Spring on my Mind

"SPRING: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be."

Here in the Midwest, Spring is starting to make an appearance. We've had several 60° days and warmer nights. It's no secret that fall is my favorite season, but I'm not a huge fan of winter. I hate being cold. Spring comes second to fall in my preferences for seasons.

This week I put away all Valentine decor and brought out Spring and Easter. Spring decor makes me so happy. It reminds me of new beginnings and new life. 2018 has been a year of self reflection and growth for me. I didn't plan on it being that way, it just sort of happened. The first week of January I ended up in the ER with indescribable pain. It was kidney stones. That's unfortunately nothing new to me, however it's been many many years since I've had them. This lead me down a rabbit hole of health issue discoveries. Without going TMI here, let's just say one test revealed something, then another test revealed another thing. They put me on a water pill & potassium to flush my kidneys. I don't want to be on medication for the rest of my life. I loathe taking daily medications.



One major wake up call for me was my fluid intake. I'm super bad about drinking enough fluids. I'll have several cups of coffee (black) in the morning, then maybe a tumbler or two of water throughout the rest of the entire day. This obviously was a major factor with my kidney stones. Drastically increasing my fluid intake is a change I had to make and that I'm still struggling with. I'm doing much better, but I have a ways to go.

The reason I veered off into this discussion about health comes back to my quote above... "Spring: A lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be". I could be discouraged. I could ignore the changes that need made in my life (like so many of us do). I could be resentful or even angry. Spring is a time for new life, new beginnings, and beautiful changes. I welcome new life. I welcome beautiful change.

Luckily for me, the urologist told me coffee was fine and to even increase it if it helps me get more fluids. If he had told me to cut the coffee... this may be a completely different blog post, haha! I drink my coffee black, no sugar, no cream, and I purchase my beans from a local roaster. Now, I'm not going to pretend I don't have the occasional Starbucks, which I will order an iced coffee with almond milk or cream. Starbucks coffee is rough without something in it. It tastes burnt. Maybe it's just my local shop, I don't know. That being said, I don't have it very often. Not even once a week. I've never really been a huge fan of super sugary coffee. I'll have one small pumpkin spice latte in the fall, and one small peppermint latte during the holidays. Other than that, I love my coffee black, and I love my coffee...

Throughout all of this I felt blessed to learn that my weight wasn't a contributor to my issues. It also made me realize that while it wasn't a problem "this time", being overweight will most definitely cause me issues sooner than later. Sure that's a no brainer, but sometimes we just need an "aha" moment. Let's be real, going to the doctor sucks. I've been more times in the last 3 months than I have in 3 years. Tests after tests, scans after scans. I don't want to do this anymore. Changes for me have already started and before I talk about them too much here, I want to get a little time under my belt. I am documenting the whole thing though so I can tell you all about it when I'm ready.

Spring. What a beautiful time for change.