Rebellion

It's pretty hard to decide not to follow the rules as you age.  In some cases your health would deteriorate if you did not do what you must.  So how do you manage to be a rebel when it is so clear what the right thing to do is?

Maybe it's being your own true self which could be seen as subversive or rebellious.  I have always had a strong streak of advocacy running through me and it's easy to see beneficial ways to use that

New Habits

Time to start building new habits and going back to the good old ones.  I see myself happy and healthy (relatively speaking of course), in the future.  I read that up to 45% of what you do in a day comes from habit.
I have also learned that it is easier to start a new habit than to break an old one, so that's the way to go.

Perfect weather

Well some days are a little flat, and it is not the fault of the weather.  Today is a perfect temperature, birds and flowers everywhere and yet I feel more like eating than anything else.  That is quite a dull idea. 

The blog called 6 Items of Clothing or Less - that's a clothes diet - does not appear to be there.  I used to love to see those wardrobe advice articles when I was a teenager that gave you 6 or 8 basic pieces and showed you all of the different looks.  Really it's a bit like paper dolls.  I think that after all of this time I can visualize that and save the paper.

Those wardrobes always had a black dress in them and I am now out of the dress wearing category due to ugly shoes.  It's not something that can be fixed.  In fact I have a foot operation scheduled for July.  New ugly shoes on the horizon!

Just One Exercise

It was a start

I spent too many years feeling that I was just not able to exercise for countless good RA reasons.  Then a physio talked me into doing just one exercise. " Lying (my choice) or standing, imagine that someone has a knife pointed at your naval and pull in your stomach muscles and hold them in.  When that gets too easy pull those muscles in and also try to move your naval up towards your neck"

It doesn't need to be a big knife that you imagine.

It was very easy and so I did it for maybe 2 months for 5 minutes in the morning and in the evening.  Then I had to see a different rheumatologist one day and when she was checking that my abdominal area she told me I had GOOD ABS.  Imagine - 20 years of no exercise and under 2 months of doing something easy moves me up to having good abs.  What a motivation that was!

It shows the amazing impact that an offhand positive comment can have. Encouragement is such a key factor in the management of your health life.

Since that comment I have made exercise a larger part of my life.

My list keeps getting longer

And it's a good thing too.  I wonder how it feels to have cleared all of your obligations completely?  You'd have a whole new slate to write on.  Too bad you can't clear it and also opt for a whole new body, even if it were the appropriate age.

Good health is so often not appreciated and nurtured.  There's my advice area for my young self when I go back in time

No need for "work clothes"

I can wear anything I want any day I feel like it.  No more saving certain things for "good" clothes.  What a concept!  It has all turned into a mostly one-purpose wardrobe. 
Do you think that the way you dress is a sign of personal growth?  My son used to be a sweat pants kind of guy.  Then he went preppy, and from there to being a guy who blends in with his most accustomed backgrounds, very comfortable in his own skin

Acquiring Optimism: The Easy Way

When my kids were young I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It hit me very hard, and with no energy to pursue more active pastimes, and orders to stay out of the sun, I took an interest in contests that I saw in newspapers or at the grocery store.

St my urging my son entered a newspaper contest through the Toronto Star to win tickets to the Shrine Circus in Mississauga. There were additional prizes of bikes and a trip listed for another draw before the big show. It sounded like a can't miss situation. At the very least we'd have an afternoon out.

At this time in our lives my husband was totally engrossed in writing his first computer program as a self employed person and was so absorbed that he was almost living on another planet from the rest of us.

We won family tickets to the show. That meant we all had to attend, especially because I was then not a licensed driver

On the day of the circus we arrived a little late (after pulling my husband away from his computer) and rushed to our
seats in the bleachers.  We sat down and before we knew it the
ringmaster announced the winner of a bicycle.  My husband clapped and cheered - he did not know there was a draw at all.  The next bike was awarded and he kept on clapping, really enthusiastically.  Then we got to the trip draw.  The ringmaster said "And now we draw for the winner of the grand prize - a trip to Disney World.  And the winner is ..." my older son said his brother's name and the ringmaster said the name immediately after.

They called my son down to the circus ring and he disappeared.  Next thing we knew he came out riding the lead elephant in the circus procession.  My husband was flabbergasted.  He had no idea what the prize was. What an experience!

And it was not quickly forgotten.  My son had been wearing shorts and it turns out that he is allergic to elephants.  He got hives all over his legs.  Luckily it cleared up before we went to Disney World.

It was so exciting.  The surprise of a win is as much fun as the great sense of contributing to the happiness of the family, despite the RA which kept me from being an active mom. It also did wonders for my sense of optimism, which definitely needed cultivation.