Recovery....

Sucks! OK, not really!!! I knew that after this surgery I would need some serious recovery time. I told everyone that asked (because they just knew that I would overdo it) that I planned to stay in bed for the first week to guarantee a quick recovery. Well, words are powerful. I was in fact in bed but not by choice. I developed two infections a few days after my surgery that forced me to stay pretty much bed ridden. I am so thankful that I had my mother to take care of me during this whole ordeal. We have spent a lot of time bonding. When I had to make an impromptu trip to the doctor because I wasn't getting better but in fact worse, that's when he advised me of the infections. I explained to him that I had heard grandiose stories of women getting better in 2-3 days. He taught me a lesson that I already knew. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. The procedure I received normally takes 1.5 hours, mine took 5.5 hours so my body went through a lot and then to add 2 infections on top of that, he thought I was faring pretty well. I told him I just wanted to not feel dizzy so I could get some mental clarity. I think that's what drove me the most crazy. Feeling like a zombie. LOL. He said it would come. He was right. I had enough mental clarity today to write this blog. :) So here's today's lesson, just like in life....we are all different. Something that takes one person a day to complete may take you a week. It doesn't make you any less capable. I think in our society we spend too much time making comparisons to our friends and family. It makes us feel inadequate because we are using an unfair judging system. Finish school, go to college, get a career, get married....have a baby or two. They are all imposed and on timetables at that. So you start looking around because you may have skipped a few of the steps and now you feel totally off track. Don't! Create your own plan, play by your own rules and find your own happiness. Everyone is different but one thing is the same. We all deserve to be happy. In the words of my bestie, Kelley, The Happiness Guru: "What will you do today to find your happiness?"

Whose crazy idea was this?!?!?!?!

I often get these radical ideas. Ideas that end up being great ideas. I'm having a hysterectomy on 1/23 so I came up with this bright idea. I'll only eat fruits and veggies up until the day of my surgery to prepare my body for the transition and for the healing process. I've been a vegetarian for a couple of years now and even became a hard core vegan several months ago for a while but this....was a whole new level. I'm very disciplined but after 3 days I thought.....what have I gotten myself into?? I guess I could have easily given up but I made a huge announcement on Facebook and some people had even agreed to join me in support. There was no way I could let them down. Accountability kicked in and I knew I was in for the long haul. I did however decide 10 days in that instead of 23 days I was going to do 15 days because my boyfriend's birthday is this weekend and I wanted to be able to celebrate with him. I actually surpassed that 15 day mark and until today, 1/17, I've been eating beyond clean. Fruits and veggies only means I had to prepare most of my meals ahead of time and when I didn't, I mostly ate salads and fresh fruit allowing myself one cheat....popcorn. Because technically it's a veggie, right? HA! I felt great the entire time and even increased my workouts. I was glad when it was over however because I missed "regular" food. Mostly fish....and cupcakes! (My favorite treat) I decided I would have those two things as soon as the fast was over. I chose to eat blackened fish at 3pm....not such a good idea. Within minutes I had a stomach ache. My bestie, Jessica suggested I should have eased my way in. I agreed, bad idea. But I figured it was too late so later I decided to eat my much deserved cupcake....even worse idea. I'm writing this blog at 4am because I'm up with yet another stomach ache. This made me realize that even though I felt I was depriving myself, I was in fact, doing myself a favor. Not only did I lose about 10 lbs but my body felt much better when I was eating better. I don't know if I'll stay on such a strict regimen but I'll definitely be giving up sugar again and whatever else is in cupcakes because they are the debil! *in my Waterboy voice* :) The key to making changes in life is to try. If you don't like it, you can always go back to your old ways, or in this case, you can discover that the new way is WAY better. #spreadlove