Today I received a hard copy of a magazine I have been working on as its editor.
Seeing all my work put together in front of me, in a 40 page magazine gave me so much joy.
Although there were a few negative reviews and some hitches here and there, nothing gave me more joy than to find the following message in my WhatsApp messenger from the number one person concerned;
Saw the CMF Magazine. What can I say, but great, beautiful, outstanding, unique, you are a gem. Very, very well done. Will buy 20 copies, please 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾💋💋💋💋💋❤️❤️❤️👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽. Thanks for a job excellently done. Love it, love it, love it.
In July 2023, my older sister came home to visit and I couldn’t stop starring at her. She looked amazing. The last time I had seen her before July was in February, when we all came together to celebrate my parents on their 76th and 77th birthdays.
I wondered what the magic was, just 5 months and the change was remarkable. She had lost a lot of weight and her waist line was very visible. Her skin was another thing entirely, she looked really healthy. When I asked her what the secret was, she told me she was logging in her 10,000 daily steps along with intermittent fasting.
We had this conversation on the 2nd of July, I started my intermittent fasting journey the next day. It has been 6 months of slow but obvious results. I have been having a problem with meeting up with the daily steps, but I hope to work on that in this New Year.
Barely 3 weeks into my journey, I started to see results and I got really curious and I began to read about intermittent fasting. I was able to explain to myself why I had tried it before but with zero results. I found out intermittent fasting will not produce positive results without consistent autophagy.
Autophagy is that phase in your fasting window where your body begins to breakdown and reuse old cell parts. It gets rid of non-functioning cell parts and makes new ones. This happens when the cells are deprived of nutrients. I have tried a ketogenic diet in the past and so I recognized that the process was similar.
Apparently in my previous attempt at intermittent fasting failed because I wasn’t starving the cells of nutrients. I thought I could eat this or that. I thought the whole idea was to avoid the big meals or the high calorie meals. I am beginning to think that may be the problem for several others who complain about zero results.
How did I handle this problem?
I went to Google play store and found an application I would use to track my activities; I found one called Fastic…it has been very helpful.
I picked a fasting window. Initially, I was doing a 16:8 (sixteen hours of fasting and eight hours of eating) but when I got a hang of it by October, I moved up to 18:6.
I researched and made a list of fluids I could take during my fasting period without disrupting the process; water, mineral water, apple cider vinegar, tea (green or black is fine),coffee.
I learned to plan and pack my lunch before work.
I planned distractions and tasks for the day to prevent me from thinking about eating.
I worked on my sleep hours. Sleeping early prevents me from reaching for a night snack.
I have been feeling lighter and healthier, my right knee and ankle still hurt a bit but overall I would say it has been worth it.
I mentioned in a previous post how I intended to have rest in the year 2023. I had drawn out a list of every area of my life that seemed difficult and stressful and I planned to achieve rest in those areas.
If I was to give a score on how much achievement I made, I would say a 7 out of 10.
All this achievement couldn’t have been possible without God.
…but there was a human, always a step beside of me, sometimes ahead and sometimes just behind me.
She made life so easy.
I had decided to focus on my office job and cut back my hours at my bake shop to allow me grow my career in Accounting. I couldn’t have done it without this human.
She stepped up, showed up at the bake shop like it was hers. Kept my books and paid the bills so diligently.
It was hectic for her, I could see… Yet, in the midst of this, she would call to find out if I had had lunch or if I had any outstanding chores I hadn’t gotten to because my office hours were crazy.
She went out of her way to do the hardest things…for me.
I don’t know what I would do if she wasn’t there, maybe I would have been just okay…but I wouldn’t have been great.
I owe her so much.
…but now I need to shout out for the world to hear;
I am thankful to Chiamaka. She was and is a blessing to me.
At the end of 2022, I picked my word word for the year 2023.
The word was REST.
I used the scripture Exodus 33:¹⁴ as a guide and even when things at work began to get really hectic and stressful later in the year, I still focused on getting rest in my mind, my home and several other areas in my life.
To round up the year of rest, I decided to do Christmas a little differently.
I am taking a 7 day break to be by myself and rest.
Away from work, chores and everything else.
Away… to think, meditate, read and write.
So today, bags packed and mind ready, I left for a town, five hours away. It’s a highland and it’s a lot cooler than my own town.
My son is with me and he’s very excited too.
I’ve never done anything like this before and I hope this is just the first of several more.
I’ve found myself awake from 2am to 5:30am every day for the past four nights.
The first night was hard because I concentrated on falling back to sleep so much that I got frustrated. I got up and took a walk around the house for little or no reason; to the water dispenser for a drink of water, to the front and back doors to check if they were properly shut, to my son’s side to check if he was properly covered… I just kept myself busy. I didn’t know what to do.
On the second night, from the very moment I found myself awake, I decided not to fight it. I pulled up my tablet and started an Advent devotion on my youversion Bible and then I read a little more from Isaiah 30 and other scripture.
Next, I caught up on one of my abandoned summer reads ‘Meet me at the Lake’s by Carley Fortune.
When the moment came, my eye lids shut on their own.
On the third night I repeated the same actions from the previous night.
It’s 4:38 on night four. I’m all caught up with my Advent plan and my WordPress notifications too.
My eyes may shut soon. I’m sure about this.
I’m not sure why this is happening but I love my night sleep and I miss it…plus I kept showing up late to work on the mornings after.
It’s Saturday now and I can sleep in but I really hope this insomnia goes away before the new week.
Any suggestions on what I may do or not do to help?
After church today, I did a few chores and meal prepping for later and then I had a light Lunch.
I tried to watch the latest production of Abraham’s story, a 2023 movie titled ‘His Only Son’… 25 minutes into the movie and I’m nodding off, it was a hot and sunny afternoon.
I decided to take a nap for a bit before my scheduled Alumni Year end party… Wrong move.
Yup… I woke up weak and tired because of the heat… I’m not a siesta person.
I dragged myself to the party. It was a good one. Lots of hellos and catching up.
Next thing, I hear someone say “it’s game time”. It’s one game only… “It’s a sit and stand game” she says.
I’ve never heard of it…
Nope, I’ll pass.
Why?
It took the help of my son to get my shoes on before I left home… Today isn’t my day for activities.
I remember some years ago, everyone made jokes about a statement a former leader made, he said “I belong to everyone and I belong to no one”.
That statement fits Whiskers just right.
When whiskers was a kitten, my sister didn’t want to leave him behind as she was coming to our hometown for an indefinite staycation…so she brought him along.
Throughout her entire stay, her kids and my son gave whiskers all the love he could get.
When the time came for them to leave, my dad told them it was okay to leave Whiskers behind…”He will be just alright” he said. My dad likes cats.
What he forgot was the fact that our family home, where my sister had stayed and where she would be leaving whiskers behind was run mainly by my mom. She is NOT a cat person.
By dad lives in the same town as my sister…4 hours away…he only comes around the family home from time to time.
So, off went daddy and off went my sister and her kids.
My son and I don’t live in the family home, so off we went too.
I go there from time to time. I see whiskers and I see how lonely he is.
Sometimes I look at him and wish I could take him home with me and make him my own.
It’s sad to say this but I think he will always be everyone’s cat and belong to no one at all.
