Posted in fearless

BEING THE BREAK

Posted on by sassysheisme

After a long day at work, I stopped to get some takeout. As I was walking in, I was approached by a young black man, who asked me for money.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened to me.  I get approached quite often, and most of the time the person has an outlandish story about why they need the money.

When I looked into this kid’s eyes, however, he seemed genuine enough.  He did not set off any of my “creep-o-meters” or “danger, danger,” feelings.  Believe me, in many situations like this, regardless of race or gender, I feel like I should walk away because my instincts tell me to do so.

The young man was calm and polite, so I paused to listen.  He held out his hands and showed me his paycheck.

“See, I work. I’m trying so hard.  I have a roommate and we both just got jobs last week. I’m working at Jamba Juice by the mall. I am now $20 short and I need to get a cashier’s check to pay my rent by tomorrow.”

I told him I was sorry, I didn’t have any cash and went in to order my food.  While I was sitting there, I remembered that I had been paid with a $20 bill earlier that afternoon.  When my food was ready, I went back out to the car and I saw the young man asking someone else for help.  The person was so rude to him I wanted to cry.

I got in my car and motioned him over.  I told him I remembered I had some cash on me.  I pulled out the $20 and gave it to him.  I thought he was going to cry, but instead he reached in the window to hug me.   He told me that he had just moved to Houston to get away from his parents who were both on drugs.  He was trying to raise himself up and he was confident he would get a second job soon and then he’d be ok.  He just needed a break.  This break.

One of the clerks at the restaurant came out to see if I was ok and I heard him say, “soliciting.”

The kid’s face fell.  “Please, don’t come at me like that…this…this is my aunt.”

I gave the clerk the thumbs up and said, “Everything’s ok here.”

I mean, yes, I am a regular there and yes, a man did dive in my window so I understand why the clerk came outside.  He was not rude in any way, either, but the clerk looked at me like, sure, this kid is your nephew.

I looked at him as he was backing away and said,   “I’m proud of you!”

The kid smiled so big and he looked at the clerk. “See, that’s my aunt!”

I really am proud of him.  I hope he makes it.

Posted in breast cancer, fearless, tamoxifen

DEAR TAMOXIFEN, IT’S NOT ME – IT’S DEFINITELY YOU

Posted on by sassysheisme

I’ve been off the Tamoxifen for a week now and I’ve already seen improvement.  The joint pain has lessened, and today I did a series of stretches that felt so good.  I will see how I feel tomorrow.  Lately when I’ve tried moving around quite a bit I hurt like hell the next day. I’m hopeful that trend is about to end.

Tuesday, I was hungry. Not ravenous, but the feeling that I hadn’t eaten in a while was present.  My weight doctor wants me to eat more calories in a day and quite honestly, I just haven’t felt like eating at all.  Maybe I will now.

I’ve actually slept a bit better, my brain is firing better, and feel less foggy. I am looking forward to getting back to more photography and writing, both of which are satisfying and fun for me.

I had a physical on Friday and my blood pressure was perfect, and she said I was in good health for the most part.  She could see something was different and I told her I was no longer taking Tamoxifen. At first, she was surprised, but she calmly asked me why, she listened, and she suggested before I make a clean break to get a second opinion.  She also warned me that my oncologist would be angry and upset.

I fully expect my oncologist to be angry and upset, but I am resolute. I already feel so much better that I can’t imagine willingly taking a carcinogen daily again.  I can imagine by my appointment in October that I will feel so much better that I will have a hard time taking her anger seriously.

I have reached out on several support groups/forums and I am getting quite a bit of support.  It’s a good feeling to know I’m not alone, I’m not insane for taking back control of my body.

Oh, my dear Tamoxifen, this breakup is going better than I thought – and it’s you, it’s definitely you.

Posted in breast cancer, tamoxifen

DEAR ONCOLOGY DOC, I’M BREAKING UP WITH TAMOXIFEN

Posted on by sassysheisme

My post Saturday got me to thinking about why I take a medication that has cost me so much.

I started taking Tamoxifen because I was scared.  My oncology doc told me I had to take it if I wanted to keep breast cancer from coming back.  I blindly took her advice because I’d just finished radiation therapy and had 2nd degree burns and I didn’t want to go through that ever again.

I was warned that there might be some side effects, mostly nausea and bleeding a lot if I got cut.  That was it.

Nausea was just the beginning.  At each visit with the oncology doc I filled out endless paperwork describing other side effects like vision issues, joint pain, intense fatigue, weight gain and much more.

This oncology doctor said, “tough it out,” and “it will pass.” My favorite was, “talk to another doctor about that. It’s not my specialty.”

The other doctors did what they could but, as they pointed out, “you’re taking Tamoxifen so…” or, my favorite, “I have not heard Tamoxifen does that so I can’t help you.”

My dear, fierce oncology doctor, I stopped taking Tamoxifen on August 22, and I am never taking it again. In five days, the joint pain (while still present) has already lessened and to my surprise, Tuesday I was actually hungry.  Yesterday, I was able to concentrate and had many creative thoughts and made a presentation I am very proud to distribute.  That hasn’t happened in a long time, and I expect over time for my side effects to dissipate.

I plugged my particular cancer details into a treatment calculator provided to me and taking Tamoxifen for 5 years vs. not taking it at all, would give me a whopping WEEK, that is SEVEN days of benefit.  Granted, I know this info is not 100% accurate, but it is a guide doctors use for treatment.

A week vs. four years of lost time due to being slammed by side effects.  I was so angry, I was shaking. So I did what anyone would do, I sought out a Tamoxifen support group.  Many people in the group are ok with the Tamoxifen, but twice as many aren’t.  Many of us have had the same struggles, others have had it worse than me.

A significant number have this in common:  the doctors either don’t care or they ignore side effects completely.

If my oncologist had said, “I hear you, these side effects are awful.  This is what we can do to ease them,” I might be inclined to trust her and keep taking it. She just blew me off – all she cares about is following this regimen no matter what.  She’s a leader in her field. Then she told me I’d be taking this carcinogenic medication for five more years.

I’m sorry, doc, I’ve had enough.  I’m not scared anymore, not of you, not of not taking Tamoxifen.  I feel burned by Big Pharma.  I feel like I’ve been an experiment and a statistic to add to a long list of numbers.

When I’d calmed down, I knew I’d made the right decision.  It’s my life. If breast cancer is going to try to have a second go at me, I do not believe taking Tamoxifen 10 years will prevent it.

Now, I’m dealing with Tamoxifen withdrawal and I’m looking into natural ways to combat my estrogen.  Thanks to friends like Shan and Anastasia, I’m getting good, solid advice and I feel confident in this decision.

I was talking with my BFF Tuesday night and with tears in her eyes she told me she was proud of me and that she was go glad to “have my Bestie back.”  That hit me like a ton of bricks.  While I know I haven’t been myself the last four years, to know that there was a part of me she missed, that was huge.  Truth be told, I’ve missed that part of me, too.

Dear oncology doc, I’m breaking up with Tamoxifen.  I know you won’t like it, but it’s my life, and I’d rather have quality of life than a week of “guaranteed” benefit from taking toxic waste every day.

As I detox from Tamoxifen, I feel hopeful, much more than I ever have, and I look forward to the days and YEARS to come.

Posted in breast cancer, tamoxifen

SIDE EFFECT UNIVERSITY

Posted on by sassysheisme

August 21, 2011 – Started taking Tamoxifen on a five-year schedule.

August 22, 2011 – Wished I could stop taking Tamoxifen.

April 2014 – Told that I would be taking Tamoxifen on a ten-year schedule due to the findings of a new study.

August 22, 2015 – Weighing the side effects (that most doctors tell me it’s impossible to have the rare ones) vs the benefit of taking the drug.

I work with a lady who had breast cancer years ago who experienced many of the same side effects as I do.  After a couple of years of wrestling with the side effects, she stopped taking Tamoxifen. Her stage of breast cancer was higher than mine and she also had chemo, which I did not.

She stopped taking Tamoxifen.  My doctor acts as if this is not an option and will not be considered – ever.

The study of taking Tamoxifen 10 years said this:

The researchers found that taking tamoxifen for 10 years produced more reductions in breast cancer recurrence and death than taking tamoxifen for 5 years. In the 10 years after the study started, the risk of recurrence was 21.4% in the continuation group compared with 25.1% in the control group. Death from breast cancer was 12.2% in the continuation group compared with 15% in the control group.

3-ish percent. Five more years of side effects vs 3 percent. 

A partial list of side effects I have experienced from taking Tamoxifen:

  • chills
  • confusion
  • cough
  • dizziness
  • lightheadedness
  • lower back or side pain
  • pain or swelling in the legs
  • sweating
  • weakness or sleepiness
  • bloating
  • joint or muscle pain
  • loss of appetite
  • nausea
  • red, irritated eyes
  • unusual tiredness or weakness
  • hair loss or thinning of the hair
  • headache
  • pain
  • pinpoint red spots on the skin
  • trouble concentrating
  • trouble with sleeping
  • unusual bleeding or bruising
  • swelling of the fingers, hands, feet, or lower legs
  • weight gain or loss (in my case, gain)

I do not want breast cancer again.  I will commit to the initial five year plan. I do not, however, want to be 52 when I finally get my life back, if indeed that will actually happen.   I do know that when I was off Tamoxifen for a month because of surgeries I was having, I felt better than I had in a long time.

After that, I dove into gathering information about side effects of Tamoxifen and how to combat them naturally.  I have a team of doctors, none of whom will help me with this task because one is committed to me taking Tamoxifen at all costs, and the rest of them do not understand the drug at all – only what they read – and they discount my pleas for help.

Turns out, when Tamoxifen takers communicate among each other, I’m not alone in experiencing these impossible or not very probable side effects. Still, doctors are so intent on patients taking this drug that they discount the side effects and will even deny they exist to keep a patient on this drug.

I do realize taking Tamoxifen is entirely up to me.  My doctor can insist on it, but I can choose what I take and put in my body. My doctor’s scare tactics of keeping me on the drug are deeply embedded, but 3%… I can’t get over trading five more years of my life for 3 more percent of success after a low stage, no-chemo, no BRCA gene cancer.

My next appointment is in October.  I will make a decision by then.  I want my life back. Maybe, just maybe I can get that 3% back with weight loss and health that not taking Tamoxifen will hopefully provide.

I am ready to graduate from Side Effect University.  I have my doctorate.

Posted in breast cancer

NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVORS DAY

Posted on by sassysheisme

Today is National Cancer Survivors Day!

In April, I had another mammogram, another “clear” mammogram, which declared me cancer free for the fourth year in a row.  I do not, and will never, take negative results from a mammogram for granted.

I find it difficult to balance my gratefulness to still be a living, breathing member of the human race, and the sadness, and if I’m honest, guilt, that I feel for still being a living, breathing member of the human race when so many cancer warriors don’t get the opportunity.  Even before I had cancer myself, I lost family and friends to cancer, and even now, through every diagnosis someone receives, and some losses and funerals of people way too young to not be living, breathing members of the human race.

The renewed life I’ve been granted is not without its challenges.  I still loathe Tamoxifen and all the things it does to my body while preventing cancer’s return.  I’m disappointed in all the doctors that refuse to acknowledge the side effects I’m having and trying to deal with outside of the medical world – their only concern is that I’m alive, not with the quality of my life.  That does not mean I am not allowing Tamoxifen to rule my life, it only means that I’m living with Tamoxifen and dealing with the side effects on my own.

The biggest problem I’ve had is joint pain and the need to detox my body constantly.  I’ve also stopped losing weight and have gained 10 pounds back from the original 50 I lost – something that my weight loss doctor would like to crucify me for. I wholeheartedly disagree with him on all points because I am doing everything I’m supposed to be doing within my ability right now. He refuses to acknowledge any part of my life or the things I am doing outside of his office.  He also tries to act as if he’s an expert on cancer survivors and all the meds I’m on that clearly state weight gain is an issue.   I’d like to slap him because he is overweight, but he can be happy about it, yet I cannot be happy that I’ve kept off 40 pounds for two years.  His reverse psycho-sorcery doesn’t work on me and I know it frustrates him. I’m frustrated enough for the both of us.

Since I’ve been detoxing more often, I’m sleeping better, but still not that nourishing sleep I crave. That doesn’t help with the weight loss either. I’m caught in this cause and effect loop that I can’t seem to break, but mark my words, even if it takes YEARS, I will break it.

The one thing I’d like to remind people who haven’t had to deal with chronic illness, pain, fatigue or cancer, is that a cancer survivor’s life never really goes back to “normal” or back to the way their life was before cancer.  Life cannot exist as it was before – either physically, mentally, or emotionally.  All of our experiences are different – but our common bond is, that though life has been altered forever, we are still living it in our own way, on our new timetable, with our life’s new boundaries.

The best way to honor a cancer survivor is to understand, as much as you can, their new reality and allow them to live it as best they know how.  Support them as they try to figure out what works for them so they can live their lives as fully as possible. Acknowledge to yourself that they can no longer live life on your terms or the terms you were comfortable with. It’s not about you.

Hug your cancer survivor today. Remind them that you are so glad they are still with you. Allow them to celebrate however they choose – solemnly, excitedly, prayerfully, boisterously, or with a nap.

Posted in GLBT, Human Rights, LGBT, RFRA

A HUMAN-AFFIRMING HUMAN

Posted on by sassysheisme

If you don’t know what’s been happening in my home state of Indiana for the last few days, you live under a rock. I admit that I hadn’t paid much attention to the Religious Freedom laws being passed around the country until my Facebook news feed exploded when Governor Mike Pence signed Indiana’s version of RFRA into law.

My first reaction to the law was (and yes, I did read it), someone is going to jump through that rather large loophole and use the law to discriminate.  It didn’t take long. A pizza shop had to close under the weight of their freedom after declaring they would not cater a gay wedding because of their beliefs. RFRA may protect a business like that from the law, but not from the opinions and actions of millions of people. 

Apple, Wal-Mart, GenCon, Angie’s List, the NCAA and many others voiced their disappointment in the law, and even began steps to withdraw their significant contributions to Indiana’s economy.  Even NASCAR chimed in – and their fanbase is considered highly conservative.

Twitter and Facebook exploded.

The backlash surprised Governor Pence and the uber-conservatives but it shouldn’t have. Social media outlets were overloaded with support for the group of people the law seemed to target – the #GLBT community.  Fifty years ago, the target group of the loophole would have been African Americans or any other group that could be beaten down with Bible verses.

I will not debate the Bible and its verses on gay marriage. I’ve read the arguments from both sides and there will not be a consensus in my lifetime to be sure.  The right to marry is a human right, however, and I consider gay marriage to be a civil rights issue. I don’t remember the period in history when it was illegal for people of different races to marry, but I’ve heard the stories, read the history, and I know that one day, future generations will look back and wonder why we as a society didn’t learn the lesson the first time.

I do not believe being gay (or who any of us are at our core) is a choice.  I feel the wind from being unfriended and unfollowed already. That’s fine. I can’t stay silent anymore about it. People I know and LOVE are being discriminated against because it’s easier to discriminate than tolerate.  Tolerate does not mean condone, it just means that we agree we’re all human beings and we need to learn how to get along together because those on each side of the arguments aren’t going away.  Tolerating means a person has to expend energy to get along. To discriminate all a person has to do is turn their back and walk away or close the door.

Recently, a college friend of mine got married. To another man. They have loved each other for years. They have a child who now has married parents. All I saw from their posted photos was love, not just for each other, but love from a community of Christians who have decided to love them walk with them instead of using their energies to tear them down and exclude them.

Last year, someone I know lost their job at a church because she came out and declared to the world she’s a lesbian and she’s tired of hiding it. She lost her job because of who she is. She is in a relationship with someone I have known for years and love and respect for her decision to live authentically. 

I have spent quite a bit of time with some transgender individuals as well.  One in particular is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. I met him as a he, and he is now transitioning to a she. She is a strong, determined person, and she just wants to be loved as the person she is. Person. Human being. Individual. Completely unique and honest with herself.

Another college friend of mine came out years ago and she was shunned by her best friend who abandoned her so fast I imagine my friend had whiplash and probably still does.  I was not surprised by my friend’s revelation that she was gay. Not one bit. I told her I didn’t understand (and I didn’t then) but I still loved her and wanted to continue to have her in my life.  We’ve grown apart because of the reaction she’s had from the religious community at large and she associates me with it. I miss her.

I would rather someone be genuine with me than live behind a facade of religion that discriminates.  There. I said it.

I present you with this question: What if.  What if I said I was gay?  How would you treat me?  How many friends would I lose immediately? How many friends would I lose after being lectured? 

How many Christians would walk away from me or throw me under their theological bus? How many would tell their children I’m going to hell? Would you back away and put the wall of “I’ll pray for you,” between us? Would you celebrate with me if I found someone to love and share my life with? Or would you throw your Bible at me and exclude me from your life? 

The saddest part is, I will lose just as many “friends” from announcing I’m a gay-affirming feminist.  In reality, you can label me all you want, it boils down to I’m a human-affirming human.

One day I asked myself this question: What if we’re wrong? What if I’m wrong? I decided to err, if it is erring, on the side of love.  I leave the judging to God because that’s what the Bible we bludgeon people with says to do. 

And now, if you can’t say something nice, affirming, or positive, please don’t. If you unfriend me, I will miss you, but know that you telling me I’m wrong or going to hell will not change my mind.  I know the Bible very, very well, so the Bible verse contest will not persuade me.  I will delete any and all negativity from my life, just as you feel you are from yours.  I’m sorry we’ve had to come to this impasse.

My mind is not yours to manipulate to how you feel or view things and if you’ve known me any amount of time, you know you cannot anyway.  I know my own mind just as you know yours. I can’t be silent about how I feel any longer. I’m going to do unto others and love. 

Posted in Uncategorized

QUEST FOR SLEEP

Posted on by sassysheisme

For the past 30 days or so, I’ve been averaging 3-4 hours of restless, interrupted sleep. Most of the time, I can fall asleep just fine, but usually I’m awake again an hour or two later.

I’ve seen the “sleep doctor,” and done the whole battery of tests. I have a circadian rhythm disorder called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, and looking back on my life I’d say I’ve had this my whole life.

I have memories of sitting in my window sill after I’d been put to bed, and I’d watch the stars come out. This was in the Majenica house before we moved to the farm in the mid 1970’s. I remember waking up in the middle of the night all the time on the farm. After my stay in the hospital when I was 14, it only seemed to get worse.

The insomnia/DSPD isn’t new to me.

I’ve had my thyroid tested and I take that medicine faithfully, yet I feel that part of my hormonal imbalance hasn’t been fully explored. I also take Tamoxifen, which I am chained to taking another 6 years. I take allergy meds. I am on a med cocktail that I have to take.  If there are any side effects, they exacerbate what already I already experienced.

I just finished 30 minutes on the exercise bike and I’m sitting in front of a light therapy machine.  I’m trying. I remember the sleep doctor saying my only other hope would be more medication. I have taken Ambien recently, but even that is only yielding 4 – 4.5 hours of sleep a night.

I’m not stressed out.

I’m not depressed.

I’m plenty tired.

That’s where I’m most frustrated.  I’m doing yoga. I’m meditating.  I took enough melatonin and GABA the other night to tranq an elephant, but I still woke up two hours later.  I’m doing all the things that are supposed to lead to a good night’s rest. I’m not getting the rest I need.

After a few nights of very little sleep, I feel as if I’m losing my mind. I don’t like that feeling.

Hopefully I will find the formula for a good night’s sleep soon.

Posted in breast cancer, death, Suckuary

THE BEST DEATH?

Posted on by sassysheisme

This week, I came across this article reporting on a blog post in which a doctor stated that cancer is the best way to die and society should stop wasting money trying to cure it.

Of course, as a cancer survivor, I was livid. I couldn’t even come up with a way to describe how his words made me feel other than, “KMA – kiss my ass.”

As I read his blog post describing various ways to die, I still couldn’t form words to comment on it.  Doctor Luis Bunel compared various end of life ways people die and chose cancer over dementia, sudden death, and organ failure.  I understand he was contemplating ways to die and, at age 62, he may be closer to death than I am.  We all contemplate how we want to leave this world, that’s a normal part of life, especially after passing the invisible, perceived halfway point of typical life expectancy.

The point is, Doctor Bunel, none of us gets to choose how we leave this earth, or when, (though some do by taking their own lives).  By stating there’s a better way to die surely guarantees that won’t be how you get to the end of your line.  I do believe that our wishes really aren’t considered when it’s our time to die.  Death is an inevitability, sure. Being able to shove that inevitability back one more day is a gift.

I’ve buried way too many people I love because of cancer.  Each of them fought what Doctor Bunel would term the best way to die. They fought with their own strength, they fought with medicine, and they fought, most of all, to stay with the people who love them.

“An even more horrible death,” he wrote, “is one that’s kept at bay by the miracles of modern medicine, a death that never ends. In the name of Hippocrates, doctors have invented the most exquisite form of torture ever known to man: survival.”

One more day with my brother would be worth everything,  I guarantee you, doc, that I don’t think his parents, siblings, wife or kids would say otherwise.  If my brother thought what he was enduring was torture, I guarantee you, he would never have said a word. He fought until his last breath to remain with us and if it was torture, he was willing to take it. Every. Single. Day. For one more moment.

Survival does not equal torture. 

I know with my own cancer, I was nowhere near death.  I didn’t have major organs failing because they were being eaten away from the inside.  I am nearing four years cancer free, and while I do not see breast cancer making a comeback, I GUARANTEE you, Doctor Bunel, if it does, I will fight it with everything that is in me to do so. I will embrace the modern medicine, and if that one extra day is torture, I will celebrate it.

This morning, I saw on ESPN that Stuart Scott, a long time host of Sports Center, had passed away from cancer. His fight reminded me to never give up. He fought cancer for almost a decade. He FOUGHT it.  He left behind two daughters, two daughters that I’m sure he felt the alleged torture was worth.  Watching the tributes to him from his coworkers and friends brought me to tears.  He inspired them in many ways and he will be missed.

None of us knows exactly when or how we will die.  What we do with the time we have is important.  It is not a great sin to want to live longer despite our quality of life if we want to live.  Cancer treatment and research costing billions is not a cancer patient’s issue, it’s a larger issue of the greed and inefficiency of the healthcare system (that’s another post). Regardless of the cost, most people are not in a hurry to die, even if it’s painful, because most of us have something bigger than us to live for.

I’m still not completely calm about this article. I know it’s not personal, but yes, I took it very, very personally because the miracle of modern medicine let me have moments with my brother and mother that I wouldn’t have otherwise had.  I also a member of a family of cancer survivors who are still here, living full lives, because of the advances in medicines that fight cancer, all of whom would agree those billions of dollars spent on cancer research are not wasted.

Survival does not equal torture.  Not by a long shot.

Posted in fearless

THE YEAR OF FEARLESS

Posted on by sassysheisme

Tomorrow is no different than today as it relates to goal-setting and self-promise making. Still, each year, people chose this day to make huge (and often unobtainable) changes in their lives. From losing weight, saving money, finding love, and a host of other well-intended resolutions, people hope that the coming year will be “their” year to accomplish all these things and to finally reach the pinnacle of their self-imagined happiness.

I set some goals last year and limited the amount so as not to go insane in the pursuit of reaching them.  I did better than I ever have. I also did something that, for me, was a life-changer.  I changed my “life word.”

Up until the end of 2013, My life word had been, “hope.”  Hope is a fine word. It still applies in my life. To me, however, hope implies waiting, not action.  Hope was about waiting for life to come to me, and I was still hoping.

For 2014, I chose the word, “fearless,” as my life word.  I started out the year with the best “Suckuary” I’d had since Suckuary began in 2001, mostly in part to a life-changing song by Pharrell Williams called, “Happy” and my determination to reclaim January as part of my life. For the most part, it worked.

I kept the momentum going after a promotion in March and a trip with my BFF to Maui. Most of that came about because I would look at a pile of obstacle to things I wanted or wanted to do and say to myself, “WHY NOT?” Then I’d go do it.

In May, I became a certified Lead Auditor for ISO 9001. That may not seem like such a big deal but I had to go to Philadelphia to train and take an EXAM (I really haven’t done that since 1991). Still, I attacked that test fearlessly. I had nothing to lose except pride. I trusted my instincts. AND I PASSED.

Then I spent the next six months traveling 25,000 air miles for work. I questioned whether I had the stamina for all the travel, but I managed and I had some great experiences, especially when I was traveling by myself. I was fearless and I embraced my new reality.

I could list so many things of how living fearlessly has changed my life. I am more outgoing, I’ve had wonderful new experiences and met some great new people. I enjoy my job so much more than I ever could have imagined, because every day I approach it fearlessly.

I am grateful for all these new opportunities that I didn’t hope for, but chased down.  The Year of Fearless changed my life, so, with that in mind, I’m going round 2 with “fearless,” in 2015.

You haven’t seen anything yet!

Posted in Uncategorized

NEW YEAR’S GOAL RESULTS 2014

Posted on by sassysheisme

Last year, I set some goals for 2014 (https://sassydreamsawake.com/2013/12/ ) rather than New Year’s Resolutions.  Let’s see how I did.

GOAL #1 – NO SURGERIES – I made it! No surgeries or major issues this year. Granted, that whole hormonal joint pain thing I could totally do without, but this year was by far better than the last!

GOAL #2 – TAKE CAMERA EVERYWHERE – I did all right with this goal for the first quarter of 2014. I still, however, take a photo or photos nearly every day with my phone and now I have an HTC Re, so I take photos and video anywhere and everywhere.

GOAL #3 – HIT MY GOAL WEIGHT – I’m still on the plateau I was on earlier this year. I’ve decided not to stress out over it and I know I will get there eventually. I just need to keep advancing toward the goal. I’m not going back!

GOAL #4 – MORE “ME” TIME – I did not know when I made this goal that I would be traveling as much as I did this year. Still, while on trips, I managed to squeeze in some me time and made it worth my while. I will be traveling more this coming year, so I can work on this goal some more.

Did you keep your resolutions? Make any progress?