Find Me Serenity

The world is still in disarray. But it will continue to be tomorrow, and the next day, so I’m gonna take a break from ranting about the state of things in the big world and talk about my own little world.

October is a crazy month for me, and for the last 2 years I’ve been making it even crazier by having renovations done to my house. These are necessary evils, renovations, but still chaos and disorder nonetheless.

So this is the month where hockey starts, baseball playoffs begin, and football is in full swing. It’s also when the Fall TV season gets up and running and that whole summer of “I’ll catch up soon” turns into “oh shit that starts tomorrow? I’m still 13 episodes behind!” It’s also the month where I’m gearing up to write every day in November.

A small sidestep back into the political fray – hockey had its first player protest during the anthem. JT Brown of the Tampa Bay Lightning raised his fist in solidarity with the NFL and others who have knelt or done the same. And I feel slightly better about supporting sports for now. I’ve come to the conclusion that just like in everyday life the sports world has its good people and its bad ones, and if I stopped enjoying all the things I do because of assholes I’d have nothing left.

This year’s renovation is taking place in my kitchen. Like last year’s bathroom project, my little house needed to be better set up for wheelchair me. When I moved in I was still standing up me. What I need now is lower counters, spaces under things like the sink and the cooktop for me to roll under, and places where I can plug things in without having to run an extension cord from my bedroom and cause fire hazards. So we took out the entire kitchen and started over. Or will be starting over next week. And then that’s it. We’re done with making my house suitable for me.

While we’re here, let’s talk about why I found myself needing a new kitchen in the first place, other than the accessible part of it all. A short story. In April of 2016 I went to check out the new accessible SUV Ford and Braunability co-created as an alternative to the mini-van. At that time the test went really well. I got up the ramp without issue and although the seat wasn’t accessible yet, I was assured it would all be set up to my needs. So you can imagine that when I actually got the SUV in July I was shocked to find myself unable to get into it. The ramp was too steep and the seat was a challenge. The search for a solution began and I was able to find wheels that can assist in the pushing of my chair. Ramp problem solved. But that wasn’t really enough, I was still struggling to get into the seat. And I finally decided it was time to do something about my weight, and my strength.

I had been cooking meals for myself and my mom for a few months leading up to this, but I wasn’t as serious about what I made. So I started to cut out a lot of things. Mainly carbs. And I added more healthy choices of meats, along with making sure I made some sort of vegetable as a side. I use a lot of recipes to achieve this. On Pinterest, on recipe sites. And my love for food turned into a love for cooking food. Healthy food.

As soon as the eating was on the right track I moved on to the strength. And in July I started working out with a trainer once a week. A year later I was up to 2x a week. I am stronger, healthier and feeling better than I have, probably my whole life.

I have no idea how much weight I’ve lost, I only know I went down 4 sizes in about 18 months. For me, it’s a slow process, because I’m not always active, and because I refuse to give up everything I love. There’s gonna be some carbs. There’s gonna be some sugar. There may be days where I don’t eat a single fruit or vegetable for any meal. But I’m on my way to better living.

If you’re interested in what kinds of foods I make and where I find recipes you can follow the new tumblr page I created with the Lycon – who’s food journey is different than mine, but also changed her whole diet this past year (spoiler: she went vegan, I didn’t). https://onaspecialdiet.tumblr.com/