A Walk in the Park

As part of my devotion to a healthier self, I am trying to recognize what things I can do that will be good for me. Honestly, COVID has stressed me out, which has caused me to think about doing things differently. I have even quit my job in acute care and will be starting a different position in palliative care. I admit the chaos of working in a hospital got to me. This past February, I was really sick. I wasn’t diagnosed with COVID because they were not testing for it at that time. I had the worse cold/flu that I have ever had. Antibiotics also never really seemed to help. The violent cough continued, which resulted in having a chronic cough ever since. All the coughing led me to have ongoing digestive and sleep problems.

I am a bit paranoid about getting sick with COVID, which could be a second time round for me. So, like most of us, this year has also been a frustrating year for me.

Have Faith

I believe God answers our prayers but I don’t believe God expects us to sit idly by while He magically poofs our wishes into realities. I believe God gives us challenges to test and teach us how to assert ourselves in different ways to find solutions to improve our situations. God empowers us and gives us the resources we need. As we seek to find answers we also learn more about ourselves and who God is.

Things I Learned

A raw food diet and strict adherence to dinner times have made huge improvements in how I have been feeling. Since February I have been dealing with health problems not understanding why or knowing what to do about them. My GP originally thought my problem was respiratory. We also ruled out allergies. It wasn’t until I fasted on Yom Kippur that I was almost cough-free for the very first time. A fasting that day provided my first clue that my problem had to be digestive.

Knowing what the problem was helped but now I had to figure out what to do about it. I have tried many things, but finally, it seems that raw and easily digestible, non-processed, vegetarian food along with strict diet times seemed to help me the most. My cough these past few days is almost resolved. What a miracle! I have gotten so used to violent episodes of coughing all this time that I was beginning to think the coughing would never go away. Along with my new diet, I have also decided to take daily walks around a big, beautiful park that is just down the street from my house. I realized on my walk today how easy it is to take advantage of the great resources that God provides.

I live in a fairly big city of over half a million people. The park is old farmland that was donated to the city by the Gage’s years ago. The only stipulation to the city receiving the land is that it always had to be kept for the people who live here to enjoy. Now that COVID has interrupted all of our lives, we all are trying to figure out ways to be out of our homes safely. As I passed by other people walking today, we all seemed happy to see one another as we all enjoyed our walk in the park and being out of our homes for a change.

I sadly realized that in previous years I would let this terrific wonder so close to home slip away from every being enjoyed as I normally refused to go out in December because of the fridged temperatures at this time of year.

But with the sun out and bundled up with a hat, mittens, and a scarf; a walk in the park is such an amazing thing even for this time of year. While waking I took it all in all around me, soaking up all of the beauty, saying, “Really, this has been here all along?”

COVID has wreaked havoc on all our lives, but it has also forced us to do things we weren’t doing before. This quiet moment told me how lucky I am. Amongst all of the chaos, I walked and relished in what was perfect.

Reflecting on this year and all of its challenges — Today, I have a less stressful job, I am eating better, and I exercise daily by going for walks in a beautiful park that has been here all along.

Perfect is always right in front of us, all around us, all the time. Chaos is just a distraction, which can only distract us if we allow it to.

I like this place that God has given me.

I will not be distracted anymore…