I want to take a second and explain why I listed this in Success Stories, as opposed to other forums that depending on the individual it might seem more relevant. I put it here because it is not just relevant to veterans, or it is just about food, or coping, or 'finding myself'. It is an NSV; in addition to everything else I consider it a vital part of who I am now and wanted to share with my support community.

I have come to adopt a way of life now, or honestly I feel more often anymore that it has adopted me, it is something I have come to call my "True North". It is a paradigm shift, it is incredibly simple but seems so deceptively complex, but it is not complex at all. It is the small steps that along the way have helped me cope and become who I needed to be in order to succeed post VSG.

Everything I do I ask myself, gently, is this making me happy? Is this helping me heal? Sometimes it is physical as I experienced complications, or mental as I deal with losing my Mom (she died a week after my surgery). Maybe it is the dreaded combination of the two - the head hunger and thirst and heartburn for some noteworthy examples – just constant questions of “does this put me where I need to be”.

I just return to the Goal of Me, by asking am I healing by doing this? Is this lining up with my needs and goals and abilities? If I were a compass, by doing this, am I pointing to my True North?

At first I shouted it at myself and it was so harmful, looking back, I had this strong person, yet really frail and tired and I almost pushed too much. I was able to catch myself, with the extraordinary love of my Husband - I will never understand how he even stood me sometimes. I don’t question it too much however, and that is a part of the process. I just try to reciprocate and shine back to him what he offered to me. That comes back to the True North. I love to love my Husband. It is the ‘N’ on my compass, so I reciprocate all I can. Food is that way now also. I love the foods that love me back. In the process I try to stay away from any treats or the thought process that would associate a poor choice of food from being a "treat". Each bite for me I try to make it an active choice, an aware process and I tell myself "I am not what I was, I am not what I will be tomorrow, and this gets me there, while celebrating this moment." Food is for me to guide now, not the other way around. I FEEL alive when I eat bright, colorful, foods full of life. I am the energy 10x returned for the energy expended to learn about, choose, and prepare and even grow my meals. Exercise is much the same, and of course there is the less fun moments like work, traffic and bills, bunny poop and mosquitoes and Mondays. I just make an effort to live each moment, and in that instance also gently keep my needle pointing ‘N’.

Be awesome to yourself and keep pointing ‘N’!

Namaste.

Thank you Pookeyism. This post was perfect. I needed that!

This is one of the best posts I've read. Thanks for the reminder!

Ok, fairly new here... and trying to figure out what is NSV? Googled it and came up with No-Scalpel Vasectomy, National Socialist Vanguard, Net Sales Value,... so which is it????

Ok' date=' fairly new here... and trying to figure out what is NSV? Googled it and came up with No-Scalpel Vasectomy, National Socialist Vanguard, Net Sales Value,... so which is it????[/quote']

Non-scale victory. Although I do like mo-scalpel vasectomy too.....

I'll have to remember that! Thanks The No-Scalpel Vasectomy cracked me up...

Wow.....what an insightful post. Thank you for giving me something to chew on. (Yes, pun intended).

I love your thought process here. I've had to do that with toxic friendships in the past. I've had to ask myself if those friendships made me happy and whether they brought out the best in me.

I also love what you said about being gentle and kind to yourself. Great ideas.

Great thoughts come from great minds.