Every once in awhile, I believe God allows things to happen to direct me to what I need to do/hear. Last night was one of those times. I was driving from a friend’s house to go home (actually, I was … Continue reading
I am one of those people who HATE going to the doctor when I’m sick. When I was younger, my sister and I spent many days of our lives at the hospital or the doctor’s office. My sister was born sick and had an extensive list of allergies. There were not many times I don’t remember having medicine of some sort. Thus, now I try to use natural remedies whenever possible.
Now, I’m not one of those crazy people that would rather die than go to a doctor. I have my limits. But if I can defeat something naturally, you better believe I’m going to do it!
As I mentioned earlier, my Valentine’s and Family Day weekend did not turn out the way I thought it would. It was supposed to be a fun, relaxing weekend. I did have some fun on Valentine’s with my husband (we needed to have some fun together), but my throat was messed up and I felt an overwhelming sense I was getting a fever the whole time. And, as of course it would have to happen, I progressively got worse and worse. So I pulled out some natural remedies.
These are the ones I’ve tried this current time:
-Nasal Rinse (netty pot but in a bottle)
-Hot baths (epsom salts, bamboo oil, rosemary/mint mix)
-Aromatherapy (water diffuser with Immune essential oil from Saje)
-Kombucha tea
-Smoothies (to keep up some nutrition)
-Vitamins (a multitude)
-Raw Garlic (oh man… this is strong stuff!)
Unfortunately, this did all not work as good as I thought (or maybe not as quick as I wanted), so I added in a couple more things:
–Helixia (This stuff is actually pretty natural and I do think it works!)
-VICKS Kleenex (The absolute BEST Kleenex! There is no denying the VICKS in it helps!)
-Allergy Meds (I must have sneezed more than 50 times yesterday. I was desperate!)
-Benylin Cough & Cold (I just wanted to sleep and prayed that it would help.)
Unlike usual, somehow I only woke up with one really bad coughing spell last night. I’m guessing the massive amount of mixed natural remedies and some over-the-counter meds helped a lot. But this morning, I still feel sickly and my nose feels dried out like a desert. My husband is going to pick up a humidifier on the way home. The air here is way too dry (not that the mountain of Kleenex I used yesterday helped…).
I’d love to hear if you have any more natural remedies that you have found worked for you? My grandmother used to wrap a wool sock around her neck, we bought ingredients for garlic soup but haven’t made it yet, my mom suggested putting half an onion at the bottom of both of my feet, and I know you can make a nice hot glass with honey, lemon and cayenne pepper. But I’d love to hear some tried and true remedies!
Click on the number sitting in parentheses above and leave a comment!
Hello everyone.
I’d like to personally thank everyone that has not given up on my page even though I have been M.I.A. for the past (almost) month.
I’ve finished my challenge (I’ll post about it later), and didn’t win. But by the end of the challenge, my motivation was not to win, but simply to defeat my bad relationship with food, to build strength, to learn to love who I am, and to feel good both physically and mentally. I can proudly say I succeeded in those things. So was the challenge really a waste? Absolutely not.
I then finished the school year, was depressed that I wouldn’t be with my students for 2 weeks (yeah, I know… I’m the teacher that calls my students my kids), went to New Brunswick for 2 weeks to visit my family, had an awesome time while I was there, and came back to a computer that needed to be fixed.
It was a teacher’s nightmare. The older Mac versions no longer would support our grading system, meaning I had no access to my grades, no access to report card comments (due at the end of this month), no access to what assignments my students are missing or anything. Everything was unaccessible. AHHH!
Thankfully, we have some highly educated tech teachers at our school that took my computer, wiped it clean, installed the updates, and gave it back. The problem with that was that it took 4 days. My cord was also falling apart (older computer) and so he took that to repair it as well. That took almost a week to get back.
Even now, that I have my computer back, it has twice shown me signs (in two days) that my whole hardware may be crashing. Not a good sign. However, I have everything backed up, and the principal has been warned that I may need a new one. It definitely would be nice to have a new computer, but inconvenient at report card time. Pray for me!
So long story short, I’ve been without a computer for a very long time. But I’m back! So here’s to more posts in a new year.
Talk again soon!
So today did not go at all like I wanted. I was so happy yesterday to defeat what I thought was the beginning of an cold or flu, only to wake up this morning feeling awful. AH! I did not escape it.
As a teacher, it is often much easier to go to work than it is to make sub plans. There is just so much work involved making sure your sub knows how to handle your class and is able to teach what you need. Needless to say, I went to work today.
I kept on track with my food at work. But I battled through small yet frequent headaches, up and down body temperatures, sneezing (I’m not allergic to anything, so this is a sick sign for me), watery eyes, sinus irritation, runny nose, etc… Can’t hide it anymore; I’m sick.
I somehow managed to finish the day. And came home to finally admit there was no way I could go to the gym tonight. Normally, I would fight through the bad feelings, but this is pretty bad. And I know the people at the gym will thank me for not going and spreading the germs. So I write to you from home, feeling not so great.
As far as diet, it’s had to change to accommodate my current situation. Which basically means soup, a warm drink with honey to soothe my throat (no caffeine, or very little), and some bread. Very basic means of nutrition.
Will I finish properly on my macros today? Definitely not. But there is no point in making yourself feel worse when your body already needs to recover. My body will get some protein, carbs and minimal fats from my broth soups and bread. It will get food that is easy on my stomach and digestion so that it can focus better on healing itself. Sometimes, you just have to get your priorities straight!
I found this picture at a very convenient time yesterday, after I returned from the gym. It was one of those extremely few nights where the gym doesn’t seem like my playground, but rather a night where my body seems to have hit such a point of exhaustion that every rep makes me want to cry, the rest after every set gives me enough time to make a million excuses of how I simply cannot do this anymore, and I literally reach the point where I’d rather curl up on the gym floor and just shut my eyes than do anything else. Last night was one of those nights.
Thankfully those nights don’t happen often; I don’t know what I’d do if they did. Mostly they come when I haven’t been sleeping (roughly 6 hours of sleep in the 48+ hours prior) or when stress has passed the point of being unbearable, or my self-defeating thoughts come out of nowhere and my positivity has grown tired of fighting for me. Though the stress and sleep problems are a regular during the school year, the self-defeating thoughts are very rare. Conveniently they surface when I’m already at a vulnerable point with my other two. Mix that with a severe physical exertion at the gym, and my body no longer wants to be strong. It wants a break; a break from the stress of life, a break from the hard situations I have to deal with or think about, a break from the exhausting to-do lists that I always seem to have, and a break just to rest and forget it all. That’s what my body cries out for in moments like last night.
The worst part about the whole situation is the breaks between sets. The time that I have to come up with excuses of why my body and brain should get what they want; excuses of how I can’t go on anymore. Because the truth is, if I did quit, I’d always find it easier to quit in the future. If I did quit, I’d be admitting defeat; accepting failure. And if I did quit, I’d be lying to myself, the people around me, and my students I strive so hard to inspire because if I’ve ever wanted to tell anyone anything, it’s that you should never give up; don’t quit. It may not be easy, but if you want something that badly, keep going, no matter the setbacks. If you want something bad enough, you will find the headspace you need to get there if you will only dig deep.
Dig deep in the moments you’re thinking of letting go. Dig deep when the pace of your life seems so slow.
Dig deep when the light barely shines in. Dig deep when the whole world seems to spin.
Dig deep when you’re not sure you can continue on. Dig deep and show yourself you were wrong.
You see, the whole point of this is that you can do it. You can beat those feelings, you can beat those thoughts. There is something deep inside of you, some fire that was burning that got you to the place you’re trying to be successful at. But brick walls and speedbumps will always show up. I once read a quote that life is like an obstacle course, and honestly, how true that is. The question is: Are you going to decide it’s just too tough and you can’t do it anymore? Or are you going to defeat yourself, conquer those thoughts, and prove to yourself that you are greater than you thought you ever could be? Because I know you’re an amazing person. I know your life has purpose and meaning. And I know that although there are going to be times that are tough, but I also know that each of you have it in you, and if you continue to fight for it, you will achieve and even surpass your wildest goals and dreams. You guys can do it!
So to finish the night, I decided that no matter what I told myself, I was not going to quit. There was no way. Even if it meant being a little more shallow in my squats, I was going to finish my workout. Even if it meant wiping tears after every set, I was going to finish. And just by taking one set at a time, I managed to slowly complete that workout routine. I did it. I moved past the fears, past the tears, and past the thoughts that were holding me back. I fought through the exhaustion and won my battle knowing full well that now I could be proud because I didn’t give up and I didn’t quit but instead I dug deep and found that spark that kept me going.
Thank you and good night blog friends!
Calm in Christ and Fitness 