tiny town the day before my first appointments. We drove around to find Target, the laundromat, and most importantly the hospital. The Mayo Clinic is a city… the hospital itself is like a city… it is the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. You have three or four appointments a day with different specialties. The doctors work together to piece the mystery together. Everything works lightening fast. After having blood drawn the results come through on their app as you walk to your next appointment. I’m talking results in seven minutes. It is truly incredible.
After three days we learned that I wouldn’t need to be placed in a group home (as one doctor from home had suggested). I was simply allergic to a medication I was receiving for my arthritis. That’s it. Months of thinking my world would forever be confined to the walls of my home and the halls of the hospital I was told I was going to be fine.
Momma and I took a trip to the Mall of America (duh) after we found out I was a-okay
I don’t think anything lights a bigger fire in your soul than a second chance. I was stuck in the fog of this medication but I needed to get it out of my body and fast. I was determined to detox as fast as humanly possible. I literally had poison in my veins pumping through me, reaching every part of me. I felt like a caged animal.
During my time as a Stay-at-Home-Daughter. My only job was to heal myself. Not many get the luxury to press pause on life and work on themselves which is why I need to share my story.
I knew that as each day passed more of the medication metabolized and I was becoming healthier. I spent all my energy researching. I read medical journals for information and foods with anti-inflammatory properties. I researched cleanses. I researched every ingredient in my food. When I was too exhausted to read I would watch documentaries.
Soon I was driving daily to Whole Foods and Wegman’s to try new organic veggies or grab the ingredients for a new recipe I found. My entire life was pursuing ‘healthy’. Months later I was talking Pilates classes daily. I became so full of energy and life. Every experience was amazing because I had earned this new outlook of my body. Not one that was superficial in nature, I truly learned to love my body because of how I felt inside it. I felt healthy, vibrant and alive.
I spent seven years on strong medications… five of those years I had chemo weekly until it started to damage my liver. None of those medications ever allowed me to go into remission. Switching to a almost chemical-free lifestyle saved my life.
If I knew at 12 what I learned at 20, I would have traded the Oreos for kale in a second. I learned the hard way that everything you eat helps or hurts your body. Living a healthy lifestyle is so much more than calories in and calories out. It’s about listening to your body and getting in as much nutrients as possible.
Feed you body the things it needs and you will be repaid tenfold.
I don’t think there is a bigger or better message. The secret to your best life isn’t being at your pre-college or pre-baby weight. It doesn’t come from counting calories and punishing yourself at the gym for having a donut. It comes you body working at its best because you are treating it as it deserves.
Don’t get me wrong… I have my bad body days, we all do. Lately it has been abundantly clear that I need share what I have learned so others don’t have to go through years of pain and living a subpar life.
Just so you know this is my favorite part of my journey…it’s the one that made me who I am and allowed me to live my best life. I have been goal setting so hard these past two weeks and I think Im going to share them with you. I look at my goals and they excite me. They also terrify me. When I read them I get butterflies in my stomach. I am so excited for what has to come. Stay tuned!!
xoxo,
K
Leave a Reply