A Special Time for Thanks

Can you believe we're here again? If you are in need of a little holiday encouragement to kick off Thanksgiving Eve and the holiday season upon us, you may have come to the right place. I have written a short poem and I intend to use it as this year's mantra.

It reads as follows:

It’s the night before pilgrims decided to feast, giving thanks and partaking in baked goods with yeast. To this day some look forward to turkey and sides with a helping of love and a serving of chides. Remain calm and remember to breath in and out, don’t let your emotions allow you to pout. Shrug off any tension with a toast to good cheer and be grateful for blessings that come every year. For my plant eating vegans do not fret at the table just enjoy what you can and do what you’re able.

We all know that this time of year can cause heightened stress but, lord knows we should be practicing extra kindness and extra patience every day and especially this special time of year when we are given more opportunities to gather and make memories with one another.

For those of you who are following me on my instagram and my facebook page, recovering from laparoscopy surgery has been more challenging than I imagined and I have had to take a few steps back in the things that I love to do the most which is being creative. It's forced me to slow down significantly and while it emotionally plays with my mind it has also made me really appreciate all the good people in my life that have supported me through it all. I have received so much encouragement and kind words from friends, family and even strangers to continue healing and moving forward. I'm doing just that and while I have been waiting for my treatment plan to be approved by insurance and begin, I finally received a letter in the mail today finally stating approval and acceptance of my surgeon's order for injections. My pain management after laparoscopy for me has been two fold. 1-Better in some ways 2-Worse in others. Without getting technical or too graphic I will say that I can finally put a tampon in without wanting to scream bloody murder and yet I am having horrific cramping and stabbing pain in my abdomen that is more intense than all the years I have been suffering unknowingly from Endo and Adeno. Since I don't like to dwell on pain management on the daily...I keep smiling and I try to keep level headed about any progress and anything I'm able to accomplish. I am starting to learn how to take breaks from my work days as I need to and resume whenever it is that I physically can withstand a duration of time to focus and knock a project out. ( Another reason why I'm extremely thankful to be afforded the luxury of working from my home studio and getting things done with convenience to my health and career journey. ) It wasn't always the way it is now though. I spent many years working long hours and weekends on my feet until I discovered and realized I could make it all work for me another way.

With all of this said, I encourage you all to find what your threshold is and make it work for you. Love hard, work hard, play hard, be kind, be grateful and give thanks every day for all of your blessings! Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!