"Post Thanksgiving" Post

A year ago today I posted a "post thanksgiving" post admitting how much I love Thanksgiving.  Well 365 days later, that sentiment is still the same.  I love Thanksgiving! I spent this year just like last, with my family at my grandparent's homestead.  This year I was more relaxed and more content, peace seemed to arrive at my door on Thanksgiving Day.  This year Thanksgiving was a much needed break from a non-stop schedule and demands on my time that often left me energy less at the end of each day.  Thank you Thanksgiving!

I've lived the last year without cable and recently purchased an antenna for my TV in order to watch local channels. I proudly watched Fox 5 morning news the last couple of days as if I was catching up on the latest episode in the top series.  So this Thanksgiving morning, a special guest, Counselor Cindy Crane,  talked about the benefits of gratitude, #TalkToCindy - Therapist Cindy Crane shares how to be thankful this holiday.  She suggested keeping a gratitude journal. It was an idea that resignated with me, but I plan to take it a bit further and challenge myself and my kids to do a Gratitude poster, something we create together and reflect upon daily.

So as the year comes to a close, I'm thankful for my health and am thankful for the ability to get healthier everyday.  So with just 33 days of the year remaining, each day is an opportunity to take a step towards a healthier lifestyle.  There are things that won't fit into my hectic travel schedule but there are things that do.  

Finishing the end of the year strong, 

Lynnell

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." - Melody Beattie

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation." - Brian Tracy

Day 17 of 30

17 days ago I started my journey on the Whole 30 eating program, www.whole30.com.  It was also the same day I stared my new job with Discovery Communications, Inc. Well I should really say my new career, it was the first time in TWENTY YEARS that I didn't start the fall off on a college campus teaching/learning/loving mathematics.  So now I'm 17 days into the Whole30 program as well as 17 days into a new career.  Both are going well, even with travelling every week since my new job started (and travel will continue through November if not further).

So how else are the two related?  Well as a result of accepting the the new job, I started researching curvy fashions, needing to update my wardrobe from jeans and t-shirts for work to more appropriate corporate attire.  Low and behold, I ended up on blogs about fashionsense for women with curves and one particular blogger, Alison posted not only about curvy fashion and capsule wardrobes but about her goal to improve her health.  In her post: http://www.wardrobeoxygen.com/2014/08/change-better-whole30.html, she talked about her success with the Whole30 program. So after continued searching and researching, I decided to do the same.

What keeps me focussed on doing the Whole30 program is simply one point made on their site:

"It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You’ve done harder things than this, and you have no excuse not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime." - See more at:http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/#sthash.qwDdBiao.dpuf

Now to get some sleep for work tomorrow,

Lynnell

"We are what we repeatedly so.  Excellence, then, is a not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments." - Jim Rohn

Why?

On May 11, 2014, I drafted the following post. I didn't post it, but today nearly 3 months later, I feel amazing and this one act of service got me back on track. I don't know why I didn't post it then, but I know that posting it today I'm proud to reveal it and reflect on the victory of giving. Enjoy!

“When you feel down go be a blessing to someone else." - Joyce Meyers

I recently saw this Joyce Meyers' quote posted on Facebook, but I've heard this same sentiment for years. Many of us have, even our President has professed a similar statement.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”  ― Barack Obama

So when you decide to shave your head as a woman, especially a black woman who has never worn a wig or weave, it raises some eyebrows and definitely people want to know why.  So even after explaining it's to raise money for childhood cancer research. It's not enough for that deeper question, the  why that gives insight into "what they hell were you thinking when you decided this was a good idea?" LOL. It's an understandable question because even as I contemplated doing this I wasn't too sure why I needed to do this to raise money for childhood cancer research, I just knew something had to give.  

See just a week prior to this decision I was struggling, stress was winning the best of me.  I spent days in tears, just dealing with stress after stress after stress, constantly and not seeing relief in site.  Just days before I took on the challenge to raise money by shaving my head, my sister had begged me to go to a hospital for mental support, feeling I was close to a breaking point.  So what my issue was and still are  isn't important to this post because writing this isn't to gain sympathy for me but to be honest about what lead to this decision.  (End of May 11th Post)

The outpouring of love and support was amazing.  Knowing that I was helping parents that I couldn't imagine what they were going through and being thankful that I had THREE healthy children was beyond words. If anything, I felt I should do more. I can't thank my donors enough, helping me raise $5, 000 in 4 days and the continued donations beyond the shave.  My total going over $5500 to date, check it out at my donor page, my donation list is amazing are the real heroes in all of this: https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/729029/2014. 

Humbling Experience that lifted me up from despair,

Lynnell

“When you feel down go be a blessing to someone else." - Joyce Meyers

DONATE and SHARE!

Confession: I dream a lot and I'm very passionate about some things that many people don't know about.  So today I'm going to reveal something about myself that I discovered over 30 years ago that still stays with me.  Well when I was younger I became aware of MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving and later even got involved with SADD - Students Against Drunk Driving.  I remember learning about MADD and how it started with a woman who was affected by her child being killed by a drunk driver.  I remember thinking about how many organizations and causes were started by people after they directly impacted by a tragedy and their passions impacted many lives after that.  At that moment I decided I wanted to get involved in causes that didn't directly impact me at all, make my time count in helping others even when I had no direct connection to the cause.  I wanted to not just send in donations but get volunteer, help with my time, energy and talent.  Sacrifice a little of me to give a lot to others, others I didn't know and may never know.  I'd like to be able to say I've spent the last 30 years tirelessly volunteering and giving at every moment on a very large scale but that hasn't been the case.  But the thing about life is, it is never too late to forge a path, change your direction or just stop and do something different.

So today I signed up to do just that, make a difference in a cause that doesn't directly impact me, if anything I am hard pressed to even think of a single person I know that has a child suffering with cancer.  So what am I doing?  I am shaving my head bald on Saturday, May 3 to raise money for childhood cancer.  Yes, I am shaving my head, giving up my curly locks, the feature that I get the most compliments on a regular basis.  Shaving it all off in the name of childhood cancer research and have asked all my friends to DONATE and SHARE. http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/729029/2014

If you're reading this blog post I'm asking you to do the same DONATE and SHARE. Simple DONATE even if just $1 and then SHARE this blog post with other friends, family and co-workders so they can do the same.  My goal is to raise $3000 in by Friday.  So let's get the "BALD" rolling by clicking on my donation page today: http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/729029/2014 then forward it along to others to do the same.

Before and After pics forthcoming, DONATE and SHARE today!

Thanks in advance,

Lynnell

PS.  A positive side effect to this is I won't have to worry about what to do about my hair to exercise, BACK to the gym I go.  See it's a Win-Win!

"No matter how convenient it is for us to reach out to people remotely, sometimes the most important task is to show up in person." - Blake Mycoskie

"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?'" - Brian Tracy

It's NOT over

Day 5 of 40

After missing a day, then another, then another, it's easy to say, "Oh well" and drop your goals.  Well I've not dropped my goals I set for myself.  Did I drop off more than a week?  Yes, but did I give up?  No, so I'm picking up where I left off.  I worked out this morning and I'm posting on my blog.  Do I plan to continue consecutively for the next 35 days?  Well, of course but if I fall off again, I will be back.  I set out to do 40 days and 40 nights and that is what I will do.

More to come,
Lynnell

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." - Oscar Wilde

"Saddle your dreams before you ride them." - Mary Webb

Keep Calm, I'm in Texas

Day 4 of 40
(1/10 the behind me, 9/10 = 36/40 ahead of me - notice the application of fractions in "real life" even though it's my life, it's still real)

All I have to say right now is I am in McAllen, Texas. Maybe I will have more energy to talk about today and tomorrow on tomorrow. In the meantime and in between time, I am in Texas.

Posting from my hotel bed in Texas,

Lynnell

"What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on?" - George Carlin 

When the body speaks!

Day 3 of 40

Today I started my Spring semester at George Mason University.  I started by walking from the Patriot Center parking lot to my office, an easy 13 minute walk while the winds seemed to cut slits into my cheeks.  Getting in my office and immediately printing off syllabi, I was off to this class the to that then to the other.  I proudly announced to my students that I was in my 20th year of teaching, I scrambled from class to class, met 40 Quantitative Methods students, 93 Calculus II students and 15 Discrete Math II students.   It was very busy but a very good day and well by 4pm my knees were screaming and my left heal was throbbing not to mention the toe that was so unhappily in weather appropriate Timberlands all day.  So it was a good work day but clearly my body was letting me know I'd been off a month and a day too long.  So I hobbled back down to my car at the Patriot Center, this time it took me more than 13 minutes and then I headed home.  I was in just after 7pm in time for  yet another thing I had to do at 8pm, finally after that getting kids to bed for school tomorrow.  So here it is after 10pm and I definitely feel I'm way past my bedtime but I have yet to workout today.  I know I said I would and I'm not making any excuses, I am merely adjusting and counting today as my rest day.  Tomorrow I will exercise before I start my crazy day, so with that said time to call it a night!

Listening to my body,

Lynnell

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison

Slow and Steady Wins the Race...

Day 2 of 40

When I start something new, I am excited, pumped up and focussed.  I want to get on the scale after two days and see 20 pounds dropped, LOL (don't laugh at me, just with me).  The reality is that is UNREALISTIC and if somehow I could pull that rabbit out of the hat, those pounds would come back with a vengeance three fold.  For me in my journey, "slow and steady wins the race".  Consistent working out and good food choices pay off high dividends over a long period of time.  So though I'm on Day 2 and I have worked out today and am keeping true to the goals of the 40 Day Quest, the winners circle is at the end on Day 40 when I can look back and see, feel and revel in the cumulative results of the daily accomplishments of the journey.  The finish line is far off but I'm focussed on getting there as I navigate the terrain, I'll get there "One Day At A Time".  (SN: Why that song was one of my grandmother's favorites becomes clearer and clearer to me each day.)

I must highlight that today I received TWO surprises, I am blessed to be surrounded by such loving, caring and giving people that thought I deserved their thoughtfulness.  It's one thing to receive a gift but it's another when the thought behind it is as unique, thoughtful and perfect for you.  Thanks to them both I am feeling extraordinary!

So Day 2 was a very good day, it's my last day of my 21 day detox and tomorrow I'll keep moving slow and stayed to win the race being conscious of what I eat and looking forward to working out.

Feeling special,

Lynnell

"We must be willing to relinquish the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell

"The only way to enjoy anything in life is to earn it first." - Ginger Rogers

40 Days and 40 Nights, Starting NOW!

Day 1 of 40

After going to church with my aunt yesterday, I was inspired to start a 40 Day Quest.  As the next 40 days unfold I will share more about the Quest but today I will disclose two of the goals during the quest:

1. Blogging/Posting everyday for the next 40 Days.  I will either write a blog post here or on a fitness group on Facebook. 
2. Exercise every day with rest days every 7th day. 

So let the Quest begin, here is my post for Day 1 and I've already worked out today ;-).  

I started the year out with a 21-Day detox, I have been staying away from meat and dairy and taking Renu Herbs Detox Trio.  With just a couple more days left, I feel great and this 40 Day Quest is prefect timing.  

Stay tuned more to come,

Lynnell

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy" -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

(so appropriate especially since today is MLK Holiday)

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light" -Aristotle Onassis