Building The Love Shack

I got up this morning still in my pajamas and sat down in front of the computer and started my homework.

After a phone conversation with my Mentor, I had lunch and went down to the gym to workout.

Then I spent a lovely thirty minutes in the sauna followed by jumping into the shower. The last thing I did before before I sat down to write this blog was get dressed. When I’m finished, I’ll go back to doing homework. What a lovely way to spend the day.

Home work? Wait a minute, where did that come from?

Ah….

This is where we stop to do a rewind.

When we started this blog, Husband and I agreed long before we had one follower, long before we were followed in ninety-seven countries on WordPress, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and other places that we are found on, we made one promise about the blog, it would always be truthful and we would keep our bloggers informed not hiding anything.

Now, lets go back eight weeks ago when the Doctor put me off work due to stress. The stressed showed as we believed, in my chest with pain. Twelve days later I still had pain.

At this point the Doctor and I both agreed that stress chest pain comes and goes. It does not stay for twelve days in the same place. This took me to the Cardiologist office where I had a series of test done including a stress test and over a hundred pictures of my heart taken. The result, the heart looks good. It’s impossible to know what happen.

I could have had a small blockage that broke loose. I could have had a minor heart attack or I could have simple been so stressed that my heart went into spasm. We won’t ever have an answer, expect this one…I woke up mad.

The one I was mad at was me. It was time to have a chat with the women in the mirror.

The conversation between me and the women in the mirror was not a pleasant one. One of us needed a realty check. The outcome of that conversation was one of us had become, lazy and compliant. That would be the one writing this blog. So the decision was made to take back control of my life.

At fourteen I had bone cancer in my right arm. The outcome possibilities, as I heard when I was being wheeled in to the operating room, was from the Doctor talking to my father and the conversation went like this, “I hope we get it all because this one is a fighter and she will go down hard.” Followed by “at this point we just don’t know if she will survive this cancer. We will have to wait and see.”

That was forty-four years ago this month. Since then there have been a lot more times with health problems that came with “lets see what happens.” But what there has never been, is compliant.

So when did I become compliant?”

Seven years ago when I gave up management, I decided I was going to spend the rest of my career doing an easier job. I was going to sit back, do my job and hand in my keys at the end of the day.

The problem is I did just that. I sat back, said not a heck of a lot and let some one else make the decision. I also sat back at home. Stopped working out. Kept smoking and gained a whole lot of weight. I also became an amazing cook and baker.

Then came the trip to the cardiologist. What the hell, I have beaten cancer a few times. I have beaten fibromyalgia, that was supposed to not allow me to ever work again and now I’m going to kill myself with heart problems? NO!

So here we are. I made the decision to start working out again. I must say I love it and I missed it. Those two hours down in the gym are completely my time. The weight is coming off slowly but the inches are coming faster.

I Quitting Smoking. I am not loving it. It’s hard. I finished my last pack a few days ago with a gradual decrease in smoking and alternating with a Vape. Now I am only on a Vape with a very low nicotine level. It’s not the same but now I smell like fruit instead of smoke and am not getting all those chemicals in my body. Soon enough the low level of nicotine will also be eliminated.

I did try and cheat and have a smoke last night that I got from someone. I cough and chocked till I eventually threw up. I won’t be doing that again. So my body said, no to the smokes and yes to the working out.

Now I skipped something in-between.

I was getting ready to go back to work a couple weeks ago, and without releasing to much information, I had a chat with someone about returning to work who I now refer to as the “Warden.” The “Warden” was anything but pleasant and helpful in my return to work, which brought us to a conversation with me reminding this person, that my job was just a job. It also remined me, that it was just a job.

Less than an hour later a very close friend and I were talking when a job offer came out of his mouth. I without thinking said yes. In seconds I realized I was not only smiling but excited. The next day I applied for school and was accepted and registered for classes and he officially became my Mentor.

I soon told the family and friends who were excited and happy too. I next told me co-cottagers who were also excited and cheering me on. Then I told my co-workers who also encouraged me and were excited for me too.

Am I giving up Nursing? That is the biggest question I have received. The answer is yes and no. I plan when I graduate and start my new job back wearing a suit, that I will do it for a while but part-time. Will I do it where I am? That depends on how agreeable the management is at that time.

If not, I have already received other job offers to have me come work Nursing at other places. But for now, it’s not a concern as I am busy Running a Different Kind of Marathon. The one to good health and the one taking me into a career that I can do when my mind and body have said enough to Nursing.

Now the truth is I’m the happiest I have been in many years. One of my co-workers told me when I talk about this new career that “I am glowing.” I know this for sure, I haven’t stopped smiling in weeks. I think I’m smiling in my sleep.

I’m a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. I believe my body woke me up, but that nasty ” Warden” sent me on my way to a new direction. If she had been kind, I would have never thought of leaving my job. I would have stayed compliant and spent my last few years working there until I retired.

Though I strongly believe in Karma and I am sure her unkindness to other will one day sneak up behind her and bite her on the ass. But for me, she was instead a gift because I also believe everything happens for reason. And she gave me a reason.

So here we are, I’ll be fifty-eight next month and I now am beginning another journey. In true form to the Warriors and the Love Shack, if it’s not challenging it’s not any fun. I am excited to say, I am Running a Different Kind of Marathon and it seem to be a joyous journey.