Closet Shopping: Part Deux (II)

November 28, 2016creelight3720 Leave a comment

Tis the season to switch out tank tops, short sleeves, flowy dresses, capris, and sandles for scarves, long sleeves, sweater dresses, pants, and closed toe shoes…at least for me…at least in Texas. Mind you, I was born and raised in Chicago, so I appreciate a change in seasons. After all, fall has always been one of my favorites. Granted, I love summer, so Texas suits me well, however, change is good. I’ve been wanting to replace my clothes for a while, but if you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you’ll know that life happens. It’s time for my 2nd installment of “Closet Shopping“. I received a relatively decent amount of views for a new blogger on that post back in the summer. You can also read it here.

An acquaintance of mine, born and raised in Texas once told me that she doesn’t change out her clothes with the change in seasons. She happily wears summer clothes in the fall and winter. To each, her own. The weather in this region tends to be unpredictable every season except summer so I can see her point. You can wear a sleeveless top with a thick, belted sweater and you’d be fine in the fall, and maybe even winter. Most people dress in layers which I believe is the best approach. It can get cold down here, but not like Chicago and definitely for not as long.

What you see in the featured picture is a collection of my old shoes that I used to wear back in the early 1990’s. The fuschia pair are my prom shoes and the rest I’ve worn with different dresses. Not only are they out of style, but I don’t wear that shoe size anymore. Yup, thanks to my 12.2 lb son who I birthed 15 years ago. During that pregnancy, my feet grew a size and a half. I proudly gave my shoes to my daughter a year ago since she loves to play dress up. Earlier this year, my husband and I were helping her clean up her room (you read that correctly) because it was a plumb mess. She was too overwhelmed to do it alone, so we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. There were piles everywhere.

She had the nerve to put MY shoes in the section to throw away. I couldn’t believe it! I got a chuckle out of giving her shoes from my past that she could play with in the present. Yet, she didn’t want them anymore. I remember her love of high heels and trying to walk in them when she was a few years younger. Alas, she has become less girly in that sense. Nowadays, she’s into gymastics clothing. She’s been telling me for a while that she does not like to wear dresses anymore.

I guess I have to honor her preferences, so I snapped a picture of the shoes in case that would be my last time seeing them. They’re in a bag in the garage, which is out of her room, per her request.

Elise’s stuff

More stuff

I felt so energetic yesterday that I decided to embark on switching out my seasonal clothes. The plan was to do it today, which I fully intended to do, but it did not happen. My disclaimer is that life happens and because I had another energetic day today, I got into some other organizing activities (I layed down and rested after that overambitious fiasco). Hopefully, I will get to it tomorrow.

I recently got the urge to go shopping. I think partly due to boredom. Then, I realized that I have a whole other seasonal wardrobe. Sweet! I did buy a few button down shirts prior to my surgeries because I realized I only had two and they were both white. Apparently, button down shirts are not my style, but they are a necessity after a lumpectomy and breast reconstruction. I believe some of my fall/winter clothing will be too big because I’ve lost weight this summer. I may be able to get away with large sweaters, but I’m not so sure about other tops. I will spend some time trying on items to see how they fit.

In a future post, I will write about where I am in my weight loss journey. Wait…what am I typing? I can affirmatively indicate here that my weight loss has stalled, obviously, because…life happens. Surviving is more important than weight loss (in my case), but now that I’m getting more settled and know the side effects of future treatment, I don’t want to gain the weight back I’ve lost, plus some. Also, fitness has been such a part of my life and I’m unable exercise at this time in my treatment.

I will abruptly end here because I could go on and on, but I’m tired. Until next time. Stay tuned.

Gratitude

November 24, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

This is the time of year for giving thanks, so it’s no surprise that I’m about to lay out exactly what I’m thankful for in this post. Before I do, I will point out that practicing gratitude on a daily basis is something I’ve aspired to do over the years. At one time, I arranged for each of my kids and my husband to have their own gratitude journal. I personalized each journal with their name followed by a heart ♡ that I drew myself. The plan was for us to write or draw what we were grateful for when the urge hit.

Looking back, that was my attempt to instill the love of journaling into my kids. To my chagrin (I may be exaggerating), I don’t know what happened to those journals. I was just kidding myself thinking my husband would do it, but for a time I think he used it to write his notes from church. I’m not even sure where mine is, but I’ve had so many journals over the years it’s likely somewhere. My daughter loves paper, notebooks, and journals, and she never really learned to use the whole book before starting a new one. Occasionally, a journal that’s been missing or forgotten would pop up in a corner after months. That’s the case with these gratitude journals. One popped up a few months ago and I thought to myself, “Oh look. I remember you”, and kept on walking.

In the world we live in today, there is so much competition, so many choices, and so many opinions. I sometimes get frustrated reading the comments section on social media posts because people can be rude, mean, and thoughtless. There are also many pleasant, thought provoking, and affirming comments, but I hate it when I get blind sighted by mean, rude, thoughtless ones. It does give indication of how people across the world think, even if folks are hiding behind a different persona than when not on social media. All of this can be overwhelming, making it difficult to hear our own voices. I suspect that if I’m feeling it, someone else is too.

I did a quick superficial google search to compare the definitions of gratitude and thankful and they are generally synonymous. A very slight difference is that the definition of the word gratitude includes the word “expression” (i.e., expression of gratitude). Thankful is described as a “state of being” (i.e., of being grateful/pleased). Both can be used as an expression and both can be used as a state of being. Feel free to research these nuances on your own, but I’ve used them synonymously in this post.

It is so important to be grateful for the little things as much as we are grateful for the big ones. This year, I’ve been living more in the present than ever before. Here’s a short list of what I’m thankful for:

God bestowing His love and favor on me
Waking up
The love and support from family, friends, and all my social connections (church, fitness)
My mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical (actively working on the breast cancer) health
Cooking nutritious food that tastes good for my family…like the homemade sweet potato pie I made shown in the picture 😉
Our cozy home
Creating memories with my loved ones
My little, furry nuggets of love (i.e., my 2 kittens and cat. (Update: the cat, Baby, passed away.)
Being a compassionate person and choosing a career in social work that serves people that are marginalized, poor, and unseen/forgotten
Doctors, nurses, and other medical and health professionals that truly care about what they do
The wealth of information that is available and accessible
Living in the USA

Happy Thanksgiving! Update: Happy “week after” Thanksgiving! I hope you spend every day expressing gratitude.

Writing is my super power

November 19, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

I’m surrounded by my favorite things right now: one of my 3 cats (the outside cat) sitting on my lap, on the porch while sipping a cup of tea on this beautiful day that will soon transition to night time. I wasn’t planning on writing, but it’s the setup for a wonderful writing experience. I get caught up in the desire and it consumes me. That’s how my writing process has been lately: I’m inspired by an experience, thought, or one of my many photos that I take, and then I stop what I’m doing at the moment to write.

When I initially started my blog, I thought about maintaining a writing schedule to include publishing a post once or twice a week. For the most part, that was manageable when I was working, but I have way more time on my hands this month as I recover from 2 breast cancer-related surgeries.

It’s been about 5 months since I started this blog, and so far, it’s one of the best things I’ve done. The desire really came to me about 2 years ago, but June 2016 is when I decided to take the leap. And it’s a good thing that I did too because I realized that the time would never be right. With my first leap, the grammar wasn’t perfect, but I published it anyway. In fact, this is the strategy I use with all of my posts. I publish whether or not all the grammar is perfect because I can edit it later. I don’t want perfectionism to prevent me from achieving my goals. Again, these are my steps towards recovering from perfectionism and you get to witness this.

I was one of those teenagers that kept a journal growing up starting at age 12 years or so. I’ve used spiral notebooks and eventually graduated to actual journals as I got older. As my handwriting has become more illegible, I’ve kept electronic journals as well and have gone back and forth between my laptop and smart phone. At work, writing is an essential component of my job and I often organize my projects with some aspects of journaling. At home, I organize my household with different lists whether electronic or paper. Writing is definitely something I’ve practiced for a long time so it comes to me naturally. I like being able to process my thoughts in this way, which is why I had to add writing in the form of a blog as part of my self care routine.

I’ve learned so much about myself as I’ve reread my journals. I’ve noticed trends in my attitude, mood, and spiritual, mental and emotional states. I admit that it can be depressing reading them sometimes depending on the time period. I’ve used my journals to help me grow by assessing my progress, making changes, planning new moves, etc. However, I haven’t always reread my journal entries for those purposes. Usually, the process of writing is enough to center and ground me.

I’m so used to my journaling voice that it was an easy transition to my blog. Fortunately, I have a plethora of material that comes to my head, so I don’t usually have difficulty coming up with topics. I may have to spend some thought on tying the topics to my blog’s very specific subject matter: self-care. I did notice that I struggled when I learned of my most recent life changing, health challenge, so there was a period where I literally did not want to write. Now that I’ve gotten over that hurdle, I realize that I have even more material. I keep a tab of topics I might want to blog about in my phone and I add to them as I get more ideas.

Writing has essentially helped me manage my life. I’ve learned so much about myself and others and I’m using my blog to help others by sharing my “light lessons” and epiphanies. I want you to be inspired, to know that you’re not alone, and to believe that you can handle anything that life throws at you. It’s for these reasons that I’m using my writing powers for good. Writing is my super power!

What difference does it make?

November 14, 2016creelight3720 Leave a comment

myenlightenedlife

“I can’t accept that this happened to you. Why did this happen? You eat healthy all the time…organic foods even. You exercise all the time”. When faced with life’s challenges, some people can’t help but question why things happen to them or question what someone else did to cause misfortune in that person’s life. I ask,”What difference does it make?”

Those comments/questions were actually posed by someone very close to me regarding my breast cancer diagnosis. I can’t make this stuff up. There are several different directions that I could take this post because I’ve been mulling over those comments for weeks now. My initial reaction was the title of this post and it continues to be my response. It’s what I hear in those words that gets under my skin. What my sensitive ears hear arejudgment and blame.

I’ve already written a post on managing judgmental people. You…

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What difference does it make?

November 14, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

I’ve already written a post on managing judgmental people. You can read it here. I’ve indicated in previous posts that I am a recovering perfectionist, so as part of my self-care, I work hard to banish the self-ridiculing, over-critical voices in my head. Yet, I can’t help what people say to me. Comments such as those ultimately say more about what the other person is thinking more than anything about me. And they may get under my skin, but that’s when I work that much harder to manage my reactions.

When faced with life’s challenges, I do think in some cases, it’s important to examine where things night have gone wrong. However, I would take caution in spending too much time there, especially if it causes you to place blame on yourself and/or others. Someone may even be at fault, but you don’t want to risk not moving on and learning from it by staying in that mental space too long. In other cases, it may not be necessary to spend time figuring out what went wrong. It may not even be possible. For instance, I can’t control my body on a biological/cellular level. Certainly life style factors affect many conditions including cancer, but in other cases it does not. I have a family history of breast cancer in that my mom and my grandmother (my mom’s mother) both had it. Whatever the case, it’s best for me to move forward and take the necessary steps to treat this illness.

Maintaining a thick skin is not always easy, especially when people attempt to test your boundaries, whether unintentionally or not. I’m assuming that you would even want to develop a thick skin, but it’s my way of establishing a boundary and it works for me. Sometimes you realize that things still seap through the thickness and that’s ok. Take a few deep breaths, think before you respond, and channel your higher self. You’ll get through it.

Fight

November 11, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

By the time this blog post is published, I’ll be somewhere in the middle of breast reconstruction surgery. (Update: It’s done. We got home after 9pm and I’m very sore.) I never imagined that I would be here, but who am I not to be? I’d much rather be dancing like I was in the photo just a few weeks ago, but I have to put that part of me on hold for now. In fact, so much of my life has to be placed on hold as I do what needs to be done to take care of this…to take care of me.

I am beginning to understand why cancer patients are referred to as warriors. It is most definitely a fight, and for me, at times a reluctant fight…a fight to stay postive, a fight to face fears, a fight to face the needles, a fight to heal, a fight to rest, a fight to get up, a fight to advocate for yourself, etc. I’ve had to fight to live the life that I want, so I’m well suited for this.

Yesterday, I unsuccessfully tried to fight back tears as I came to the realization after meeting with my oncologist that this fight is going to be longer than I anticipated. Do you remember that kid in elementary school that got so mad right before a fight with a counterpart that he started crying? Maybe you were that kid? Weren’t you thinking that this is the time for fighting NOT crying? Well, I think that crying doesn’t necessarily mean that you feel weak or that you’re going to fail. I prefer to look at is as mustering up the courage for what’s about to happen. It’s the realization that you know what you’re facing. You know you have to gather up all of your weapons so you can be armored up to fight for your very life.

I might be getting too melodramatic. I hope I’m making sense. They just put in the i.v. To my sheer horror, the nurse had to do it twice. I held my breath the whole time, but I got through it. I’m looking forward to some strong medications shortly. Maybe I’ll dream about dancing like I was in the picture. Maybe, I’ll dream about flawless boobs. Maybe I’ll dream about dancing, flawless boobs.

Strength

November 9, 2016creelight3720 Leave a comment

My mind is strong. My body is strong. I am strong. I’ve spent years doing cardio and lifting free weights to increase my fitness level. I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoys exercising. I tried running for a year and I loved it until I found Zumba fitness. I even became a licensed Zumba instructor to ensure that I have access to new routines and formats. What I enjoy about exercising is the challenge, the feeling of accomplishment when I am done, the release of good endorphins, and the increase in stamina and endurance. Exercise has been a part of my daily routine and an ingrained habit. Going for more than a day or two without exercising causes me to feel out of balance. I am not looking forward to the halt in exercise over the next couple of months as I recover from 2 surgeries. My last workout session was on 11/3/16 and I miss it already. (Note: A few weeks ago,I broke my favorite yellow exercise band in the picture while training. That really bummed me out. I replaced the band exercises with 5 lb weights. I use 10 lbs for the others.)

Admittedly, in the last couple of years, I noticed that my stamina has decreased and that I was more tired in general. I attributed it partially to my overactive immune system. I continued to exercise despite being tired. I have been seeing an endocrinologist and a neurologist for years. Now, that I have a definite breast cancer diagnosis, it makes sense that I have been tired.

Yes, my strong body will serve me well in treatment, but not without my strong mind. I’ve been through a lot in my life, so I’m confident that I can withstand this experience. Like life, exercise has challenged me to push past my comfort zone despite pain. Having completed 1 surgery already, I can attest to times where I will be tired, sore, in pain, and anxious, but I can still be positive while experiencing these things. I was tired, sore and in pain over the weekend, but I had such an overwhelmingly feeling of contentment, love and gratitude for the support that I’ve received through this process so far that I didn’t focus on it.

That worn out space in my garage has been my oasis. Sometimes, I even like to work out in the dark. I look forward to getting back to it and becoming even stronger.

Here are some garage selfies:

Seeds

November 8, 2016creelight3720 Leave a comment

It happened again. I was at my local body shop store the other day with my husband (rare treat for him to accompany me there, so it was like a date…not really) and asked the cashier for the location of the products that I couldn’t find. She responded with hesitation then asked me what my name was. I told her and she smiled while she led me to the shelf that I had already examined. Her suggestive expression piqued my interest, which led me to study her face more intently. I did not recognize her initially, but upon close examination, I thought I might have a hunch. Several competing thoughts were running through my mind: 1) I guess the memory really does start to go after 40 because she caught me completely off guard; 2) I have no idea who she is; and 3) who is she?

It took me a minute, but I eventually blurted out the first name of the individual that we both have in common. She said “yes” and I felt my lips and cheeks expand with a huge smile because I was proud of myself for remembering. I was also happy that she remembered me. She was his girlfriend. He was my client.

Moments like this fill my heart with joy. And it was literally just a moment…long enough for me to find my products, catch up, and check out. It turns out they are doing well. Their family has expanded and she even noted that he finally “got his stuff together”. I’ve written in an older post located here about running into a previous client and how one of my goals when I entered direct practice in mental health was to plant seeds of hope.

I can’t take credit for whatever progress my clients make. They are the ones who put in the work, but I firmly believe that when people feel supported, loved, cared for, and important, that they can do things that they never thought possible. Believing in these things yourself may not come naturally in the beginning, but eventually you learn. For example, children’s sense of themselves (self-esteem) come from what they see about themselves through their parent’s eyes. I am a mirror to my own children.

I also plant seeds all the time, all over the place and they flourish when they’re ready. Sometimes on an unassuming day, I’m fortunate enough to see the fruit.

I love green SMOOTHIES

November 8, 2016creelight3720 5 Comments

It all started two years ago, when I completed my first green smoothie 10-day detox. I have since fallen in love with green smoothies. I’ve graduated to different smoothie recipe books such as Simple Green Smoothies and Breast Cancer Smoothies. I think it’s ingenious to get several servings of fruits and vegetables including all of the wonderful nutrition in a drinkable smoothie. Depending on the greens, you don’t even taste them in the smoothie. My favorite smoothies include mostly tropical flavors such as mangoes, pineapples, peaches, bananas, but I’m also willing to experiment with produce such as beets, pumpkin, and different lettuces besides spinach and kale. I made a pumpkin smoothie the other day with pumpkin, bananas, pineapple, spinach and arugula along with a nut milk and spices and the arugula added a spicy kick to it that made it special.

My go-to liquids are either plain filtered water, coconut water, almond milk, coconut milk or a combination of either. My favorite spices to add are ginger, cinnamon, and/or turmeric. I add hemp seeds, chia seeds, and/or flax seeds for omega 3’s, omega 6’s, fiber and protein. Per the physician’s assistant, I do have to avoid flax seeds during the week prior and after my next surgery because it can cause excess bleeding (Bummer…I had no idea…learn something new every day).

I enjoy at least one smoothie daily, but sometimes have more. I’ve been known to make them for work potlucks and even had a special request for our last party (Halloween).

I’ve purchased my mason jars very inexpensively from places like World Market. I’ve ordered accessories such as reusable straws and straw brushes from Amazon.com. I’ve purchased lids from Target.

Here are pictures of some of my favorites. Cheers!

Scary! Tropical flavors for Halloween Party

Beets, strawberries, & pomegranate juice give this gorgeous hue

Tall, Green and Lean

Smoothie prep for the work week

Beet, orange cleanser

Inaction is a decision

November 8, 2016creelight3720 Leave a comment

I’m not going to lie (to myself). My life has been turned upside down to a degree with this breast cancer diagnosis. I haven’t wanted to read my favorite random sites/blogs. I haven’t wanted to write. Exercise is literally out of the question in this phase of my treatment. I’ve intentionally filled my brain with all things breast cancer related because I believe that knowledge is power. However, I’ve told myself from the beginning that I am not breast cancer. Breast cancer does not have me…I am a person living with breast cancer. Although it feels like a lifetime since I’ve been living with this, this is just the beginning. The thing about me is that I’ve been here before, so with time and reflection, and I eventually come back to me. I like to redirect the energy from often awkward, uncomfortable, painful, and enlightening experiences into lessons that I share with others. So here I am.

One of the best feelings in the world is looking back on a decision you struggled to make and realizing that you made the right decision. Because I am a practical, smart, and insightful person, I don’t usually have difficulty with making decisions. My work requires me to be a problem solver and I’m a problem solver at home. Making decisions is a part of solving problems. Decisions need to be made on what the problem is, how to go about solving it, who needs to be involved, and what the outcome will be. I am comfortable with making decisions. However, there is the rare situation that stumps me and I’m not quite sure how to move forward. Usually, this pertains to making personal decisions.

As I’ve gotten older and wiser, I realize that I do have my own methodical, decision-making process. I weigh the pros and cons, I think about the impact on myself and my family, I think about how interested I am in it, I assess how passionate I am about it, and I visualize myself in the outcome (not in any particular order). When I’m down to the wire and still can’t decide, meaning that I also haven’t heard God’s voice on the matter, my strategy has been to simply do nothing. I simply don’t act. I love how I get these epiphanies, but I admit that while I’m in the experience, I usually don’t realize that inaction is THE decision. And I’m not referring to the period where you hold off on making a decision because you want to weigh all the points noted above. This is well beyond that point. I can now see that inaction can be a decision because it indicates that I really am not “that interested”, “that passionate”, “that willing” to make room for whatever “this is” in my life, at this time. Inaction has served me well in certain circumstances. The times that it didn’t serve me well was when I did not listen to my inaction. I can be hard-headed (more accurately, doubt myself).

In recent years, there was a situation where I didn’t listen to my inaction and it caused me a lot of pain in my professional career. However, the pain was necessary because it verified two things: 1) my inaction was my initial decision and 2) that I let other people pressure me to make a decision that was not only NOT right for me, but one that I did NOT want. The funny thing about life is that lessons that you don’t learn present themselves to you again and again. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to play my cards again and I did right this time.

Even deeper, the most important lesson from this is that I get into a bit of trouble (with myself) when I doubt myself. And in all fairness, there is real pressure in certain environments. However, I cause myself undue anguish when I doubt myself and I truly despise that. As someone who aspires to be more kind in general, especially to myself, it doesn’t serve me well, so I will continue to work on it and have already made great gains.

myenlightenedlife

LIGHT saving lessons on self-care

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Month: November 2016

What difference does it make?