Where do I begin to get mentally healthy?

Somebody must a' kicked me around some.

Lately, I'm really on this peace kick. But what's my first step toward peaceful mental health? Where do I begin? Well, they say let peace begin with you so I'm working from the inside out. I don't know if anyone noticed, but I've been trying to be a lot nicer lately. And folks, it ain't easy or natural for this fed up Grandma to be nice.

I used to be super nice before the world started using me as a soccer ball. Oh, I've been kicked around some alright, Tom Petty. And then some more after that. But you know what? I'm not one to lay around and revel in my abandonment, either. I do not plan to live like a refugee like the song says.

What I plan to do is to restore that nice little girl I used to be to her former glory. Or at least as close as possible. Because being nice to people is what I'm best at. It makes me feel good about myself. It makes me happy to see other people happy.

Now, I'm also not taking it too far this time. I'm not planning on helping people to the point where they no longer deem it necessary to help themselves. Because, first of all, that's not healthy for them. And secondly, it leaves me resentful and miserable.

There is a fine line.

Sometimes being nice to people means saying no because it's the best thing for them. Standing on one's own two feet is the greatest feeling ever. So why would I take that away from someone I care about? Well, I did and I have and let me tell you, it's not the smartest move for my health either.

So, here we are, back at the starting line. Step one toward being mentally healthy for me is to be nice to people without being an absolute pushover. Now, step one for you might be different. But for this Grandma, it's the perfect beginning to a happier, healthier mental state.

Naturally healthy grandma with Lupus?

Taking gentle hikes keeps me healthy.

Sometimes I wonder if people who read this blog look twice at the title and think, “What? How on earth can she call herself a naturally healthy grandma? Doesn't she have Lupus, Rheumatoid and Reynauds syndrome?” Why yes. Yes I do. And so, for my new readers, who might not know my reasoning behind the blog title, I decided to write this, as an FYI.

Lupus runs in my family. So does Rheumatoid. Not sure about the Reynauds, but I'm assuming that since it's often a companion of the other two, it's likely that some of my ancestors suffered from it too. So, even though I'm sick, I have healthy habits now. Pl,us, my inherited Lupus came mainly from my ancestors.

But wait. Lupus is a tendency of sorts. And if you lead an unhealthy lifestyle and follow an unhealthy diet, you increase the likelihood that the tendency toward Lupus will flare into a full blown disease. Unfortunately, I used to have very unhealthy habits, which caused Lupus to take the upper hand, so to speak.

Now, though, I truly am healthier, even though I'm sick. I move more. I eat right. And just an aside, I have been a vegetarian, leaning toward vegan, for a long, long time. That has nothing to do with it. The problem was never that. The problem was junk food.

I ate cheese and chips and cookies. Lots of them. I drank gallons of soda pop. So, even though my diet did not include meat products, it did include tons of fat, salt, sugar, white flour and all the other food evils of a modern society. I'm doing much better now. I'm keeping myself better by doing better. And yes, I still eat some of those things. Just not so much of them.

The other issue was and is having the forced sedentary lifestyle of a writer. So many of my writer friends are sick like me. In fact, probably about ¾ of the people I know with chronic illness are writers. Therefore, I am really making an effort to get up and move, even when I don't feel like it or I have work to do.

Some day, the temptations will take a back burner, so to speak and I will transition all the way to Veganism, which I believe is about as naturally healthy as one can get. And some day, with practice and perseverance, I will be able to move a lot more than I do now.

But you know, even as it is now, I get healthier every day. I am on the path to better health now. And that's why I call myself a naturally healthy grandma. I am using naturally healthy ways to keep myself healthier than I normally would be if I didn't change my lifestyle.

How do I know it's working? Well, sadly, as mentioned above, I have a lot of friends with chronic illness. And even more sadly, the reason that I know I'm doing the right thing is that when I compare their struggles to mine, I see that their illnesses are much further along and progressing more rapidly than mine, even when other factors are identical.

And yes, I know, chronic illness is not always predictable. It can come and go for no reason at all. But I still think that by adopting a naturally healthy diet and lifestyle, I am increasing my longevity and slowing the progress of these illnesses considerably.

So, there you go. That's why I call myself a naturally healthy grandma, even though I have 3 chronic illnesses. It's because despite or even because of those illnesses, I am healing myself gradually and naturally, one step at a time.