Blue Happy Living

Eight years ago today this picture was made of me.  We were at a restaurant celebrating my 47 birthday.  I look at this picture now and can’t believe it’s me.  That seems like a life time ago.  I had been giving a list of medical issue that would soon cause a heart attack or a stroke.  I had no one to blame but me.  I could only look in the mirror and see the cause of a life destroyed.  I was determined to repair the damage I had caused.  I knew I had a long road ahead of me.  So I made a list in my journal what my 8 year plan was.  This is what I wrote and in this order.

• Get weight loss surgery ASAP
• Skin surgery removal (full body lift)
• Learn to eat for fuel not for pleasure
• Dig deep and find out why you use food as a drug
• Learn to exercise and make it a way of life
• Join a gym
• Workout at least 3 days a week
• Get off all medication
• Learn about supplements and eating clean
• Complete all of this by your 55th birthday May 22 2020

I’m competitive, something I didn’t know until I started this journey. As of this morning I’ve check all of this off my to do list and that included 9 surgeries.  So with confidence I can say I WIN! I didn’t do this alone.  There are these women that took me at my worst and loved me until I was at my best.  They have sistered me, mothered me and pushed me at every turn.  I love these girls every single one of them.  My gym girls! Without them I know I wouldn’t have made it. There are no words that will ever express the gift of life they have filled me with.  Thank you seems so small in comparison to the value they poured in me and still do today.

So my 8 year plan comes full circle today on my 55th birthday. This is what 55 looks like.

I started a challenge with Map my Run on May 10.  The challenge started May 3 so I was a bit late.  You had to do 30 miles of running in 30 days.  When I started it May 12th I thought oh this will be easy.  I made 30 miles in just a few runs.  So I changed it to 55 miles by my birthday.  I reached 55 miles in 10 days.  This was an accomplishment because I had major surgery 10 weeks ago.  Its all healed, all good and I’m back at my busy lifestyle.  May 10th was the first day to run sense February.  All I know is running makes me happy and makes me feel good.

Where do I go from here.  Sharing my story with those that feel like they are  in that same place of desperation I was.  Making sure that people understand my story and how anyone can go from bad health to living a full and healthy life.  I’m an opening book and don’t mind sharing the ups and downs of my journey.  What I’ve learned is my issue was an eating disorder that is more common that I thought.  So here is to my #restoredlife and living that life #bluehappy.  I’m so excited to share my next journey.  It’s so full of life and living happy.  If we have learned anything from this quarantine time it should be that you never get to relive the moment you are standing in.  Life is so very fragile and should be lived knowing tomorrow isn’t promised.  I’ve learned to live each day with it’s fullest and make future plans with thoughts of hope.  Dream as if you are building your story and then live it out each chapter at a time.