How has this "One Simple Change" gone for me?

So, the month is almost over. I've made a concerted effort to find something for which I am grateful every day. Some days I've missed. Some days I have more than 3. It's not a rigid thing, where I HAVE to find EXACTLY three things, but I really try.

How has it worked? I'm happier. My life hasn't changed dramatically, my daughter is still a threenager, my house is still pretty cluttered, I'm still lax on my exercise, and I still grumble to my fiancée from time to time. But overall, I'm happier. This month has helped me to really see the good things I do have, and not focus on the negatives.

The fact that I have a messy house? Means I own a big, beautiful house. The fact that it takes me forever to actually get together with my best friend? Means I am blessed with a patient/tolerant best friend! The fact that my fiancée and I grumble at each other? Means I am with someone who loves me enough to handle my grumblings and to grumble back as necessary. The fact that my daughter is a pain in the tush sometimes? Means I have grown a smart, independent little girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go for it.

I'll still work on my gratitudes, because that's the point of OSC, to maintain the changes, but I wanted to give a "wrap up" of the month. My last gratitude for the month of May is for the community who inspires me to be the best, healthiest, and most authentic person I can be. For the people who introduced me to the idea of One Simple Change.

What about June? What simple change are you adding to your repertoire? I'm already drinking more water, flooding my body with 17 different fruits and vegetables, and seeing things to be grateful for in every day. June is all about moving my body, with intention, every day. Whether it's working out, taking a walk in the sunshine, or dancing with my kids to the Nields, I will be intentionally moving my body every day. (And no...moving from bed to the couch doesn't count!)

EveryBODY is beautiful

Check out this video before you continue. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Now, go get a tissue. Because if you're anything like me, you've got at least one tear in your eye.

Next, think of a word YOU would use to describe your body. Is it positive? Or negative?

I choose strong. Because no matter what is going on in my life, or how I feel about my body, it has always been strong. Even when my muscles were weakened by months of chemotherapy, my body was still strong enough to carry on and fight the cancer and fight the side effects.

I'm not disgusting, gross, or lumpy. I am strong, soft, and flexible. We need to rethink our narratives. How we see ourselves is how our children will learn to see themselves. We need to learn to see the positives, even if we only start small. Because when you look in the mirror and actively look for things you're happy about, you start thinking less about things you don't like, and the more frequently you do it, the more good things you'll see.

Try it. Because you're beautiful.

My story

When I first started this new journey, one of my “tasks” was to find my story. I wanted this change, and deliberated on it for MONTHS, but why did I want it? Why did I need the change? So now I’m sharing it. I

In 2006 I was diagnosed with bone cancer. I was told that, because my chemotherapy was going to be some of the most intense drugs out there, there was a good chance I would have to take “breaks” to let my body recover, which may allow the cancer to return. I would have to be hospitalized, and would need blood transfusions and have to take months away from my job.



Yes...I ate salads from a large mixing bowl.
"Salad Bowls" make me laugh!

After doing research, my partner and I both went onto a whole foods, plant-based diet. I ate salads out of mixing bowls for dinner. Breakfast was a smoothie fit for 3. I was eating 10 or more servings of organic fruits and vegetables a day, when I could eat.

At the end of the chemo, my doctors were amazed. Even though I felt like hell towards the end, I had made it through some of the roughest chemotherapies known to womankind, without taking a break. Without a blood transfusion. With only minor complications, and no (known) lasting side effects. Within 2 months, I was back on my feet, back to work, and healthier than I was before the chemo. That summer, I spent almost every weekend hiking and biking and running. Things I could never enjoy before. I attributed that to the weight loss—chemo was the blessing (in disguise).

But then stress got in the way, and my diet got worse. Vegetables were left to rot in my refrigerator while I grabbed packaged convenience foods, my health got worse, my depression increased, my energy levels tanked, I was dealing with depression, fatigue, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and so on. I was sick and tired. All the time. I attributed all of this, as well as my weight gain, to stress and being a new mom.

Eventually, I came to the realization that my diet was crap. Everyone knows they need to eat more fruits and veggies, but we just see it as too hard to change the status quo. That is where my blog began. And I changed my diet…somewhat. I began making sure I was eating 4-6 servings of vegetables a day. And maybe a fruit here or there. But those changes only got me so far, and I stalled. My body was better, but I was still tired. I was still sick.

Then I saw one of my dear friends start talking about how much she had changed her health and her life with nutrition. By flooding her body with the nutrients and antioxidants that only organic whole fruits and vegetables can provide. She talked about how she had been able to lessen the food battles with her kids—which is a big one for me, as my child gets older and is starting to get “picky” about the fruits and veggies she will eat. So I asked questions. I asked A LOT of questions. And eventually, I got over my apprehension and decided to add Juice Plus to my daily routines.

Seriously...a rainbow a day keeps the doctor away!

I’m working on other aspects of my life and nutrition, but Juice Plus is so easy, and has really helped. It was the catalyst for this change. And the support from my friends, both old and new, has been a catalyst for changes in my attitude and vision. I honestly regret that I didn’t start sooner. It has already started changing my body and my emotional well being, and soon will be helping me financially. I try not to use this blog to “plug” my product, but if anyone is interested in learning more, please email me at kkearney.jp@gmail.com. This isn’t some “cure-all” panacea. It just makes sense. It helps your body heal itself and work properly by providing the most bio-available antioxidants and essential nutrients from a huge variety of fruits and vegetables.

5/11-5/12

1) I'm grateful for spring thunderstorms and the clean awesome air that accompanies them.

2) I'm grateful for the green grass that comes after a seemingly endless winter. Sure, it's growing faster than I can mow, but it's still green and awesome.

3) I'm grateful for the weird lawn-vaccuum-mower we just bought. Our yard is too small and hilly for a conventional mower, and the weed eaters we had been using took forever and left the yard looking like I'd given it a bad haircut. This new contraption is really just a weed eater with a "deck" attachment keeping it at the same height and taking the weight off my arms. It basically works like the most awkward vacuum you've ever used, but it's still 100x easier and way faster than what we had been doing.

1a) I'm glad that I am able to recognize the little voice in my head for what it is. The voice that tells me I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve something, that I should be embarrassed, or that someone's "tone" means they don't like me. That voice is just my self consciousness and is not logical. It's still there, and it still affects me. It still causes me anxiety. But I can talk myself out of the negative place, and usually really turn my attitude around fairly quickly.

2a) I love my house. It isn't in the best neighborhood, and it needs a lot of work. But it keeps us warm, safe, dry, entertained, and comfortable. It's even cute. I like working on it and making it better, and I'll be sad when it is time to sell. I may complain about all the issues with it, but it's a good little house.

3a) I love my little Gooberstink cat. He and his litter mates were born under someone's porch, when several weeks later the homeowner saw mama cat died in the road. She posted the kittens to craigslist, but pulled the ad after a rescue group told her they were only about 5 weeks old. She had already offered me one kitten, but told me what the rescue group said. I took him anyway, because I've nursed plenty of animals before. And now, because he has been with me for so long, he is the sweetest a**hole kitty you've ever met. Not once has he ever intentionally scratched the kids or the dogs. And only once has he unintentionally scratched the kids. Sure, he may be obnoxious and try to stick his anus in my face, but that's just cuz he's a cat. It's his sign of affection lol.

Mother's day

Ok, I have several things to be grateful for today. Some are mothers day related, some are not.

1) My mom. I mean, I'm grateful for all of my family, but today I'm just talking about my mom. She had it rough for a long time when my dad was working 5 hours away and living there 5 days a week. For 15-20 some years (I don't even know how long lol) she was a single parent 5 days a week. Dad was the fun one, she had to be the "bad guy" a lot of the time, which I am sure wore on her. But she's also the one who sewed costumes and prom dresses. She was the booboo kisser, the one who made us chicken soup (with extra noodles) if we were sick, the one who actually got a little drunk with me on a college wine tour (I'm pretty sure she was the one who suggested buying a bottle of wine to share on the bus? She at least agreed to it!) When I was a teen, we had a nightly ritual where I made her tea after my sisters went to bed. And if I spend the night there on a cold evening, I've still done it. She loves her grand babies like no tomorrow, and they love her to the moon and back.

2) The fact that my daughter can sit at the same dining room table, eating the same entemanns chocolate covered donuts, dunking them into milk in the same small glasses that I did when I was little, with my grandma. And being able to talk to her about things I knew about my great grandmas. Great grandmas are pretty cool.

3) That my dog loves everyone and everything. Seriously. It is so much easier to go to my appointments and on weekend trips when I know he is perfectly happy and safe, and whomever is watching him is also perfectly happy to have him because he is such a good boy. And I'm grateful that I have a few people who love him and will help us out when necessary. But he's still a huge snuggle bug and mama's boy when u get there to pick him up.

I didn't do my gratitude journal

And this weekend has been so great, that I don't care.

1) the kids got to see the ghostbusters' firehouse, complete with real fire truck going out on a call.

2) I was told, by my surgical oncologist, that "you are looking great, what are you doing differently?" And "really, you don't need to be coming anymore, but protocol says 10 years, so I will see you one more time...and then never again!"

3) we had a pretty awesome time at Sesame Place, because we were privileged enough to be able to get season passes.

4) I was able to march up the stairs to the water slides with the kids over and over and over again, without getting exhausted.

5) after walking 10-15 miles on Friday (all over NYC), I was still up and had energy this morning. To the point where I was asked "how the hell can you be this awake right now?" My recovery time has done a complete 180 from last year.

I'm not grateful that, as I get older, I seem to get motion sickness. Which makes carousel rides and similar spinny rides a special kind of hell. But I did it anyway, because...really, look at this face. I'm grateful that I can push through the headache and nausea and do the ride anyway, because she loves it.

Travel and synchronicity

Today's gratitudes?

1) that I'm with someone who loves to travel so much. I'm the kind of person who is content to never leave upstate NY, except maybe once a year. But now, because of my partner, we travel several times a year. It strains our finances, I'll admit, and sometimes stresses me. But without that pressure to travel, I'd really miss out on the experiences we have had and have given our children.

2) synchronicity is so weird. Maybe it's just coincidence, I'm not sure, it's late and my vocabulary lessons flew out the window a few hours ago lol. Regardless. It is so awesome to speak with people who say "about 6 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer..." Just as I was (and we are both cancer free. Or "my child was diagnosed with a seizure disorder last year" just as my stepson was (and are all seizure free). Or other issues. And all of these amazing people have started traveling this path that I have joined.

3) that we have a positive relationship with my stepson's mother (my partner's ex). Some people think it's weird, but yes, we are friendly. To the point of taking trips together and sharing a car and hotel suite. It really is a positive thing for both kids.