Starting Over

One of the best things about life is that everyday you wake you, you can start over. You can decide to be a different person, a better person. Now I can't say you can change everything about your life (your job, your living circumstances, your credit), just by waking up and wishing for it, but by having this attitude, that you are ready to change you can make a drastic difference.

I have written about my health several times. Just to refresh, I have Crohn's disease. It is a very serious and very unpredictable digestive disease. I was very sick in middle school, and went into remission after a bowel resection. That surgery was 11 years ago. Over the past 5 years I have slowly becoming ill again, and my Crohn's became fully active about a year ago.

About a month ago I woke up in severe pain, and went to the ER. From the first moment I stepped in doctors were mentioning another surgery. I was caught by surprise because my own doctor was hopeful that we could get me into remission without surgery, and I wasn't nearly as sick as I was in middle school. A few days later I had my second bowel resection.

I was granted the chance to start over. Over the past year I have lost 20 pounds, lost a significant amount of energy, missed out on social events, and hadn't been able to properly organize my new home. I already knew that my Crohn's was active, but it was a relief to realize the reason for my recent extreme lethargy.

I was granted a chance to start over, and I am going to take full responsibility for myself and use my fresh start to the fullest. The Lord has granted me this start over at the best time possible. I am ready to start my career and my life, and with my new health I can put everything into this.

Soon after being released from the hospital I discovered some websites that would help with just this. They are all free, and are all designed to make over different parts of your life. I am very excited to follow the free programs, and set up routines that will give me a clean and orderly home when I wake up, peace and serenity, lots of energy, and be a better person to those around me.

The first is called FlyLady. FlyLady is a sweet woman with lots of advice, suggestions and encouragement for those who are interested in becoming her Flybabies, She, and several others, hand out daily advice and encouragement on cleaning and organizing your home, and on improving your life. There are a series of baby steps that I have just begun that help you to set up routines to keep your house clean. Most of them involve a daily wipe down or few minute clean. It is amazing how much can be cleared in just 2 minutes, and how great ones sink can look if you wipe it out once a day. A new, small task is added on each day, and individualization is encouraged. Once the baby steps are completed there are daily missions to be done around the house as your time allows, and a new task is added on monthly that just takes a few minutes. This program is very well organized, and did I mention free! I have really enjoyed every part of it so far.

Another program is similar to FlyLady, but a little bit looser. This one I have barely started, and look forward to starting it fuller soon. It is called HabitHacker. This one is comprised of three ninety day plans, Create, Nest and SOS. I'm going to do Nest first. This involves cleaning and decluttering your home. Each day you receive an email about the next days project. For instance, spend 5 minutes cleaning one area off, and keep it clean. The Create program helps you discover your inner artist and the SOS program is for your personal health.

Currently I am reading a book and the accompanying blog, the Happiness Project. A women, who was completely content with her life, decided she wanted to be more than content. She did a vast amount of research on areas where she felt she could improve, created resolutions, and followed them. In January she decided to "boost energy," and in February she decided to "remember love." I have just begun reading about March in which she decided to "aim higher." While reading this book I have gone ahead and written down various areas in which I plan to improve my life. I am very encouraged by what she has discovered in herself, and how much it has helped others around her. Ones attitude is truly contagious.

My final plan is to completely revamp my health. I have always been very small, and viewed exercise as a method to loose weight, and then maintain it. Over the past year I have changed this view, but was too weak to act on it. I viewed dieting the same way and would eat junk food as much as I could. I plan on beginning a loose workout plan, simply running and walking regularly, and more importantly I am going to work with a nutritionist about eating healthy for me.

The most invasive part of my plan for health comes from a 7 step plan to break a real addiction that I, and many others, have. It is a sugar addiction. Dr. Kathleen Desmaisons is a therapist who specialized in alcoholism, is a recovering sugar addict, and is currently researching sugar addiction. She noticed that a lot of recovering alcoholics exhibited the same symptoms she did in relation to sugar, and that many alcoholics turned to sugar. Her own experience has shown that she feels physically and mentally better when she doesn't eat sugar, something I have noticed as well. And she has discovered that there is more to both addictions than just saying no. Her book "The Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program" outlines these sevens steps, and how to customize them for yourself. The steps are primarily about changing your diet to satisfy the chemical imbalance that causes both sugar addiction and alcoholism. There is also a website, called Radiant Recovery, that accompanies this book that outlines the seven steps, has a support community and online classes to help you with each step and beyond. I am very excited about this program and knowing that this will give me many more healthy years.

These are my self improvement plans. Everyone has areas in which they can improve themselves, and these programs will by no means make me perfect. But I would encourage everyone to wake up every morning and tell themselves "this is a fresh start," and to do what you can to enjoy your day to the greatest extent possible.