Counting My Blessings

Every Moment is a Blessing

If I ever lose sight of the many blessings in my life, things like yesterday’s 6-week, post-surgery doctor visit jump up and down, waving their arms to remind me how much I have to be grateful for. Having lost a number of family members, and members of my dance community to cancer over the years, the best news of all was mine hadn’t gone further than the parts they removed, so no radiation or chemo would be necessary. Sure, I have 2 years of regular doctor visits ahead of me, but that’s is a minuscule blip on my life’s radar compared to what would have happened had my body not firmly rejected the foreign cells in a way which I couldn’t ignore, nor rest until I had a diagnosis. Not everyone gets so lucky.

Too many people don’t have any signs or symptoms until the cancer cells have had a chance to dig their heels in, and start spreading. Getting a message when they were barely discernible as even in the danger range at stage 1A is alarming, but manageable, even if it means I have another 6 weeks before I can get back to all of my daily activities, including lifting those 5 gallon bottles of water myself!

I do get to enjoy lighter workouts with my trainer right now, but she’s chomping at the bit, waiting for the day she can kick my butt around the block again, and we’re halfway there as of today. Meanwhile, I’ve gotten to add daily walks back to my schedule, even if I skip a day every now and then. I’ve given myself notice, though, that I can only skip one day a week, rain, shine, wind, or other elements which seek to, if not thwart, make walking a bit more challenging.

Resuming Normal Activities Quickly

I was determined to resume most of my regular activities as soon as possible, and managed to do so after 3, short weeks which, I’m guessing, is unusual. But when did I ever do things the way normal people do?

I was up and walking the halls of the hospital the day after a C-section, and dancing 6 days after knee surgery. I took a walk the day after returning home from the hospital, and slowly lengthened the distance and time until I’m walking close to 2.5 miles, and just under an hour a day. My current goal is to be able to do the entire ballet class again, and I’m getting close. Monday, I got all the way through adagio during center work.

Admittedly, I was hurting yesterday, but I also ran around doing errands after my doctor’s appointment, and may have lifted an overly heavy bag of Costco purchases wrong. But the resilience that seems to come with thrice-weekly ballet classes rose to the occasion, and I’m ready to walk again today, and take my second ballet class of the week tonight.

Then, and Now. What a Difference!

The funny thing is, I seemed to be happy sitting around, eating myself obese while I was married. Granted, “happy” is used loosely in this case. I was probably at my least healthy just before I realized I deserved to be truly happy, and ended 11 years of a soul-sucking marriage. (that seems to be a theme in my past life. Soul-sucking jobs, soul-sucking relationships…and finally getting fed up enough to end the cycle). With those memories still fresh enough to be frightening, I may be overly obsessive about weighing myself every day, but it keeps me from going back to that sedentary, unhealthy life. Maybe it thwarts the soul-suckers too. There are definitely less of them these days!

I suspect the key component in no longer allowing toxicity to invade my spirit is times like this when I’m recognizing and appreciating how many blessings I have, and showing gratitude for them all, no matter how small.

A Blessing’s a Blessing No Matter How Small

My gratitudes today are:

1. I’m grateful for an extremely positive diagnosis.
2. I’m grateful for a body that recognizes unwelcome invaders sooner rather than later.
3. I’m grateful for a willingness bordering on obsession to get up and move more, watch my weight more carefully, and eat more healthy than not.
4. I’m grateful for adding more healthy habits to my daily routine.
5. I’m grateful for the people who help and support my daily, healthy habits.

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income.