no bra, no underwear, no socks and the Lurong Living Paleo Challenge

Sept 17, 2012

i moved today.....
As  i was trying to hang a shower rod and curtain so i could shower before work (i work the overnight shift)... I suddenly realized I couldn't find my clothes.  I burst into tears overwhelmed by  a long day of moving and having committed myself to the  Lurong Paleo challenge which started today. My kids sprung into action, my son (16yrs)hung the shower rod and curtain, my daughter(21yrs) dug thru laundry baskets to find stuff for me to wear.

WHY?
Sitting on a bare mattress,  In between my sobs....i thought WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!!  Why would i commit to the paleo challenge during an already high stress time in my life? i began to list the reasons why i wanted to do take the opportunity to participate in this  first ever national challenge, and i started to calm down.

I CAN
I was married and divorced two times. What i rarely talk about is why those marriages ended. My first marriage ended with me running out the front door of my home to save my life with three small children in tow. My second marriage end with my ex husband  paying all of his debts off, emptying and closing our bank account, leaving one day and never came back. Both marriages were filled with verbal and emotional abuse. Both men controlled everything from the money i earned (i am an Registered Nurse), who (including my family) i could speak to and associate with, to what underwear i was "allowed" to wear. There wasn't a thing about me that these men didn't assail...my being a woman, what kind of mother i was, how i kept my house, how i did the food shopping, my job as an RN, what i wore, my makeup, my friends, my family, my sexuality  Being free from these tyrannical men..i make my own decisions, voice my own opinions, talk to anyone and everyone,  and take opportunities. 

MY HEALTH
5 years ago after my second  husband disappeared...i was so depressed over the failure of the marriage ( i also switched from day shift to working night shift) i stopped caring about myself and gained 49lbs. In December of 2011 i had a complete physical and although my ekg and blood work were textbook perfect....my blood pressure was not. My doctor gave me 2 options either start blood pressure medication or diet and lose the weight. As an RN i know all the side effects associated with blood pressure medication...no thank you. I had just signed up for my Crossfit on-ramp classes , so i chose to wait and recheck with my doctor in 8 weeks. Now after 9 months of crossfittng am 34lbs lighter, blood pressure is  back down to  normal. 

MY MOTHER
My mother was warned in her late 30's  that she was pre-diabetic. I also warned my mother,  in her early 40's that she was at a greater risk of developing Diabetes because she was over weight and her father had diabetes.  My mother chose to ignore all the information given to her and by her early 50's she was diagnosed as a diabetic. By 62 my mother had a stroke which has left her cognitively impaired. She cannot speak a sentence, recall words, she has memory impairment and cannot recognize her family, cannot do activities of daily living like put on her makeup,  or dress herself. She now at 69 lives in a nursing home. We all owe it to  the special people in our lives to take care of our health. I made a promise to my children that i would do everything i could to stay healthy because i love them that much. I also love myself that i want to be healthy and enjoy my life. 

SETTING THE EXAMPLE
Eating a paleo diet and crossfitting i teach my children that our bodies and health are precious and important. I am leading the way, setting the benchmarks for health and fitness for my kids, friends and family to follow.  When my home box, PortCrossfit announced they were going to participate in this challenge, quite a few younger  men and women who i Crossfit with sought my advice  about signing up. I am happy and honored  that  i could influence them to not only change their  bodies, but transform their minds and life in ways they could never imagine by entering and following thru on this challenge. 

I never found all of my clothes and went to work with no bra and no socks(thank God my scrubs are too big for me now)......but established a renewed perspective of what is important to me and my reasons why.