Catherine Corley - Get On Your Feet!

Hi there, friends!  Well, we are half way through the month of January already!  Did you make a resolution to lose weight?  Eat healthier?  Be healthier?  Exercise?  How's that working out for you?

Last year, I made those resolutions and I kept them.  Besides that whole tumor surgery thing, I think it went pretty well.  And, bonus, even that made me healthier!  My heart and blood pressure are already so much stronger!  So all things work together for good.

My problem is getting back into a full workout routine and avoiding junk food while I am recovering.  I started my workouts back up as soon as the doctor said I should.  Yay me!  That was hard and it took a little Vicodin to get through each of them, but I have done them.  The doctor's office said, sadly, most people don't even try.  I am also trying to avoid the temptation of junk food while I recuperate here at home.  It's been a week now.  I should be able to resume most normal activities like driving and leaving the house in the next couple of days.

This recuperation time has given me a slow-down time where I can really focus on goals and who I want to be in this new awesome stage in my life.  My list of things I want to accomplish this year and who I want to be is quite long at this point.  God has kept me on this planet yet again, so there must be a reason.  I thought maybe this Cat had used up her nine lives, but apparently not.

So what are you going to do today that is healthy, I ask you?  Did you make some resolutions, like I asked before?  Are you still trying?  It's amazing to me how, a place like Weight Watchers, will be so crowded the first week of January, but by the first week in February, for the most part only the hardcore people are still there.  My cousin, Ruth, and I belong to Weight Watchers and we have missed the month of January so far because of my surgery, but I am anxious to see who is there next time we go.  I wonder how many new faces will be sitting next to our familiar friends.

So if you are having trouble sticking to your goals, let's take them in baby steps.  Try just focusing on one day at a time or one meal at a time.  Try to get in your exercise every other day if you can't do it six days a week (with a day to rest).  Try eating healthier foods.  I am more than 50 pounds less than I was this time last year, but I hate hate hate vegetables.  I hate most salad dressings.  I forget to eat my fruits.  Ruth makes fun of me, but I would rather be hungry sometimes.  But this year, especially after what I have been through in the last couple of months, I am eating a rainbow of colored fruits and vegetables each day.  I am thanking God for the different nutrients found in those foods.  I also plan to start cooking more, now that I should have more energy, and I want the foods to be "clean" foods.  I have been reading everything I can on clean eating during this down time.

Since I have had this surgery, and one of my final obstacles is GONE, I plan to eat healthy foods 90% of the time and I plan to be on my feet!  Our bodies weren't made to be inactive.  They were made to move.  Set a timer if you are watching too much TV to remind yourself to get up and move around or do some crunches.  I hula hoop while watching TV (when I haven't just had major surgery).  I have a weighted hula hoop and I use it while I am emptying my DVR.  Exercise during commercials.  Be more active.  

Every time Ruth and I are faced with a huge challenge (like the day we had to cut up a fallen tree together), I ask her, "How do you eat an elephant?"  And she replies, "One bite at a time!"  So break down your goals into small goals that you can achieve and don't give up!  And, don't eat an elephant if you are trying to lose weight!  Smirk.

Be healthy, be strong and believe!

Cathy

Simple Paths Forward - What It's All About

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  Proverbs 3:5-6

Why did I start this blog today?  I have been thinking about starting a new blog for some time now, but today seemed the perfect day.  I have been handed more than I thought I could handle in the last week (over Thanksgiving week as a matter of fact) and I know today is the perfect day to begin a new path.  A new blog with a new attitude, to be more precise.

Sometimes I forget that I need to reach out and share in the midst of a crisis.  Other times, I think I don't shut my mouth for a second.  Lately, I think it has been a combination of both.  So my blog will be a way for me to truly express myself and I hope you will give me feedback and express yourselves as well.  We are all in this world together.

My life is pretty ordinary.  I live in a nice house in the suburbs.  I haven't worked outside the house since I quit my job at a large law firm to take care of my father for three years until he passed away in 2010.  I lost my mother to cancer ten years almost to the day before I lost my father.  

After my round-the-clock care giving days ended, I really didn't know what direction my life should take, so I didn't take any direction!  Most of my days were pretty ordinary.  My children are in their twenties and they don't need me very often, but they love me all the time and I love them!  Each day seemed pretty much the same, that is until I got an unexpected addition to our family.

No, not a new baby at 46 years of age.  But a lovely, caring adult cousin with special needs who was added to my family and my home.  Ruth is a 42-year-old who brought with her her own set of requirements and concerns.  She lives courageously with mild cerebral palsy, epilepsy and learning disabilities.  She also came to me complete with one of the nation's biggest health problems, morbid obesity.

Now that I have mentioned her "disabilities," let me tell you Ruth's "abilities!"  I will name just a few, because there is only so much space!  She is the bravest person I know.  She is also the brightest, cheeriest, warmest, kindest and best person I have ever met.  She has courage beyond measure and strength to do what others wouldn't even try.  I am blessed to be her cousin. 

Ruth also has the best memory of anyone I ever met.  She can listen to a CD and remember most of the words after the first time and sing along the next time in the car while I mess up all the words even though I've owned the CD for years!  She doesn't forget anything.  If you told Ruth to call you on such-and-such a date, say six months from now, to remind you to make a doctor's appointment, she would not only remember and call you, but more than likely, you would probably have forgotten the purpose of her call.  She is spectacular!

We now have new challenges that Ruth and I face together and individually.  For instance, I just finished my weight loss journey (if you can ever consider yourself "finished" since it is ongoing) and she has just begun hers.  

We spend our days together and look for ways we can help each other and people around us.  Ruth has the most giving heart I have ever seen.  She loves to help touch the lives of people.  I think she does that automatically just by being herself, but in addition, she looks for ways she can purposely touch people's lives and bless their hearts too.

I want this to be about paths.  Paths we all take whether we are prepared for them or not.  Sometimes those paths are so unfamiliar we don't know whether to sit down and cry or run like a maniac to find our way!  You may be a new parent.  Maybe you are part of the sandwich generation like I was--taking care of children and a parent or two.  Maybe you are an empty nester.  Maybe you, too, have a challenged child or adult family member.  Or perhaps you just need a little more sanity in your life, your home, your food habits, your job or your relationships.  

Let's get on the path and move forward simply together.