Normal! Me? Yes!
When the word "normal" and my name are typically in the same sentence, it is usually preceded by "ab" as in "abnormal"! In all seriousness, when it came to my health reports, I hadn't heard the word "normal" in probably 20 years. When I would go in for check -ups my doctors were concerned about my weight, cholesterol, and told me I had borderline diabetes. While these were strong words, they still weren't enough to shake me up to do anything about my health. I just kept on eating bad foods, avoiding exercise and the mirror. But as you will see on this website, that all changed in February 2012 when I became ready for change. Which leads me to earlier this month when it once again came time for a health check at work. Along with the flu shot, they checked us for diabetes, high cholesterol, blood pressure, and BMI. When it came time for the results, I was eagerly waiting to see what they found. I have been going to my Doctors for check ups throughout this process and watching the cholesterol and diabetes numbers drop along with the weight, but now that I'm edging so close to reaching my goal, I was curious if I was in the normal range yet.
As the nurse started going through the results, she casually read my cholesterol numbers: "normal range, this is good" she said.
Next up came the blood sugar results" normal range, this is also good"
Then BMI (which I know there are some who follow this and others who do not, but for this occasion, I was curious) and she said the word "normal" again.
I became very quiet and teared up.
She asked me if I was ok, and I replied, "yes, I'm normal for the first time in 20 years. I have been working very hard for 2 1/2 years to hear those words and this is just an amazing feeling!" Well, then she started tearing up, too! Then we laughed together and had a tiny celebration! Then she shared with me how her son is struggling with his weight and she asked me what I was doing and once again, I had the honor to share with her about my journey and "Ready for Change". She took my card and said she would tell her son about my story. I told her I believed he could do this, too, when he is ready and reminded her he would need her support and encouragement.
After leaving the health check-up, I was so proud of the paperwork, I thought about framing it! ha ha! But seriously, to hear the word "normal" after years of getting the over-the-glasses look from the Doctor meaning: "it's time to do something about these numbers or you could have a heart-attack, stroke, cancer or worse."
Normal feels great y'all and it inspires me to keep going on!
Blessings to you! - j
