I know, I know, it’s gotten a little dusty around this place. Cobwebs in the corners and dust bunnies multiplying like … well, bunnies.
Taking a break from writing in this space wasn’t intentional. At first. And then it was.
Truth be told, this little family of ours wasn’t feeling so well (physically) throughout the end of 2016, but we forged on through the holidays and wrapped up the year by heading back to Ohio to spend some time with family and friends.
On January 1st, we made the trek home to Georgia from Ohio. And for most of the drive, it looked a lot like this:
Fortunately, I wasn’t driving. Unfortunately, I was straining my eyes, in an attempt to manifest x-ray vision that could cut that fog. Within an hour of arriving home, IT had set in. IT, being land sickness.
Google it. I can never remember the specific name for it.
I’ve had bouts with it before, but it’s been years since my last episode. Basically, for me, it’s this weird feeling in my head that makes it feel like I’m still in motion (car, plane, etc.) even though my body is perfectly still. I imagine it’s like the intersection of one cocktail too many and vertigo … good times.
I stumbled over to the neighbor’s house for a New Year’s day party and tried my best not to fall over in front of a whole bunch of people we’d never met. I turned down every offer for a drink, and stood next to a counter (or Keith) trying not to look like I was swaying (though my body felt exactly that). Then I went home, fell into bed, and begged the universe to make this a short lived episode.
A few days later, and I was back.
Then, almost immediately, IT happened. IT being me catching a basketball with my face. Unintentionally, btw.
It was close range, and I never saw it coming. I remember seeing total black a second before feeling my entire face compress. We were in the driveway and Mayhem was playing basketball with some kids from the neighborhood. It was a complete accident.
I stumbled into the house and headed straight for the bathroom mirror … to see if everything was still in it’s proper location. It was. I took some headache medicine and hoped the swelling would be minimal.
And while the swelling (a la Marcia Brady) never happened, my entire face hurt for weeks. I was 100 percent certain that there was serious bruising going on behind what I could see, and I spent many nights laying in bed, wondering if I had internal bleeding and would maybe die in my sleep. And because I’m a very rational person, I refused to go see a doctor.
Headaches continued off and on. And looking at a computer screen, tv, and/or cell phone screen made things worse. Disconnecting, it seemed, would be the only way to truly heal.
I’m not a New Year’s resolution type person (I’ve come to find that I don’t stick with things I declare on January 1) but somewhere around the third week of January, I decided these couple of incidents were clearly “Hey Dummy!” moments, designed to get my attention.
I was not taking care of myself. At all. And I haven’t been, for years.
Our family was a family with angry stomachs. All of us. And it had gotten progressively worse throughout 2016. By October of 2016, it was apparent that the re-introduction of (more) processed foods into our diet, after Mayhem being cleared of her (previous) soy allergy, was largely to blame. But heading into the holidays meant we were kind of on auto-pilot and simply doing what we needed, to cruise into a new year.
The physical blahs combining with the “hey dummy” moments were finally a catalyst for some real change. Keith and I decided it was time for our family to make a switch to a primarily whole foods, plant based diet. And within a few short days, we felt tremendously better.
Make no mistake, this is a major shift for us, and we’re still a work in progress. There’s been a lot of trial and error and “what are we going to eat?!?!”, but we’ve stuck with it.
Mostly.
Mayhem was super excited when we went to meet a friend downtown, and he’d made reservations for dinner at a steakhouse (he had no clue we’d made any diet changes) … she enjoyed every bite of her cheeseburger, which, to her delight, also came with bacon. She sat in the booth, swooning, and declaring, “Pua, you are SO delicious!”
Pua is the pet pig in Moana. Mayhem has zero feelings 😉
I could go on and on about the dietary changes we’ve made and are continuing to make, but I’ll save that for that for another post. If you’re curious as to why plant based was the direction we wanted to go with our family, I highly recommend the Forks Over Knives (check it out on Netflix if you have it) documentary as a starting point. We’ve been kind of obsessed with food documentaries for years and this particular one has a lot of information we’ve found super helpful (not to mention eye opening).
Traveling and entertaining (ie; eating with other people) has been the greatest challenge, since we’re still navigating these waters for ourselves. As is finding plant based recipes which don’t rely heavily on nuts and/or nut based products (Mayhem is still highly allergic to ALL of those). But we’re doing it. And getting a little better everyday.
More than three months into this journey, I can say, that we feel like this is a definite lifestyle change for us. It doesn’t feel temporary, or like something we’re tired of.
Getting control of feeling physically better felt like the first step towards overall better health, and now that we’re more comfortable with this new lifestyle, we’re tackling how we handle stress.
I have no idea what that looks like just yet, but I’m hoping that some quiet time, spent writing, will help. I’ve enjoyed it in the past, and when it doesn’t feel like work, it can be therapeutic. Keith also mentioned to me that maybe we should explore some type of meditation, as a means of quieting our seemingly ALWAYS ON minds. I’m game.
We’ve been fortunate that our move south has allowed us to spend tons of time outdoors, and getting out to exercise in fresh air is always a good stress relief. Making it a daily priority is now a priority.
And so is relaxation. I don’t know how to do that (daily) just yet, but I’m exploring options …
What’s really nice though is not being afraid to try something new. And make changes. And feel better.
And begin again.
What’s your ‘go to’ stress buster?!?!
I can’t wait to read more about or journey. I eat a (mostly) plant based diet and I have a nut allergy which has definitely made it really hard. I struggle still to figure things out. Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to some posts in the near future!
Working on more posts now, Marci 🙂
The nut allergy is definitely a challenge in this plant based journey, but I’m finding some decent substitutions (depending on the recipes). A friend also just gifted me two plant based cookbooks and I’m excited to dig in and find some new inspiration.
My stress buster is walking in the woods on a hike. Makes me feel so at home and at peace. Minus the ticks! ?
Hiking in the woods is awesome, isn’t it?! We’ve been getting a lot more hiking in these days and it definitely feels more peaceful than just walking at a park or around town 🙂
Incredibly well written and extremely motivating. Thank you for taking your time to share this. I am grateful.
thanks so much!
YESSS!!! THIS! it’s so beautifully written and I’m so glad you shared it. I recently did a post on my blog opening up about how I’ve been for the past year eating a mostly plant based diet (I still eat fish for other health issues I combat) and how it has changed me AND my body. It’s phenomenal. I can also recommend Vegucated as well as Food, Inc. Both are tremendous documentaries, especially if you enjoyed Forks Over Knives. Let me know if you ever want recipes or good substitutions! OXO My post (if you are interested), here: http://communikait.com/2017/05/diet-exercise-transformation/
Thanks so much Kait! I love following along on what you’re cooking on IG stories 🙂 I read your post and so much of it rings so true for me too. And while I’m nowhere near a year into this change in eating, it’s been such a great change already.
I also LOVE both the documentaries you listed! I’m working on a list to share with most of the ones we’ve watched (lots of them many times over).There are SO many great ones out there now, and I love that people are producing such great content so that we can educate ourselves.
What brand are your yellow sneakers, in the first picture?
Hey Carly – The brand is Allbirds and they are SOOOOO comfy! highly recommend 🙂
Thank you!
I meditate daily. I love the Inspire Timer App,that features over 5000 guided meditation choices. The Yoga Nidra meditation for sleep is BEAUTIFUL. I feel calmer. Acupuncture helps too. I was running around mindlessly,functioning on fumes and sugar. I knew I needed to do better for myself. Thank God for these dummy moments!
Thanks so much for those recos Patricia!!! I will definitely look into that app ASAP 🙂
It’s amazing to think about what our bodies are running on sometimes – so glad we’ve made some positive changes!
Dancing is my stress buster! I teach primary school. On “those days” when everything feels stressful we stop and ‘Go Noodle’! A few dances later and we all feel ready to get back to work. The kids love it.
At home wii dancing does it for me too.
Also a cup of tea and a book.
Love it!!! Dancing always helps and I can imagine it’s perfect in the classroom too 🙂
I need to spend more time reading good books, I used to much more than I do now, and I miss it.
I hit that place after months of sinus infections and surgeries. The medical system didn’t offer any solutions but added to my ongoing sickness. Once I started cutting out the main inflamation causes (dairy, sugar, and still working on gluten), I started to feel so much better. It is a rough road but definitely worth it to be happier and healthier.
I struggled to get into meditation as I was always needing to get my hands dirty and keep busy while burying myself deeper and deeper into unhappiness. I created these cards to help me slow down and take one thing at a time. I pull a card a day and use that as my mediation and inspiration for a day. Again, work in progress and rough but well worth the journey. https://www.etsy.com/shop/LuminousHeartGifts
Thanks for sharing your story! You are such an inspiration to me!
Hey Janet – ugh!!! It really is pretty sad when the medical system can’t offer any help. When I first learned (years ago) that most docs get very little to NO nutritional education, I was stunned. Glad to hear that your changes have helped you to feel better.
And the cards idea is terrific – love that 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I would definitely recommend checking out any of Katy Bowman’s books (here’s the most recent edition of her book outlining her main thesis: https://smile.amazon.com/Move-Your-DNA-Movement-Expanded/dp/1943370109), or if you don’t want to invest in a book upfront, check out her archived posts on her website, https://nutritiousmovement.com (her Instagram is the same name, https://www.instagram.com/nutritiousmovement).
WOW! What a year you’ve had so far!
I am glad you’re feeling better and I also love that you made the dietary changes without really making it obvious to Mayhem. I think that’s really smart!
K A T E L A T E L Y || Fashion & Lifestyle Blog
http://www.katelately.co/2017/05/08/motivation-monday-3/
Love your posts, and as a former Cincinnatian myself (now a transplant in the Pacific NW for 15 years), I totally get your urge to be outside more and how much it helps. Accessibility and community support for accessibility is the key. And I now own more bikes and outdoor gear than I ever thought I would. LOL
Also as a former Mid-Westerner, and as a daughter of Texas-raised parents, I grew up eating meat all the time and swore I’d never give it up. But the past few months I’ve been experimenting to making veggies the main focus of my meal and not always asking for a meat. It’s made a difference in how I feel mentally, physically and emotionally.
I wish more people would recognize how much simply changing their eating habits would help IMMENSELY with the chronic ails and fatigue they that they don’t know plagues them. Does that make sense? It’s so simple, yet I know it’s difficult. I have family members that have bottles and bottles of meds around the house and I just think (and sometimes say) guys, change the way you eat and you’ll feel better. They say they don’t eat bad and splurge just occasionally, but, well, that’s just not it. It’s so much more, and I throw my hands up. Anyway, going through the various fads the past decade, while they are mockingly written off (paleo, 21 day fix, whole 30, south beach, etc), if they’re getting people to eat more non-processed foods, by all means, keep pushing them.
Anyway, I don’t know why I decided to chat here but I do admire you and your family and the constant inspiration you instill in Mayhem to continue to be creative and to never hold back. Looking forward to see what great things you guys do next!