coping with illness

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June is running by ….July approaches …

June is running by, and half the year is now behind us.  What do we still have to do?  Is there anything we wanted to accomplish this year?

It is a good time to refer back to our Goal List for the year.  Three areas I like to consider

  1.  Health and Fitness Goals.
  2. Relationships
  3. Domestic

1.  Health and Fitness Goals:  Let us expound on the most typical goal for the year, Health and Fitness.  Each year we get older and even young people are experiencing health problems.  We will not even discuss the newfound issues with healthcare and insurance costs.  The high monthly costs of mandatory insurance is causing many to avoid visits to the doctor because of high copays and deductibles.  If there was not a good enough basis for a healthy diet and regular exercise, there is more motivation now.

We have one body, and our health we must seek to protect it.   Wise choices, no extremes are necessary.  Fruits and vegetables never go out of fashion and are readily available in most markets.  It only takes moments to use a regular blender to make a nutritious cool drink.  Would you like to know my recipe for a quick tasty fruit smoothie?

One I have been using for literally decades is, I will call it:

Fruit Frapp by Gina @  fatfitanfab.com

one serving recipe:              6 oz orange juice, (not from concentrate), or 6 oz of water. a banana, a peeled apple, and one cup of frozen berries.  Put in the blender, put on for 40 seconds to a minute an a half.    If you do not want to use a bannana, you can substitute a cup of fresh-cut papaya.

The banana or papaya give the drink a smoothness like a shake.  The frozen fruits may have raspberries in which do have seeds.  They remain like seeds. I just swallow them.  If a person has digestive issues like diverticulitis the seeds may bother them so you may choose just a strawberry/blueberry mix.

Be careful if you have diabetes or blood sugar problems.  Only you know if you can have citrus, some medications are a problem.  As I am not a doctor or nutritionist, I am only sharing a recipe which helps me to get my vitamin C, other vitamins, and natural fiber.

I like to make vegetable smoothies in the late afternoon before I start making dinner, that I can sip which can get the edge off hunger and be quite satisfying.  My cardiologist did recommend simply having a V8 each day.  I do not have a great tasting vegtable smoothie that is quick to make.  I do like spinach, a clove of garlic, a handful of fresh parsley, two carrots, and a celery stalk with the leaves.  I do use a pinch of salt because I naturally have low blood pressure.  Then I blend in my regular blender.

Responsible self-care involves regular exercise.  With all the responsibilities people have in their life it can be a real challenge to cull out the time to take a walk, or take a bike ride, or use an exercize machine.  Yet, it is relaxing, destressing, and exhilarating.  Not only can it help us to maintain our weight, it can help prevent us from gaining more weight if that is our objective.  If our objective is to lose weight, than exercising daily with a plan can help us reach our goals.  I had ankle surgery on my right ankle in the beginning of February.  It all seems so slow to heal.  Both ankles have each had two surgeries.  As much as I want to take off and go for a run, or go for a walk it is just not reasonable at this point.  I purchased a bike and I have been striving to go for a ride a few times a week.  The heat is unbearable for daily rides and I am unfit.  Should I call myself unfit?  Maybe that is harsh to label myself as unfit since I do regularly do daily stretching and isometric exercises in my home.  OK, I will accept the congrats! for maintaining my regular stretching and isometric exercize program for decades.  The exercizes I do help me to deal with chronic pain associated with lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.  I have a lot of muscle spasms and nerve pain.  The exercize helps me to feel that I am taking responsibility for what I can control.  The exercize benefits me also because I like to have a scoop of ice cream, and I have diabetes, therefore, exercize keeps the sugar manageable.

Each health situation is different, but so many suffer.  If we take some time to consider our own situation, and start right away to manage our health before more serious problems develop.  Not only can we keep our healthcare costs down, we may feel better.

2.  Relationships:  Relationships affect our peace of mind.  The relationship we have with our creator, with ourself, with our loved ones and if we are employed than we have our social relationships.  Can we improve all these relationships?

The relationship a person has with their creator can affect how they also feel about themselves and how they live their life and the consequences etc.  I have no more to say on that subject.  It is worth considering privately.

The relationship we have with ourself is very complicated indeed.  So much of how we feel about our-self is deeply rooted from our conception, our upbringing, the family situation, the make up of the family dynamics.  Some come from secure family situations, that is very rare these days.  Some of us are very wounded from broken homes, lack of security, an absent parent, and some experience abuse.  All these factors shape us.  Yet, we do not have to be defined permanently by any of these situations.

Earning a healthy esteem is a very valid concept that I have lived by for decades.  We may remain sensitive or fragile.  Yet, I think of a flower that appears to be fragile, sure, someone may be cruel and pull some petals off.  If the flower is left alone, it can even go thru a thunderstorm with high winds and still remain beautiful.  Someone may pull our petals off, but we must remain rooted in what we know and what we can do.  We can bloom again and if necessary, we can be the seed that blows in the wind, and be rooted elsewhere.  The sun, the rain, will come again.  A positive attitude and hope are fortifying.

When I went thru some health dilemmas this last year, the effect had a stifling effect on me.  I felt incapable and unable.  I quit writing, painting, making bread, and sewing became a rarity.  Cleaning the bathroom mirror I wondered if it was done right.  No one was doing this to me, and I cannot blame anyone.  The doctor whom helps me with my life management skills regarding my attention deficit, he helped me to realize that something was rooted in my youth.  He said, “OK, you do not want to blame anyone, you do not want to blame it on something in your youth, mistreatment you endured.  Yet, you do acknowledge you were not in ideal circumstances to grow a healthy esteem, you did not feel safe, and your accomplishments were met with disfavor by those whom should have been proud of you.  If you can accept this, you can move on.  You can find a new way to respond to your accomplishments.”  Of course, I did not have a tape recorder and it may not be a perfect word for word account.  That was the basic jist of it.

To get thru all of this, I kept the habit of making my Master List for the month and the week.  I referred to them often.  A book from the Library on Productivity that I referred to in one of my previous published articles suggested that when I make my TO DO List that I leave room between each to put a couple of actions that are logically needed to accomplish the task.  This really helped me to get more done.  Feel Good Feeling!  My friend Mattie has an infectious cheer about her and giggle.  She is all about giving yourself a cheer when you complete something.  I am trying it, and it feels good.  My husband John likes to stand back and look at what he has done, you can see his pride well up even with the smallest of accomplishments.  I use to look at him in wonder when I would walk up and find him doing so, in fact, because I did not understand it, I thought it was downright silly and it made me a bit uncomfortable.  Over the years, I have slowly come to understand this gift.

Did you know that at the end of each day of creation, our Great Creator would say “It is Good!”.  We are made in his image.  So if we know we worked hard, and we did our best, I believe it is healthy to feel “it is good”!   My relationship with myself is greatly improved, and I am sewing again.  If we can possibly have a healthy esteem, we can then be healthy to be in a relationship with.  Our relationship with our mate, family, children, and work mates can be healthier if we are more positive to be around.  By having a healthier diet and exercise program, a healthy attitude, we can have healthier expectations of others too.  Nurture those relationships respectfully.  Each person is subject to the law, and each person is protected by the law.  If that is remembered, then abuse would be uncommon.

Last night I saw true love.  A couple with their toddler entered the diner  where we were enjoying a meal.  The man was lovingly affectionate and obviously proud of his lady and the child.  He was quite handsome.  She was quite obese and unkempt.  It likely had been a hard day for her.  Yet, this man loved this woman, and she knew it.  I was greatly touched.

3.  Domestic, no I am not talking about domestic beer.  It is where we live, what we drive, and where we spend our time, and how we manage it all.  Half the year is gone, there is some warm weather maintenance we can do on our home, car, and property.  Have you made your punch list?  I want to get into the car and do some deep cleaning, and it is not just because I turned a to-go container of spaghetti upside down in the back seat of the car yesterday.  I was already planning on a thorough detail clean of the interior of the car, now it just seems more immediate to do.  Thankfully, my caring husband got the spaghetti spill cleaned up, but I do feel I need to do that thorough cleaning in the next day or so.  Light colored car, little spots could be anywhere.  This time of year is a great time to clean the garage, and have a garage sale or donate your goods.  Fix your bicycles and use them.  Plan a trip to the zoo, or keep cool in a museum, visit family, or go away for a long weekend.

John got some weatherstripping done on all the doors last week.  Our lovely old yellow cat, PUFF, has already scratched up the new weatherstrip on the front door.  I am going to do a smelly hairspray on the lower door frames after I rub a little essential oils on the weatherstrip.  We still need to get some exterior painting done.  There is a list.  I am eager to get the windows clean.  As I am zeroing in on a room at a time with the deep cleaning,  the last thing I do in the room, the final touch is cleaning all the glass, which includes the windows.  Doesn’t it make everything look good.?

Attention to these three areas can give pretty quick improvement in many areas of our life. We can already feel better about this year and all we hoped to achieve.  We live in a very demanding and often insecure world.  Gently, yet, effectivly gaining more control over our health, relationships, and domestic situation can give us a sense of accomplishment resulting in a healthier esteem.  June may be gone by,…we still have a half year to fulfill our goals.

 

 

 

 

 

Whom is detached and depressed? Where is the reset button in my mind?

Getting reactivated after serious losses is equivalent to learning to live again.  Yet, down days, rainy Mondays, are bound to happen.  How do we get going when we just can’t find our start button?

I haven’t written a post for a week due to fatigue, anxiety, and sadness due to the loss of my father recently.  Stomach aches, low blood pressure, and low-grade fevers have me feeling weak and tired.  Over a week ago my son had a bad accident and has a compression fracture of the no. 2 Lumbar spine.  A Lot of tears of concern for him.  He is handling it better than I.

Today I went to see Nick whom helps me develop my life management skills, creative attitude along with my attention deficit.  Life management skills are essential for anyone with attention deficit, chronic illness, or depression.  I have been going to him for years.  He helps a lot.

Expressing my depressed state over such things, when I mentioned my blog to him he was excited about that and wondered why I did not mention that before during my visit today.  Although I have mentioned it on other visits, I haven’t expounded on it because I was still so new to it, and am still new.  It is being down that has prohibited me from writing this last week.  I felt, whom am I to think I have anything valuable to express under the circumstances.  I have an acquaintance whom said  “Give it up!  Whom do you think you are to write?”  Do we just roll over and give in when someone is discouraging?  This sadly effected me.  What motivates someone to be discouraging to another?  It is not love that promotes negativity.  I feel I have many unique and unusual experiences that have shaped my views balanced with sound principles.  It is my goal to help others to be resilient despite difficulties and loss.  We must always strive to be mentally fit to endure our present situations, while recognizing our limitations.

This particular article I present doesn’t really offer up anything helpful for anyone today, except a word of Thanks to all of you whom read and express appreciation for my better days and the articles I write and post.  Keep coming back, and I will keep writing.

Where is that recharge button?  Where is the start button I need to fulfill my responsibilities? One word of advice Nick gave me years ago is to just put four things on your to do list.  How is your TO DO  List?  I fill up a page or two sometimes.  It can be hard to face.  At the beginning of the day it can make you feel defeated before you start, at the end of the day it can cause you to feel like a failure.  A limited list helps one to address priorities, thus leading one to feel they have achieved something.  A successful business person enjoys seeing their certificates of success and achievements around.  Our certificates of achievements can be our crossed off short lists.  My mother would purchase the smallest of memo pads and she would put her list on that and that little book would be the root of her focus each day.  Flipping back thru the memo pad would make the doer of that feel mighty esteemed.

The Slob Sisters program breaks the list down into CaLL, Do, Send and Go, if I remember correctly.  I really like those two helping young homemakers get it together.  Over the years I have called, emailed etc. and they have always taken the time to help.  A young mother with no family around you can imagine how I felt with their help.  Their book “Get it together”  was a real hit about 20 years ago and I am due to read it again.

My friend Olivia picked me up and took me on errands and to my appointment with Nick.  I always enjoy my time with Olivia, she is never judgemental, just truly pleasant.  Are there any pleasant people out there?  It is a great quality to work toward.  She really built me up to face another day.  Tomorrow, if my body allows and Jehovah is willing I will only worry about the responsibilities for the day.  Now is the time to write my four items on my TO DO list, then I can pray about it,  Tomorrow is another day, another day for what?

Dedicated to a friend, Jamie whom is struggling with anxiety and depression.  May she have a better day and address the issues one at a time on short lists, so she can experience the joy of achievement once again.  All with Jehovah’s blessing and help.

Toil Toil an it has all gone to pots

It sounds like a nursery rhyme.  This just explains how a person with chronic illness feels when they try so hard an still can’t get it right

This week one morning I backed into a mailbox with my husbands car.  Then I picked up a splinter in the palm of my hand within an hour, still unable to get it out. Monday I will have to go to doctor to get it out if I cannot.   Yesterday while cleaning the mantle a precious vase from my sons fell an broke. I started to cry wanting to climb in bed an forget it all. “No, I will cry later”, and I made myself keep at it  deciding to light a candle.  The first three lit matches didn’t make it, the fourth lit, but the match fell down by my feet on the rug. A lot of smoke too so I picked it up an blew for good measure, which also blew out my candle. I was getting in sensed   Determined, I got that candle lit, while losing precious time.

Although I knocked over a few more things and spilled some things while cleaning up.  Then some tinkle my son’s dog decided to express on the living room floor did not help my mood. Yet, I kept at it, ever so slow an steady.

The conclusion of the matter is that my mantle and about a third of the room are totally clean, wiped down an organized. The rest still looks in need of great care.

While putting the ironing board away I got my finger caught an pinched which took a small hunk of skin with it. Ouch. So I finally succumbed to the tears, tears of loss this week, tears of pain and aggravation.  I just laid down an rested, cried an prayed. Then I got up to attend to the next thing I wanted to handle.

If you have chronic illness or if you know anyone whom does, suffering is usually more than what is obvious. Never add to the pain an stress with expectations that may be unrealistic for them to fulfill.  You cannot expect them to live life the way you think they should.  As a person lives and breathes, it is still their decision.  A person’s care, at times, may cause them to think they are entitled to make decisions for the one whom is in a disadvantaged state.  The person suffering, their preferences should still be honored.