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I’ve never been what you would call a healthy person.
Sure, I’ve been a professional athlete, performer, pageant queen and professor, but I used to do so amidst injuries, bouts of major illnesses and an even more debilitating desire to please everyone I met.
When a specialist finally diagnosed me with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in my early twenties, many of my maladies started to make sense. For the first time, someone looked at my entire body as a whole instead of compartmentalizing individual symptoms. Once I discovered the unique workings of my own system and how my life choices played into my health, I went from being on my death bed to competing in the Miss North Carolina USA pageant within 3 months!
So you can imagine my surprise, fifteen years later, when it looked like I might be traveling down that same horrific road again.
After a sudden onset of weight gain and generally just feeling a little ‘off’, I begrudgingly went to the doctor. He felt a lump in my throat and proceeded to order a series of blood word & ultrasounds.
A week after taking the images, on my husband’s birthday no less, I received a phone call saying they discovered a mass on my thyroid that would require a biopsy. Thus began the tail-spin that turned out to be my summer. The next week my grandmother passed away, pushing the biopsy even further back and taking my emotions to a new level of distress. The biopsy itself was no picnic, but the news that followed was even worse.
I was told the nodule had cells that resembled lymphoma and either required a second biopsy (YUCK!) and/or removal.
For six weeks I’d put my body, mind and family through Hell.
How could this be happening? And this is just the beginning? I couldn’t take it anymore.
I stopped long enough to look at my husband and step back for some perspective.
Neither of us had felt comfortable with this doctor, and I sure wasn’t going to let him stick another needle in my neck. Something in my gut told me this wasn’t right and that was when I finally began to listen to my body again.
To make a long story short, I did seek out a second opinion. Not only did it turn out that I didn’t have lymphoma, I didn’t have lymphoma! Can you believe it???
As it turns out, I have two conditions that did cause my thyroid to shut down and become abnormally shaped, but that are very treatable and NOT cancer. I once again found a doctor that was willing to look at the bigger picture of my entire body instead of focusing on just one aspect of it.
What I did learn was that I needed to SLOW DOWN. Once again, my health would depend upon getting grounded: being kind to my body and returning to the things that helped me to get healthy in the first place…things like balance, boundaries, and taking time to pursue the gifts & passions God has given me.
As a blogger, writer, media personality, friend, wife and mom, it’s hard to say no to opportunities and people we love (much less find time to go to the bathroom with the door closed), but the health of our family and ourselves depends on it. After all, if we don’t model for our own children how to be grounded, who will?
I consider myself a perpetual learner and have learned so much from other mentors in my life, so I’m curious to know: In your busy everyday life, how do you strive for balance? By replying you will be entered to win one of two prizes! First Prize: $150 to a Local Spa, plus $50 Gift Certificate to the Cerra Boutique.Second Prize: One of Five $100 Gift Certificates to the Cerra Boutique.
I can’t wait to read your thoughts and learn from you too! Good luck!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cerra. The opinions and text are all mine.
1 comment
That balance is hard to see day-to-day, but I like to think that I prioritize by God, husband, child, and family. Pray, read to my child every night, date night once a month (even though sometimes it ends up being monthS), and vacation. How I love a good vacation! And I feel so much better about myself when I walk, walk, walk!
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