HealthandHappiness

Do you use your imagination often? Let your creativity flow? If not, you should.

Using your imagination is a great way to keep your mind sharp. If you are a writer it’s also a way to make a few extra bucks. Thinking of fictional worlds, coming up with the perfect crime, or getting your character’s personality just right, are all ways of using your imagination.

If you aren’t a writer, you can still use your imagination. Think up games to play with your children. Come up with a new design for a craft project. It doesn’t matter what you are doing, just let the images and creativity flow.

Keeping the mind active is very important. Alzheimer’s and dementia are two serious problems people face. Using your brain will help keep these disease’s at bay. It may not stop them, but exercising the mind will at least give you a fighting chance!

So put your imagination to use today. Create something!

I have been doing really well on my dieting and exercise for the last few months. It seems to all be in vain however. I lost four pounds the first week and haven’t lost any more since. It’s not unusual for me to lose slowly, but I do usually lose something!

You see, I have diabetes, fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and hypothyroidism. All these conditions make losing weight harder. They shouldn’t make it impossible though!

I count carbs for the eating part of my plan. I eat hardly any starchy, sweet or carby foods. I do eat some; it’s not a NO carb diet. For exercise I do my exercise bike, walking, hiking, and strength training. I do plan on upping the exercise and lowering the carbs this week. Something has to give here soon!

Do you realize how hard it is on motivation to eat right and exercise for weeks on end and never lose a pound? I’m not saying I’ve been perfect. There have been about 4 bad eating days out of this time. That shouldn’t be enough to derail the whole process, but evidently it is.

I will be going to the doctor soon for a checkup and this subject is going to be discussed. Maybe there is something they can suggest to help kick start the weight loss.

For now, I’m just keeping on keeping on.

Setting achievable goals is very important. Having a set objective to reach within a certain time frame gives us incentive to work harder. The problem comes when we make unattainable goals. Setting yourself up for failure is no way to help with self esteem.

When you set a goal, start small. If you have a weight loss goal for example, don’t make the goal to lose 100 pounds in 2 years. Instead, set a goal of losing 10% of your weight in 3 months. When you reach that goal it will give you incentive to go farther. You will be more likely to achieve your long term goals if you make the short term ones reachable.

Setting small goals is a good idea no matter what you are trying to achieve. Writing a certain amount of articles a day, saving a set amount of money each month, anything that you want will come easier if you make attainable goals. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Be sensible and see your dreams come true.

I did a post about positive affirmations and how it’s important to be kind to ourselves. I gave some examples of affirmations to say that would help make you feel better. I wanted to do this follow up post to see if it helped anyone.

Are you being more positive about yourself?

Are you turning negatives into positives?

Are you being nice to yourself?

Let’s find out. List 10 things you like about yourself. 10 positive things you believe about yourself. I’ll go first.

1. I am a good wife.
2. I am a good mother.
3. I am a good friend.
4. I am a good daughter.
5. I can tell a good story.
6. I have pretty eyes.
7. I am a good listener.
8. I am a productive member of society.
9. I am a pretty good photographer.
10. I am improving in my writing all the time.

There’s my list. Can you think of 10? Was it hard?

Do you have a list of things that make you happy? Do you even know what really makes you happy and why? Try to come up with ten things that make you happy. Leave me a comment letting me know what they are.

Here’s my list:

1.       Spending time with my husband. I love it when we can be alone together. It doesn’t really matter what we’re doing. Watching a movie, hiking, talking, having sex, all of it is important. Even just sitting in the living room with each of us reading different books and not talking that often is good. Just being with him, having him there to talk to if I want really makes me happy. This one may be so important to me because my husband is gone away for work a lot. I enjoy the times we are together even more. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

2.       Spending time with my son. My son will be 17 years old next month. He doesn’t depend on me for everything any more, or ask my opinion often. When we do get to spend time together it’s nice. Talking with him and finding out what’s going on at school, hearing about his friends, and talking about what he’s interested in is very important for our relationship. He’s a great kid, very intelligent, and I love hearing his take on the world.

3.       Going for hikes. This is my all time favorite form of exercise. I enjoy it so much it doesn’t even feel like exercise. I just love being out in the woods.

4.       Taking pictures. I’m an amateur photographer. I combine my love of taking pictures with hiking. I also love taking pictures of the family. It’s nice to look back and see how everyone’s changed.

5.       Writing. I didn’t even know I could write until this year. I’d always dabbled in poetry, but actually trying to write something others would like and pay for is new. Once I got started I found that I really enjoy it. I get nervous when I have to go too long without writing something now. My favorite form of writing is flash fiction. I even started a blog recently just to put my stories and poems on.

6.       Reading is another thing I really enjoy. I love getting into a really good book. If a book makes me laugh or cry then it’s a winner! Letting my imagination run wild and putting myself in the characters place in a book is fun.

7.       My cat snuggling up on my chest and nuzzling his head under my chin. It’s just the sweetest thing! He’s all soft and cuddly. My very own live stuffed animal.

8.       Talking with my Mom. I lost my Dad last year. Since that time, it’s become even more important to stay in close contact with my Mom. We live in separate states so I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like. We do talk on the phone almost every day though.

9.       Hugs. I absolutely love hugs. My husbands are the best, but my son and other family members get their share too. I even hug friends. I have been known to hug almost strangers if I thought it would help them. I believe in the power of hugs!

10.   A clean house. I know this one is weird. I have mild OCD. One of the things that really bothers me is when I am hurting too bad to keep the house as clean as I want it. I used to be a neat freak. Since getting fibromyalgia I’ve settled down a lot, but still clean at least once a week. I do it more often if I feel like it. I can’t do everything I used to. My husband and son help a lot. I’m very lucky. I think I converted them…he he. They got so used to it being really clean that they like it this way too. When I do get the house clean and everything in the right place, I feel good. It does make me happy.

So there’s my list. What do you think of it? I have more things, but that’s the first 10 I thought of. I really would love to hear some of y’alls lists. I’ll be waiting!

We sometimes get bogged down in doing things for others and forget about ourselves. To be really healthy and happy we have to take time for ourselves. Doing something we really enjoy helps relieve stress, makes our outlook brighter, and can even increase productivity.

If you never take time to do something for yourself you’ll start to resent others. All work and no play really is bad. You don’t have to take a long time; just 10 minutes to do something you really love can make a difference.

Giving your mind a rest and doing an activity that you like can lead to breakthroughs in your professional life. If you are always concentrating on work, and never taking a break, your mind gets tired. Stress starts to wreck havoc with your thought process and productivity suffers. Take a day and do something for yourself. Don’t think of work at all. When you go back you might be surprised to learn that you’ve thought up a whole new story idea, a new way to do something that will bring more money to the company, or figured out how to fix a broken machine that was giving you trouble.

Mental breaks are very important, take one today! Do something good for your health and happiness, you are worth it!

My son came home from school yesterday and said he had pulled a muscle in his neck/shoulder area. I had him rest and put ice packs on it. He is also taking Advil for the pain. From everything I’ve read this is the protocol.

If he’s not better within 48 hours I’ll take him to the doctor. I’ve researched pulled muscles and the above is what I found as treatment. He said it was better this morning, although still not well. That’s to be expected though. I was just glad he had more range of motion and less pain. He took another Advil before going to school.

We may take him to the doctor anyway just to be sure everything is ok. He said he’s going to ask the school sports doctor to look at it when he goes to gym class. I wrote him a note asking that he be excused from weight lifting today. He sure doesn’t need to be using the area.

I really hope he gets better soon. It hurts me when he’s in pain! Are y’all that way with your children? I believe most parents are. We’ve been lucky that he’s never had any broken bones or bad illnesses. He did have the flu last year and that was pretty bad. Otherwise, this is the worst thing.

Wish him luck, y’all!

I have to admit that the hardest time for me to follow my own advice is when I wake up with a headache. It seems to put a bad spin on the whole day.

One problem is that it frustrates the heck out of me to WAKE up with the thing! I know it’s because I end up lying on a trigger point, but it still gets on my nerves. It’s definitely not a good way to start the morning.

I try to just take it easy on these days. I am still as productive as I can be, but don’t push myself overly hard. If I do I could end up having a headache tomorrow also, and that’s really not something I want.

Headaches take a lot out of me. I am so tired right now, but can’t sleep because laying down makes it worse. So I decided to get some work done. Sometimes health problems actually increase productivity I guess.

On the positive side, I was able to get out of bed this morning. Some people don’t even have that. I am very thankful that my health isn’t any worse than it is. It’s hard, but we should all look at the bright side if possible. Always thinking of the negative has a bad impact on overall health.

The sun is shining today, my cat is happy to see me, and I am able to write. All in all this will be a good day despite the headache! Sometimes we have to make our own happiness.

If you have diabetes you know it isn’t an easy disease to deal with. Your whole life gets turned upside down after diagnosis. Learning to eat a new way, new medications- sometimes including shots, and incorporating exercise are all things new diabetics are faced with.

This can be overwhelming and scary. One day you were going on with your business and the next you have to re-learn everything. Having a good support system is vital. Your doctor, spouse and children, and other family members are all a part of your support system. Or they should be anyway. These are the people you can talk with and that will help you adjust to your new way of life. Let them help.

Don’t try to change everything at once. In my opinion, getting your eating under control should be top priority. Once you get that down, the rest will be easier. You’ll feel better because your blood sugar will be more stable. Therefore, you’ll be able to exercise more often.

Your doctor should have shown you the proper way to eat and how to do shots and medication. If they didn’t, change doctors immediately! You need someone who explains things fully and works with you. Diabetes is nothing to play around with.

Take it one day at a time, be patient with yourself, and do the best you can. It does get easier. The changes are hard, but your health is worth it!

Someone who has recently been diagnosed with an illness, especially a really bad one like cancer, will love for friends and family to just come for a simple visit. Knowing that you care enough to take time out of your busy schedule to see them makes the person feel good. Everyone wants to know others care.

Today my son and I are going to visit my cousin. She is 28 years old and found out a few weeks ago that she has thyroid cancer, along with deteriorated disks in her back. She is facing two major surgeries in the very near future.

I have studied up on thyroid cancer over the years because I have an autoimmune disease that killed my thyroid when I was 16. One of my fears is that I would end up with thyroid cancer one of these days. So far I haven’t. I was glad I knew some about it though when my cousin got her diagnosis. I was able to help explain it to her and add to what the doctors were telling her. One of the things I told her was that the largest percentages of patients have papillary cancer. This cancer is VERY treatable. Actually most of the thyroid cancers are. There is one kind that is usually deadly but hardly anyone gets it. I was praying she didn’t have the most aggressive kind. Turns out my prayers were answered.

It still is cancer though, and very scary. She was excited when I told her we were coming to visit. Seeing family and having something to think about besides the cancer diagnosis will do her good. I’m sure we’ll talk about it, but it won’t be the whole focus of the day.

If you know someone who has recently received bad health news, go see them. Just be there for them in whatever way they need. It will help you both to feel better. Bringing a little happiness to someone’s day is one of the best things we can do for each other.