A Seven Week Much Needed Update!

it's been seven weeks since I started my blog and my Health, Wellness and Beauty journey. This is how long my hair has gotten, about 16" - can you imagine I'll be chopping off all those curls!? I only have 26 blog followers - my goal is 1000 lol I'm not sure I'll get there, but it's still nice to have heard from strangers and friends that my words are inspiring  I'm hoping that my writing continues to improve, since I haven't really written anything substantial in over a decade (other than lab reports and pedagogical papers). And, I'm down 12 lbs! Thirty-eight more pounds to go, though I am hoping that over the next eight months, I will be down a bit more, but we'll see. 

So, I would say it has been a good first two months so far, even though there have been lots of ups and downs. Oh, and I have about six people growing their hair and pledging for Cut for Cancer with me on our The Pink Curlers team!  Yay!

Other news... I feel bad that I haven't been keeping up to date on here - so many blogs to write, so little time! But I have had a busy month. Last week, as you may recall, I was babysitting my 5 1/2 year old energetic nephew. We had a great week together, but it started off with me having only two hours of sleep the two nights before going - I started having a lot of anxiety hoping I could take care of him, and that he would be okay in my care.  Then, after I picked him up from his day at summer camp, I was so excited to be spending time with him, that I dumped my purse, cell phone, car keys, house keys on the kitchen counter then went out on the back deck, closed the door behind me, and started the barbecue. Um, my nephew tried to get back in, the door locked on me when I closed it!!! AAAAACK! So yeah, it was a bit of a nightmare, but we prevailed, got into the house after a couple of hours and after spending a big chunk of my just received paycheque on a locksmith. *sigh* Anyway, more anxiety and I only slept 45 minutes that night. 

The rest of the week was nice with my nephew but exhausting. I enjoyed my time with him greatly! He is a remarkable young man and quite brilliant and lots of fun! 

After a few days of being back home, I was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. I had my first heart attack scare. The results they did at the hospital showed there was no damage to my heart - thank goodness!, but I am to see a specialist in a couple of weeks for more testing. It is most likely something going on with my esophagus/digestive system. More proof of that - I now have gastroenteritis. So, yet another day I had lots of plans - work, have my nephew participate in my ALS ice bucket challenge, hang out with him, etc., which got thwarted by poor health.

What is causing this poor health? While my mom was sick I had stomach flu (gastroenteritis) five times. I'm sure it was always just a culmination of everything happening - the anxiety attacks of last week, lack of sleep, financial anxiety - I've registered for school this September - thoughts of once again being a poor student, even though this time I'll be working part time and attending uni part time, many depressing moments thinking about my mom recently, and who knows what else? Oh yeah, I'm pre-diabetic. So.. a lot on my plate!

How to deal with all this stress, sadness and anxiety?  I plan to try to be healthier, try to keep up with yoga more regularly, take moments to breathe deeply - you know our western civilization tends to be filled with shallow breathers? After this scare, it's like a real wake up call - time to get my shit together and just do better than I've been doing. No more damn excuses. I don't want to be diabetic and have to worry about losing my eyesight or a limb, or my glucose levels. I want to be healthy, relaxed and accomplished.

So friends, how do you destress? When was a time you had a medical scare? Or someone close to you? How did you react? What did you do? Did you overcome? How? Please share with us on how to move beyond this point of no control. I need to take control of my life again, and I know I'm not the only one. Let's band together and improve ourselves, even that little bit.