Reflections and Resolutions

In yesterday's SharePost on New Year's Resolutions, I promised that today I would share my personal reflections on 2008 and resolutions for 2009 with you.  As a general rule, I don't make New Year's resolutions.  Although I tend to be a goal-oriented person, I prefer to set my goals whenever they are needed rather than doing it just because the calendar happens to change to a new year.  This year, however, recent changes to some circumstances in my life have coincided with the advent of a new year; so this seems like an ideal time to go ahead and make some New Year's resolutions.

Looking Back...

I have always been a very spiritually-oriented person; my faith is the cornerstone of my life.  For a number of years, sometime around the first of each year, I've had the experience of having a Bible verse virtually pop out at me when I was reading.  (Sometimes I wasn't even reading the Bible – once I was reading a newspaper article that referred to a Bible verse.)  And no, they didn't literally pop off the page; they just strongly touched my heart and I couldn't get them off my mind.  I found that each time that happened, I spent much of the next year learning more about what that verse meant in my life.  For example, one year I learned how to leave the past behind and move forward onto a new, rewarding path; another year the verses encouraged me to write about my experiences and share them to help others.  (That was the year I co-founded the National Fibromyalgia Association.) 

I tell you those experiences so you will understand what happened last year.  In January 2008 I was reading an article in a Christian magazine when these words from Deuteronomy 30:19 jumped out at me, “I have set before you life and death...choose life.”  Needless to say, I was a little shaken.  I couldn't help but wonder what might be ahead for me in the coming year that would require me to choose between life and death.  Was my life in jeopardy? 

As I prayed about it, I felt that at least part of what I needed to do was change my eating habits.  No longer having a family at home for whom I had to cook well-balanced meals, I had fallen into the habit of eating whatever was quick and easy, though often not very nutritious.  And I'd always had quite a sweet tooth, which didn't help.  So I began trying to be more conscious of eating better.  I started buying organic produce, and I almost completely quit buying sweets. 

It turned out to be a very good thing I had made those changes because in early October I was diagnosed with very severe type II diabetes.  Apparently my glucose levels were so high, I was on the verge of falling into a coma or having a heart attack.  I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn't already made some significant changes to my diet.  Of course, in addition to taking medication, I had to make even more drastic dietary changes.  I can't say I've enjoyed it – almost everything I like is a no-no.  But the changes have been worth it.  By December, my hemoglobin A1c (a test that indicates glucose levels over a 2-3 month period) level had dropped from 13.5 to 7.5.  It still needs to come down to about a 6, but my doctor said that was the largest drop she had ever seen in just two months.