The new and improved

Welcome!

This is my first blog since I switched from Myspace to Facebook. I finally decided it was time to start again. The reasoning, I was simply encouraged by meeting the one, the only... Sean Patrick Flanery (ShineUntilTomorrow.com). I have been reading his blogs for a while, and have been so encouraged by his mission to call people to a healthy place in life, inside and out.  When I heard he was coming to Portland for the Wizard World Comic Con, I knew I had to try to go. What I hadn't planned on was how remarkable this man is in person. He is just as smart, sweet, witty and wise in person and SO human, as his voice in his blogs. Aside from this passionate engaging man writing an incredible blog, he is also an actor. He has been featured in Boondock Saints (1&2), Powder, and Young Indie. I could go on and on about what he has done out there on the big screen. However, I rather share with you what he has done for me.

Back in April of 2011 I was very sick and was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I was horribly overweight with no saving grace set aside to think I would ever be able to lose weight. Being diagnosed with Diabetes was the best thing that ever happened to me. Don't be shocked, be amazed! I immediately set up an eating plan with my doctor, because I didn't know anything about this disease or how to eat right. I started with Metformin and was told eventually it might not be enough and I may have to do insulin shots, but we would start here. START I did! I got my fat butt out there and walked my feet tired and bloody and haven't stopped. I walk an average of 4-8 miles a day, sometimes more, but typically about 6 days a week. I still eat good and take care of myself. After 9 months of being on Metformin, I was able to stop taking it. My A1C went to out of the diabetic range and I dropped about 60lbs. Now here I am almost two years later. I have lost 170lbs.

I have gained LIFE.  I have found strength in my God, in my SELF, in life.  I am a completely different person.  I have confidence to live, where I once wanted nothing more than to die. 

Which brings me right back to Sean Flanery; I stood in line (first one) and waited like a teenage girl with a high school crush.

In walks this guy, just comes in, plunks down his pack, his apples and is on fire because he just met the Fonz. 

 

Sean Flanery and Henry Winkler
 

 

I hope that he doesn't mind me sharing his picture, but look at that face, he is just boom! Shine Sean, shine!

He showed me this picture and I was immediately at ease. I mean come on, he is a fan, he is a guy, he is normal. I was so thankful I was able to tell him how much I appreciate what he does. Because when you tell someone how much they have affected your life, how much they have encouraged you, before you know it, you are giving right back! I was truly blessed to meet Sean and talk to him about my story and share with him my battle. I fight it every day. It isn't something that I conquered and now I am done. I have to live with diabetes for the rest of my life. It was a change in my lifestyle, not a diet and exercise program. What they don't tell you a lot of the time when you get diagnosed with something like this, is yes you have to lose weight, the weight makes it worse, but what they don't tell you is emotionally what it can do to you. I was a mess the first year. I lost so much weight, but I also lost my identity. I lost my wall that I had hid behind my whole life. All of a sudden people noticed me. People would talk to me, and I was such a recluse it took a long time to reconcile my new self. To find a new identity, reach inside of who God wanted me to be, and let it SHINE. Meeting Sean was not about meeting an "actor" or meeting someone "famous" it was about having the confidence to walk up to someone who reaches out to people like me and is a light in this dark world and just simply say "thank you." Thank you for your passionate heart, thank you for reaching out to us, thank you for being human and not letting the glitter of Hollywood take away who YOU are.

Sean is amazing and though I may never see him again, he helped me put those final pieces of myself together. I have found the final piece of the puzzle of me. I have found my confidence and I have also found a place where I can reach out to others and encourage them in this life. What I went through was the most difficult of anything I've ever done. And there were nights I cried myself to sleep because I was tired and sore and sad for what I had done to myself. And I kept praying that God would show me one day that this was going to be worth it. When I met Sean, God said here ya go! Learn by HIM. Reach out and just be a voice, be a light...shine. So again, thank you Sean, thank you for everything.

Me and Sean Flanery, Wizard World Comic Con, 2013

 

As you can see, Norman Reedus was there over Sean's shoulder, but Sean was still my main event!

 

 

This hangs in my office to remind me to Shine!