Happy New Year! I wish you all health and happiness for 2018. Can you believe I started this blog 2 years ago? Can you believe I'm still updating it (if sporadically)? Crazy. Maybe I will have a book here at some point... But that is for the future. Today I'm going to write about resolutions (of the New Year variety).
I've never really been much of a 'resolutions' person. Like most others I tell myself I will loose weight and exercise more but never really make a concrete goal out of it. This year the weight-loss bit is sadly off the table. As my doctor explained to me, with the amount of steroids I am taking, I could eat nothing but lettuce and gain weight (yay!). As for exercise, well I pretty much do as much as I can already and feel pretty good about that. I'm trying to keep things realistic this year (no 5km runs or power lifting competitions) So what are my resolutions?
1. Eat more salad. As you may or may not know I made a major life change in 2016. I started eating meat after 28 years of being a vegetarian. Yup, I'm now a full-blown omnivore - CIDP does crazy things to people. I'm enjoying my expanded palate and the removal of dietary restrictions immensely. I still struggle ethically at times but that is not the subject of this post. One thing I have noticed is that I no longer eat enough salad. I love salad and I'm not entirely sure how it found it's way off of my table. Probably laziness - can't make salad in the Instant Pot!
2. Focus more on life and less on CIDP. CIDP has been the central preoccupation of my life for too long and this year I plan on remembering who I am beyond my health. I'm just coming off of two glorious weeks with no medical or physiotherapy appointments. And while I'm excited to get back to physio today, it was nice to just be a 'normal' (if incredibly lazy) person for a while. So I'm resolving to 'think outside the hospital' a little more this year. Part of this will be spending less time scouring the internet and Facebook groups reading about others in similar predicaments. While I find these resources incredibly helpful at times, they can also lead me down a rabbit hole of self-pity and obsession. My posts here may continue to be a little sporadic but I will let you know of any major developments (promise). Meanwhile I will spend more time with Scott and Barney and friends doing all the things (whatever those things may be).
3. Play outside more. This is another one of those generic resolutions that we can all probably benefit from. In my case I plan on getting over my fear of ice and snow and go for walks outside when I can. There is also a little part of my brain that believes I will find my way onto snowshoes before the end of the season (pipe dream? we shall see).
4. Get off the island. I managed one short trip in 2017 and it was great. I need to do more of this. Cape Breton is beautiful and I love living here but it does get a little claustrophobic after awhile. I have no concrete plans but a visit to see my brother in London is pretty darn tempting. Then there's some southern hospitality waiting for us in Alabama. Not to mention a drive to the valley when the snowbirds return in the spring. Or maybe even a vacation just for us to a nice accessible resort somewhere. Oh the places we'll go... This will all depend on my nerve pain and stamina with my feet down. But I'm thinking positively.
5. Challenge my brain. It's pretty easy to float blissfully through life in a medically induced brain fog, but it just isn't me. I may or may not be able to return to work this year but that doesn't mean I can't use my brain a little more. How will I do this? Meatier book choices, intellectual discussions (just not about Trump), crosswords, Sudoku, programming projects, not to mention taxes!
So there you have it. How will these work out? We shall see.
Ciao for now!
No comments :
Post a Comment