February…. How did we get here already..?? February. Wow.
So I’m writing from Sydney this time, and am thoroughly enjoying all the moving and shaking I’ve been doing lately. I’m down here for one of my oldest friends weddings this weekend, and even though we’ve reached our 30’s there’s days when I still can’t believe that we’re doing that whole “grown up” stage of life thing! HA! I wonder if we ever really feel like we’ve “grown up”??
I feel super privileged to have spent a nice chunk of January travelling back and forth to Byron Bay, celebrating my birthday and hanging out with friends whenever I’ve had a few days off in a row. I’ve fallen in love with walking a friends dog on the beach, I enjoyed an organic roast chicken party with friends, visiting the farmers markets, tasting new food and coffee combinations, and even made some attempts at surfing!!(Next time I’ll wait until there’s a whole lot less people out on the water!) Back on the Sunny Coast I’ve been dividing the rest of my time between enjoying a new part time role at Alnatura Wholefoods in Maroochydore, training for this years physical challenges and enjoying Australia Day on the beach at Mooloolaba!!
Training, ah training, my love hate relationship with early early mornings and sciatic nerve twinges. In my infinite wisdom I decided that this is the year to put my money where my mouth is, or was, and enter the Cairns 70.3 Half Ironman event. Eeeek! After watching on the sidelines for the past three years and enjoying the front row pub banter and cheering I decided that it’s time to have my go. Up until now it has been the lack of a bicycle that has stopped me, but alas, my dad recently got rid of his old road bike and donated it to my cause. No excuses now!
It’s interesting being a rookie at something again, it’s been a while since I’ve been totally fresh to a sport or hobbie and as daunting as it can seem at times I’m kind of enjoying laughing at myself, and it’s refreshing to to allow myself to make lots of mistakes without being too hung up them. Case in point is this weeks first surfing injury… and last weeks first smack down on the bike… and the mistake of getting dressed while half asleep and putting on underwear underneath my bike shorts, lace ones too(!!!) Oh. My. God. Never again.
Wategos surfing injury – freshly banged up, board (not mine!) to the cheek bone, which developed into a beautiful black eye!
This week in the store (Alnatura) I’ve talked with some really interesting people, one beautiful young newlywed woman in particular stood out for me as she provided a poignant reminder of where my passions used to lie, of my favourite subjects (preconception, pregnancy, women’s and children’s health), topics and courses, and of a statement that I remember making way back in college to one of my nutrition lecturers. Sitting with her on the edge of her tears I could almost hear my younger self saying;
“a year or two before I decide to have children I’d like to start cleaning and clearing my body, system by system, gradually, thoroughly and lovingly so that when it comes time to fall pregnant I can do so easily and knowing that I have given my children the best chance possible from the very beginning…”
My lecturer laughed, out loud, and then asked me how many people I know that have ‘planned’ their pregnancies..!?! Ok, point taken, however, I read a slightly daunting statistic recently that stated that the average time it takes for a couple who are actively trying to fall pregnant to successfully do so these days, is 18 months!!! On average! Now I’m already 32 (cat’s out of the bag!), I am not currently married, engaged or living with a partner, but I know that in the next few years I’d really like to start creating my family. Do I just keep waiting until Mr. Perfect saunters on in, spend a few years getting to know each other, enjoying the wining and dining, falling in love, make house, get married, or not, decide to start a family, get really excited, and then find that it’s another 2 years until the magic happens…..?!?!!?!? Ummm……… wishful thinking maybe?!? Coz whilst I can’t hear my organs actually ticking I am acutely aware that I don’t really want to be shelling out my life savings to create a test tube baby when I’m nearing 40!
It also made me realise how it easy it can be for me to prioritise the health needs of others, (customers, clients, friends and family) above my own. I guess in the same way that a plumber is often joked to have leaky taps, this naturopath has a few niggly health drips that I would like to address once and for all. So I’m going to be taking a closer look at my own health, and concentrating on a few priorities of my own…..
1. Revisit my health habits, good, great and sometimes naughty(!!), to remind myself why I eat what I eat, drink what I drink and supplement what I supplement and the effects that this has on my wellbeing. Look at tweaking this to address some specific health niggles that I have allowed to sort of fall by the wayside…
2. Address my changing sports nutrition needs, particularly in regard to pre and post training and competition nutrition.
3. Take the plunge, admit that it’s time to address this baby business (even sans baby daddy!), jump in, and begin the process of re-educating, re-learning, cleaning, clearing, exploring and investigating all the ways in which I can elevate my health to prepare for future pregnancies and a big happy family!!
I hope you’ll join me for the ride, if you have any questions or concerns related to your own health please feel free to share these below, the more the merrier on the journey to optimum health.
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