Trying Not To Let It Wear Off

Well, tomorrow marks exactly one month since I had my stroke.

I just want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who reached out to me with words of encouragement.

Individually and on this blog, I have tried to share bits and pieces of the realizations that I've had while I process what happened to me and the implications it has on my life. I've been kind of hesitant to talk about some these things because I really don't want to be perceived as one of those touchy-feely types that talks about their feelings all day. I also don't want to be perceived as a preachy know-it-all who's got it all figured out.

I assure you, neither is true.

Over the last month, many of you have shared inspirational testimonies of your own with me. So many of us have had profound moments in our lives that have given us life-altering attitude adjustments.

But, so many of us have also forgotten or minimized these profound moments and their affect on our lives has been muted.

I don't know about you, but now that I've gotten a glimpse of what mortality means, I don't ever want to go back to the old way of doing things.

Everyday I wake up and I don't have a stroke, it's a good day. No matter what else happens in the course of that day, I keep reminding myself that I'm having a good day. I now have this deep and constant sense of gratitude that serves as the underpinning of everything else that's going on around me. It's a wonderful feeling and I can literally feel it transforming every aspect of my life from how I approach my marriage,  parenting, work, free time... Everything is changing. And it's a good thing.

But like all good things tend to do, I'm afraid it will wear off. I don't ever want this good thing to wear off and the only way I can think to prevent that is to constantly remind myself that life is fleeting and there is no time to waste on things that don't matter.

In this video, Ric Elias talks about his life-altering attitude adjusting moment. He was a passenger on the plane that crash landed in the Hudson River. Take the 5 minutes to watch this. He is right on about how you can't afford to put things off and why you should try to eliminate negative energy. This guys gets it.



As I continue to find meaning in my experience, I will try to share it with you. And I hope that as you find meaning in your own lives, you will share it with me. Let's keep reminding and inspiring each other.

Hot Pockets

Earlier this week, I made the horrible decision to eat Hot Pockets for lunch. Never again will I repeat this mistake. However, the silver lining was that my friend reminded me of this hilarious bit that Jim Gaffigan does about Hot Pockets.

Following Directions

Recently, I realized that I drink very little liquid of any kind throughout the day. I usually have a Coke first thing in the morning, but other than that, not so much. So, I bought a new water bottle in the hopes that it would inspire me to drink more water throughout the day. This is the kind I got. I like it. It's BPA free and it doesn't leak and it's pretty (and it was on sale big time at Target).

This morning, I decided to fill my water bottle up with Coke Zero instead of water. The directions that came with the water bottle said not to do this (yes, I read the directions for a water bottle). They said that because the bottle seals, if you put pop (or soda for those of you who don't speak Yankee) in it, pressure could build up and bad things could happen. I chose not to listen to the directions and did it anyway. The directions were correct.