30 Things About My Invisible Illness...

...you may not know.

Read last year's post first. A few things have changed so I thought I'd point those out:

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: last year I said "not lifting/moving things". That is for sure no longer true. This year it's been trying to get on an organic, all natural, whole foods diet. It was tough at first, but now when I'm following it like I'm supposed to be, I feel amazing!

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: am focusing on regular exercise, strengthening my core muscles, and eating healthier. I feel so much better when I'm doing this consistently. With my workout schedule, it's much harder to get to a chiropractor regularly. But I'm okay with that; this is what I've chosen to concentrate on for now.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: learning my limitations all over again. Each time I am able to move forward in feeling better, I'm reminded that I'm still limited and have to figure out my limits again. If I push way too hard, I fall down even harder. But I'm always having to relearn that new line that I cannot cross without getting extremely ill.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: a kickboxing class. Oh yeahhhh baby!!! Totally empowering. I couldn't do every move or the intensity, but oh wow. It was so great to be able to once again do something I loved that I thought I might never be able to do again.

17. The commercials about my illness: see here.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: having a life without any repercussions.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: my pride.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: clean my house inside and out, go through every cubby hole and get rid of a bunch of stuff, dust like crazy; go for long bike rides with hubster; and run around in circles with my nieces and nephews, lifting them into the air, and playing at the playground with them.

22. My illness has taught me: to be kind to strangers more often, to help people in stores who look like they could use a hand, to not be afraid to ask questions that might make me uncomfortable if it looks like a person really could use encouragement or help.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: if you just would have exercised & eaten right from the beginning. Gahhhh!! You wanna be punched?

24. But I love it when people: tell me how much healthier and happier I look.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: Isaiah 43:2 and "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Hang in there. Fight for yourself when no one else is.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: it's made me so much more empathetic about general life trials too.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: absolutely insist that I lay down and not move while a million things needed to be done and he was already exhausted himself. Thank you hubster. :) You rock!