Making Changes

Posted on January 25, 2023

We are all driven to make changes of varying degrees in our lives. Back in 2020 when the pandemic impacted our kennel business income and my husband was diagnosed with cancer, our lives were changed forever. It was definitely a time of overwhelm, fear, scarcity and stress. Looking back at all of the adjustments our family chose to make, I know we couldn't have done it alone. God was right there with us, leading through each next step.

When I talk about change, I'm referring to an entire lifestyle change. The first modification we made was in our food selection. Upon Kevin's diagnosis, he and I decided to adopt a plant-based, juicing diet. For 60 days straight, we juiced things like carrots, garlic, celery, turmeric, apples and ginger (6-8 cups/day). We also ate a lot of salads and fruit. For two months, this plant-based diet was our mainstay. In some ways it was tough to give up meat and grains and all of the usual things a person would normally eat. At the same time, it was an easy hard because we recognized the impact nourishing food could have on Kevin's health. I didn't have to make that transition, but I chose to support him in that way and figured it could additionally benefit my well-being.  

After those two months, we also switched from allopathic to natural medicine. We knew Kevin wasn't going to go with conventional treatments, and the medical community we dealt with wasn't especially supportive of that so we decided we didn't belong in that system any longer. Once we met with a naturopathic doctor, it opened up a whole new world to us. There was a huge learning curve, and part of that included diet. The plant-based menu was great for a short time, but it wasn't sustainable in this case. The doctor and our own research taught us about how a wholesome diet can include meat and some of the foods we ate in the past; we made the shift to organic foods and grass-fed/pasture-raised meat and poultry. We learned what foods are toxic to the body and which are life-giving. Talk about a big change! I had to learn to plan meals and cook all over again. It took months to master how to prepare totally new dinners with ingredients I had never used before. It was challenging to find recipes and seemed to take twice as long to make them because everything was homemade. Besides the fact that Kevin had restrictions on what he could eat, I also had to make food that my kids would enjoy. For awhile, I was making a separate meal for them until it just got to be too much. Today, I'm happy to say that they have adapted pretty well to this lifestyle.  

Not only did we drastically alter our eating, but we also switched out all of our household products. I replaced all cleaning and laundry goods with non-toxic ones and candles and wax warmers with essential oils; they not only smell amazing but have many healing properties as well.

With a new grocery list came a new grocery budget. We doubled our spending on the aforementioned items, and that was a big hurdle to clear. Remember, this was the time when our income was reduced and we were paying out of pocket for Kevin's treatment. (Another educational piece we picked up is that insurance doesn't cover alternative medicine in Wisconsin.)

Grocery shopping was also a new adventure because I had to learn how to look for these new ingredients, take time to attentively read labels and visit four to five different stores to get everything we needed. It went from a three hour activity to four or more each week.  

Whew! It's a lot. These are the biggest adjustments we made, by choice! We didn't have to, but we did because it was worth it to get the results we were praying for. You see, all of those modifications I mentioned are still part of our lives today. They have become our lifestyle. They were challenging, and honestly, some of them still are. We've become more efficient at others. They not only gave rise to positive health transformation for our immediate family but could potentially impact generations. So how did we make these overwhelming improvements? We prayed, tapped into our spiritual strength and patience, made the decisions and jumped right in, fear and all. We didn't know what this was going to ultimately look like, but we knew that the alternative was definitely going to be worse. That was enough to propel us forward on this journey. Today, even though we often still find ourselves facing tough situations, we allow ourselves to feel them and even struggle sometimes to get past them. Thankfully, we live in faith and joy which brings peace and encouragement no matter the circumstances.  

What is the lesson here? I believe that we can look at our trials as being onerous and too much to handle or we can see them as opportunities for growth. It was okay that we experienced the overwhelm and fear because it was our reality at the time. Nevertheless, we chose to face the circumstances so we could leave those feelings behind and advance toward the next step and the life we desire.  

What big changes have you made, and what drove you to make them? Feel free to share your experiences or comments.

Choose Joy!