Saturday, December 29, 2018

2018 reflection - My IBD journey


So... after hosting our big Xmas dinner for 20+, I finally found some time to sit down and craft a pretty solid draft for this post. In between cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, I was feeling a great sense of pat on the back. This morning, I was ready to finish off the post when I realised that the latest version wasn't saved, poof, gone, nutta!!! The old me would have freaked out, I would have felt that tightening in my upper back and neck. But instead I took a deep breath, grabbed one of my many bottles of essential oil by the computer, applied and carried on. Yup, the new me handled it pretty well. Let me tell you what this year had taught me.

Last year, I posted a short and sweet reflection for the year around this time. As I reread it, I was pretty shocked how much uncertainty weighed down my words. Felt like, it was written from a totally different person. I've learned so much this year and this is a great opportunity for me to recognize my accomplishments.

These are a few highlights for my 2018 reflection.

Superpower to body reset

I stepped into 2018 testing out a powerful wellness skill, almost like a superpower of sort. I learned how to use extending fasting to reset my body. From resting digestion to balancing hormones, fasting also strengthens my mind. The quick drop in lbs got my vanity's attention, but the real perk was the general feeling of awesomeness, the mental clarity, increase in energy and just functioning on a different realm was really cool. I was feeling so good that I decided to re-intro more foods outside of the AIP. This addition to my wellness tool belt gave me an amazing experience on our family vacay in Hawaii, I was really experiencing R&R, almost for the first time.

Sharing my voice

When Oshi Health invited me to share my story in their soon to launch app for IBD folks, I say Yas!!! Sign me up. I was so excited to reach more people in the IBD community. Pitch in my voice and offer my encouragements to a wider audience. If you haven't checked out their app, don't wait and spread the words.

"The Oshi App 📱

The Oshi app is the first all-in-one digital solution to help patients manage IBD. The app empowers patients to:

  • Track: People can track their symptoms, stress, diet, exercise, and sleep, and the app uses this data to generate a completely personalized Oshi Wellness Score.
  • Learn: Oshi contains a magazine’s worth of quality, curated educational content that’s written by our team of patient advocates, by top-notch professional writers, and by our team of physician-partners and other subject-matter experts.
  • Ask: People can submit questions directly to Oshi for answers from our team of experts.   
Oshi is available for download in the United States,Canada, the United Kingdom and Denmark— free — from both the Apple App Store and Android Google Play."

Connecting with people the old fashion way

On a personal level, I've been making an effort to connect where I can see or hear the other person.  I learned how important connection was when I was at the lowest point of my health. I was desperate to find anyone who would understand. I'm forever grateful for finding that sense of community online. Now that I'm back on my feet in health, I enjoy making more in person contacts on a day to day basis. Even making a phone call, scheduling online chat with friends overseas give me a boost of the warm fuzzies. While waiting in line, one of my favs thing to do is strike up a conversation with the person in front, it sure makes the wait time pass faster,  or listening to the gas attendant story as he insists I should be a teacher because I have that "gift with people" Blush.... It's not like asking me to donate a vital organs while I'm alive, just basic human interaction... feels nice.


What does 2019 hold for me?

I recently discovered the writings of Dr. Satchin Panda, I have to admit his name got my attention... my kid loves Panda. His book The Circadian Code is one of the many on my readings right now. So nurturing my Circadian Rhythm is high on the 2019 list, it's not just what I eat, It's also important when I eat, the sleep wake cycle is key too.

With a clearer mind, I'm now capable of emmercing in multiple books at a time. Wow, that has never happened in my life before. Reading, journalling,  listening and most important thing...implementing. Gotta take action instead of passive learning. Another goal is to break down all the goodness into  bite size chunks for sharing. I'm hoping this will make things less overwhelming and easier to apply into everyday lives for those who're ready to make some changes.


What plans do you have for the new year? Are you writing them down somewhere?

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Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

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