First MS Anniversary

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Today is my MS Anniversary. On December 2, 2014 my world started swirling. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I don’t know why I was able to move into acceptance so swiftly, but I did. This unknown, mysterious auto-immune disorder is a sidekick in my life. I do not call it a MonSter (a term used frequently in the MS community) but instead choose early on to adopt it as simply a sidekick. This is a disorder I decided I would just live my life with. And anyways sidekicks make you more epic in comic books. So MS is Robin to my Batman 🙂

I could have let my world crash around me or I could embrace my diagnosis and learn how to live my best life ever. So I chose best life ever. MS is just something to manage. It allows me to be constantly aware of my health. I try and never use the words “it’s something I deal with” so that I don’t see it as a negative in my life. While I’ve had my good days and bad the good far outweighs the bad.

So on this my day of my one year anniversary here are the good things my diagnosis has brought into my life and I choose to celebrate. That’s right. Celebrate. It’s an MS Party up in here.

I am grateful for being healthy
I am grateful that I now take utmost care for myself
I’ve got amazing friends and they constantly show me that they are in my corner
I am so thankful for the love of my family and their constant support
I am so body aware I can always tell if I need to rest or if I can push my limits just a little bit
I have respect for the body’s ability to heal itself & thrive
I am grateful that I have learned to make time to focus on optimizing my health so my immune system is fortified
I am grateful for my health care team
I am grateful for places like Soul 7 where I have access to alternative therapies
I am grateful for my naturopath helping me optimize my supplements
I am grateful for Epsom Salt baths
I am grateful for cooling vests so I can tackle workouts & obstacle course races
I am grateful I had a fast diagnosis
I am grateful for free Canadian health care
I am proud of my tenacity in taking charge of my total health care
I am grateful for the ability, time and means to educate myself about auto-immune diseases
I am grateful that I am able to afford healthy organic food and supplements
The ability to share my story with the MS community through a cover story in the MS Canada Magazine and amazing support from the MS Society of Canada in my journey.

So today, I am thankful that MS came into my life. I am more grateful for every healthy mobile day I experience on this earth and cherish them fully.

15 Things I’m Thankful for in 2015

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Standard Canadian Thanksgiving Post COMING RIGHT UP! If you read to the bottom I will give you a gold star 🙂

Here are 15 Things I’m Thankful / Grateful for in my life in 2015 🙂

A family that teaches me how to be a better person while fully supporting me in everything I do.
A romantic relationship that has developed over the course of a year into something that is healthy, nice (and nice is so good), adventurous, supportive and a true partnership.
A body that has tackled 19 races so far and will tackle number 20 next weekend at the OCR World Championships in Ohio.
The curiosity and knowledge to educate myself to treat my MS holistically and allow my body to optimize it’s immune system so I can live symptom free.
A yearning for adventure that allows me to dream up and complete amazing seasonal bucket lists.
My readers – YEAH YOU GUYS – who find me interesting enough to read my musings over and over again. I’M THANKFUL FOR YOU.
Podcasts & Audiobooks so I can continue to educate myself while commuting to and from work.
My job at Kobo that allows me to be in a corporate job but feel so fulfilled as a booklover.
iPhone 6 for it’s ability to capture amazing memories in the form of photographs.
App technology that allows me to be better at time management and productivity so I can lead a healthier work/life harmony
Beautiful friends who always take time to support me, challenge me, catch up with me and have fun with me.
Magnum Nutraceuticals, Mizuno Canada & 23 Degree Roastery who as sponsors believe in a partnership with me!
My nerdy bookworm ways that let me dive into books with eagerness
Time with my 96 grandmother and soaking up every single minute of life with her
Growing into a human being who is falling more and more in love with the person I am today and who I’ve become through all my life lessons in these 33 years of life.

Give Thanks

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Gratitude: a feeling of thankfulness. Ok so now I’m wondering what does being thankful really mean? So off to dictionary.com I go and it means expressing one’s appreciation for people, places and things… ok I got this!

I love Thanksgiving. I love being home in Ottawa surrounded by my immediate family. I love to see the tree’s leaves in their colour change glory and I love that I can take a step back to dwell on my blessings. When I focus on being in a positive mindset and celebrating good things and it’s a lot easier to reframe bad things as good when they happen.

Here are 14 things I’m thankful for in 2014:

1. A body that has pushed new limits in my fitness journey to accomplish two 10K races, 5 trail races and 6 obstacle course races in one year.

2. Parents that would move mountains for me. I’m beyond spoiled, appreciative and utterly grateful that they created a life where their children are supported and loved.

3. New fitness friends from Alpha Obstacle Training, social media and the running community who have shown me that amazing new friendships can grow even as an adult.

4. A career path at Kobo that is exciting and fulfilling. I still can say that this is my dream job. I am able to contribute to meaningful marketing programs that impact the company. I respect and adore my coworkers and I love going to work, some days don’t even realize it’s 5 pm.

5. For the courage to write a full-length self-development book this year that shares my story, my years of healing and will hopefully impact the life of another. I cannot wait to work on it some more over the next few months and finally put it out into the world in 2015.

6. For #theface and everything it means. I love adventure, capturing memories, having fun at all times and living life with excitement. I love capturing life moments and laughing at myself along the way.

7. For the BCBD Transformation Retreat (Part 1 & Part 2) I went to in Mexico with 12 amazing ladies that just filled my heart with love to tackle this year with goal-setting excitement.

8. For the financial means & vacation time off work to travel to Nicaragua on my own this year for my first solo trip. I cannot wait to surf, practice yoga, read & just be on the beach during every spare moment possible.

9. For the loss of friendships this year that no longer were a positive impact on my life.

10. For relationships that came and went, that allowed me to open my heart, continue to learn how to deal with hurt and learn what is good for me and what is not.

11. For my social media world that laughs with me, hopefully, finds inspiration and motivation when they need it and build me up & keep me accountable when I need a boost of confidence to tackle new projects.

12. For discovering bulletproof coffee and hugging a warm cup every morning.

13. For my voracious appetite for reading and all the books that have influenced me this year.

14. For celebrating my grandmother’s 95th birthday with our extended family

There is so much more to be grateful for but for now, I’ll cherish this list.

Week 5: May Cause Miracles

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If you’re just joining me for my journey reading May Cause Miracles by Gabby Bernstein you can find past week recaps here:

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Week 5 had us looking at our self-worth and how it can affect our net worth. I have always thought about financial thoughts separately from self development but it makes sense to start associating both within the same realm. When I started on my fitness and health journey I became more productive at the office and my career took off so it can only be a positive impact now to look at my self-worth and financial worth to see new potential.

“If you dwell within abundance you will have abundance.” – Marianne Williamson

On Day 29, the first day of the week we always focus on witnessing our fears, so today was financial fears. On this day I choose to be thankful for all the financial blessings that I do have so that my ego doesn’t think I’m completely lacking but I did start to think about how I have limited myself with a lack mentality. As I went through the morning affirmation exercise I had a couple of financial fears come up. I usually avoid paying bills up until the last minute. I’m a type A personality but I don’t like letting go of money even though I’m blessed to have enough to live comfortably. I didn’t judge why this happens just let myself think about it. I also started thinking about how I earn money outside of my career. Sometimes I don’t think I’m worthy of creating information based products or fitness based products because my career is first and foremost in Marketing. I let myself witness that and know that I’m slowly moving to a thought process on how I can truly grow my personal brand “business” and not be embarrassed about it. I definitely look at others who have created great personal fitness businesses and I fall into comparison fears and I’m glad I can recognize that during this process.

The Day 29 background is at Le Nordik in Ottawa. I chose a stark winter scene to represent just sitting in the hot tub being relaxed enough to think about my fears that surround me (the cold snow & winter air).