A New Normal
Well, only one more day until 2020. Not sure how that happened but it’s here now and I’m ready to embrace the hell out of it! Happy New Year, everyone!!!
2019 brought with it happiness and heartbreak and love and loss for a lot of our friends and family and with all of that comes change. Change is hard. It takes time, willpower, help, and tenacity to feel secure again and although it can feel like that comfort will never return, it does and with it brings a new normal.
A new normal is what I’ve been searching for this past week. A few days before Christmas, my 73 year old father moved into our home. It’s been up and down and all around, to say the least. Dad has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Dementia, he has a knee that really bothers him, and is also dealing with a diabetic situation. I didn’t plan on being his care giver at this point in my life, but he’s here now and so that’s what I’m going to do. Jason, Colby and Kyler are adjusting well with the change and as I said, we’re just trying to find the new normal and the comfort that comes with it.
Some people know Dad as Big D. Big D is 6 feet 5 inches tall and isn’t normally someone that you miss. He’s loud and fun and kind and generous. He’s accomplished a lot of pretty cool things in his life. He was in the Navy during Vietnam, he has lived in Antarctica, Japan, Hawaii, and New Zealand (to name a few), he has run 6 marathons (NYC being his last after his doctor told him that he was just too big of a guy to be a runner), he lived on a houseboat for a few years in Florida, he used to play his guitar and we would have full on family sing alongs (he likes to think of himself as the 5th Beatle), he built a log cabin pretty much with his bare hands and a chainsaw, and his proudest accomplishment (and the thing that he tells all he sees) is that he has 3 children, 8 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. Dad is a really neat person who I love and feel happy to have the opportunity to live with again.
Here’s the part where you come in. Years ago (I’m thinking about 9 at this point), Dad called me up and read an article that was in the paper (did I mention that he reads the paper E V E R Y S I N G L E D A Y ?). It was all about this idea that if you drink a gallon of water per day, you’ll have unbelievable health benefits. And that was the first day of every single day since that I’ve done it. Most of you know that I’m a water pusher and that I really believe it does a body good so yesterday I reminded Big D about the article and asked him if he’d like to begin a water challenge for the month of January? He said YES!!!!
Yesterday was his first day and he almost made it. He was about a glass shy from the whole gallon by bedtime. As I said before, my new job is to take care of this man and I intend to nurse him back to the healthiest version that we can get, starting with H2O. I believe that health and wellness begins with water and after you get that under your belt, you can blast off into things that are even more beneficial. It all starts with water though and so I’m now going to ask you to join Dad and myself in the January SoulShine Water Challenge!
Basically, you will be challenging yourself to drink a gallon but with the motivation and support of knowing that you are a part of a team of water drinkers who are in the exact same boat as you.....lots of bathroom time at first, xo. Here’s the way that I get my water in. I fill up a gallon jug and keep it on my counter and then just make sure that it's gone by bedtime. I never leave home without water. It's easy for me now because I’ve gotten into the habit of it. It wasn't always that way and it probably won't be easy for you in the beginning...that's why it's called a CHALLENGE. :)
There are many benefits of drinking lots of H2O....
*increases energy and relieves fatigue
*promotes weight loss
*flushes out toxins
*improves skin complexion
*maintains regularity
*boosts immune system
*natural headache remedy
*prevents cramps
*improves brain function
*lubricates joints
Okay, who's in? I can't wait for you to feel the benefits. I'm serious! You will feel soooooooooooooo much better! I promise. Just say the word, I’ll add you to the list and by February, drinking a gallon of water a day will be your new normal too!
Happy 2020 to all of you. May this year bring health and healing, happiness and success, love and compassion, growth and resilience! Take good care of yourself and those who need help. Quiet that internal voice unless it’s saying that you are AMAZING and ABLE and AWESOME and then let your SoulShine, folks!
Love,
Jode xo
SoulShine Schedule
Thursday 1/2 - Brand New PiYo at The Club - 12-1 pm
Friday 1/3 - HIIT at The Rec - 8:15-9:15 am
Monday 1/6 - HIIT at The Rec - 8:15-9:15 am
Tuesday 1/7 - PiYo at The Rec - 8:15-9:15 am
Thursday 1/9 - PiYo at The Club - 8:15-9:15 am
Friday 1/10 - HIIT at The Rec - 8:15-9:15 am
