I have frankly admitted in recent times that life has been more than a bit of a struggle at the moment. Health issues – not related to Parkies – especially the dreaded knee, have been getting on top of me.
While I don’t consider myself controlling, I do like to be in control of my own life as much as possible. This is my natural inclination, but also having had a very controlling second husband – not my children’s Father, I hasten to add – the last thing I want to be is to be controlled or to control others.
There is a lot in my life I can’t control, especially in relation to my health, but what I can control I am going to try to do my best to do. To control unhealthy behaviours, which mostly relate to what I put in my mouth, both eating and drinking. I think I may have said before that I feel I have a bit of a Psychological war I am waging with myself. The war being that one side of me sees me overweight and thinks that I have to do something about it. The other side of me is a little voice somewhere in the shadows of my brain telling me that eventually everyone with Parkies loses weight, so why not enjoy a few (well more than a few) extra kilos for a while? This kind of thinking is not a healthy way of thinking and I am bright enough to know that. That’s the logical me. The little voice is not so logical.
So, today I had an appointment with someone called a Health Coach. It is a free service at my GP. Bonus! You don’t get much for free these days! Anyway, I digress. I met with her this afternoon and we talked about what I wanted to change about my life to have a healthier lifestyle. I told her I had decided to give up alcohol and she agreed this would have a positive impact on my health generally and certainly would cut out a lot of empty calories. However, she did say that if I want to have the odd glass of wine when we go out for dinner, that’s OK too. I agreed with what she said, but also said that if I go out for dinner and I’m not bothered about drinking then I’ll give it a miss if that’s how I feel. We talked a bit about stopping some of my unhealthy eating habits. I won’t bore you with detail, but they all made sense as we talked about them. I’m not saying I will change completely overnight, but I think I have a few more tools to get back on track. I will certainly try.
As we talked about being a healthier me, I told her how stressed I had been at work and having to take a week off for stress leave. She then asked if I would like to meet with the ‘Health Improvement Practitioner’ – another free GP service – to check in regarding my mental health and wellbeing. So, I agree to that too and have an appointment in a couple of weeks. I really feel like between the GP, the Health Navigator and the Health Improvement Practitioner, I’ve pretty much covered all the bases.
As I drove home, I felt like I had been for a bit of a Warrant of Fitness. Then I realised my car was due one as well and booked it in too! 🙂
Hopefully, we’ll both be given a good report at the end of it all!
My journey with Parkinsons 