Looking At: Today Forward, Keeping the Past in the Past

Today was the start of “Gluten-Free April” and it was a success!  Over the weekend I printed out several recipes (which I promise to share the good ones!) and placed them in a binder.  I find that I am much more motivated when something is tangible and recipes saved on my computer is just not going to cut it for me.   I then sectioned off the binder and place the “Meals for the Week” in the front of the binder.  This will make it simple to make a grocery list each week and to stay on target.

However, I decided to add more to “Gluten-Free April”.  It seemed appropriate to make April Fool’s Day the first day of looking at today forward.  Gastroparesis sometimes feels like a cruel April Fool’s joke so I thought that I should beat it at its own game.  In addition to going Gluten-Free I have also resolved to: exercise (at least mildly) for 30 minutes 4 days per week, limit my coffee intake to no more than 10 cups per week, prepare everything for the work day the night before (lunch, iron clothes, etc), and go to bed by 10 pm.  These are all realistic and achievable goals.  Some will be harder than others but I really think that I can do this.

I strongly feel that by setting these goals that it will help me stay in a positive state of mind about having Gastroparesis.  It is EXTREMELY difficult to goal set with Gastroparesis because you never know when you are going to go down for the count.  You never know when a flair will hit.  However, I have decided to reclaim my life and stop living it in fear!

Throughout my life I have always been a goal-setter.  They were goals that stretched me but were achievable.  I would always celebrate when I achieved a goal and it was motivation to keep moving forward.  Once I become severely ill and received my Gastroparesis diagnosis, I felt like my life was sitting in park.  I didn’t want to set goals because I knew they weren’t realistic due to this outside force called Gastroparesis.  I learned years ago that goals should only be contingent on what you can control in your life.  If you create goals around things that you can’t control you are only setting yourself up for failure.  This is why I quit setting goals when I found out about Gastroparesis.

Over the past weekend, I realized that goals were what was missing from my life.  By typing my blog about “Gluten-Free April”, I received such a jolt of excitement and energy that I hadn’t felt in a long time.  It stirred up more emotions in me than I thought were going to happen.  It made me realize that I could still set goals, they would just be a different type of goal.

I can say that I am 1,000% committed to reclaiming as much as my life as possible.  I refuse to let Gastroparesis get the best of me and I refuse to let it have more of my days than I do.  I will figure out a system that works and shifts with the target.  I am on a mission, so GP better watch out because April is going to be MY month!

~Millie