Healthier Than Last Year
2023/01
As part of a 21 day prayer and faster period at my church to kick the year off right, I decided to give up TV for 3 weeks. Typically, fasting involves removing a meal to remind you to focus on God when you begin to feel hungry. My health at the time was so poor that anytime I would skip any sort of interval of food, I would begin to feel faint and nearly pass out. I imagine things like my blood sugar levels were way off. Blood work always showed that I was not in danger of anything like diabetes. But I really don't know why I felt so ill anytime I would skip a meal. Considering this problem, food was not an option for my fasting.
One of the key times I would watch TV was during my lunch breaks. During these 21 days, I found a lot of extra time on my hands; especially at lunch time! One of my friends had mentioned getting outside anytime I had an opportunity to do so. Now that I lived in Florida, being outside every day is actually a comfortable option. While praying about how God wanted me to use this time to focus on Him, I got to thinking that I wanted to start feeling good again. It had been more than 20 years since I had felt or looked healthy. That is a really long time! I kind of thought it was too late for me. None the less, I figured I could start walking on my lunch breaks. I knew it wouldn't hurt anything. And it got me outside.
I took these walks just about every day for those 21 days. I started off really slow. I'm sure I looked like a feeble old man taking his walk around the pond I would walk around. After those first few weeks, I began to feel a bit different. It wasn't anything earth shattering. But it was something encouraging at the very least. It was a great time of conversation with God, it was a great way to get some vitamin D from the sun, and it felt great to just be outside for a change. Living in a climate where outdoor activities are possible all year around, I couldn't help but get off that couch and enjoy the beauty that is Florida. This led to losing 70 lbs, eating better, and having the energy to run my very first 5k race!
2024/01
Today, I'm beginning another 21 day prayer and fasting period with my church. Last year's was the first time I had ever attempted to do anything like that. So this is now my second time doing this. To say it was a life changing experience is quite the understatement! I honestly had no idea a year ago that I would be the much healthier person I am today. And the affects of taking that first step and beginning that journey go far beyond the physical. My mental and spiritual health is improved just as much. Considering the impact of dropping TV from my lifestyle for 21 days and focusing on God and His plan for me, I gave quite a bit of prayer into what I might fast for these 21 days in 2024.
That seems like a lot of build up for what I landed on for this year. Then again, giving up TV last year didn't seem like something that would make the impact that it did. This year, I'm once again giving up TV. However, I'm also giving up seafood and candy. As part of my journey last year, I evolved my diet to be pescatarian. That is basically a vegetarian diet that includes eating seafood. I absolutely love seafood! So giving that up for 21 days is not going to be easy. The fun part of that would be experimenting more with plant based foods. And giving up candy for 21 days is an attempt to curb my sweet tooth.
As I look back on what happened over the course of the previous year, I'm very much looking forward to what God will be teaching me this year. Even if it isn't as life changing as this past year has been, I can imagine it will still make a great impact on me and my world. I will keep my expectations at a reasonable level. So long as I don't expect the same results as last year, I think I'll still be quite happy with 2024.
More to come
This was a very brief entry in this blog. I will be writing up more about my health journey from 2023. Now that I'm a year out from the beginning, I have plenty to talk about! The results really don't speak for themselves, honestly. There is so much more than what can be seen. I don't really know some of the science behind parts of it. But I can at least talk about what did work for me. There are physical, mental, and spiritual aspects to my journey. All of it had to work in a sort of balance for me to achieve what I did. Especially in a year...and especially so I wouldn't give up along the way. I'm going to keep at it all in 2024. What works for me may not work for everyone. But there’s likely something about my journey that will be the spark anyone can use to ignite their own journey to a healthier them!