Five years after being diagnosed with fructose malabsorption, I don’t think it about it on a nearly hourly basis. I really don’t think about it too often in general anymore, we read labels all the time, but I don’t actively think of myself as having a disease or condition anymore. Especially when I’m not sick very often I forget there are consequences. I was diagnosed when the research was still so very new and given almost no information. I try to keep up with information when I think about it (usually after a round of being sick). Lately I’ve had a few more health problems and went to the doctor, I turned out to be B-12 deficient. This is the direct result of my malabsorption and it felt like a big reminder that just because I’m not sick doesn’t mean I’m healthy. It sucks to have to take extra vitamins. I eat a wide variety of healthy foods and theoretically I shouldn’t need them. But, because of the malabsorption I take a multivitamin and iron and now have to add B-12. It is sometimes very frustrating. Also, the newest research indicates that I should be avoiding wheat (just wheat not gluten) and that makes me sad.
I borrowed from Rachel Wilkerson’s idea that a verb is better than a resolution. I chose practice, because most of what I want to accomplish will require a lot of practice on my part. I’ll use practice as a mantra, especially when I’m struggling with practicing the tasks that will lead to my goals.
I wanted more specific goals to work towards, so after I did some mind-mapping of areas I wanted to improve, I chose a few SMART goals for some different categories.
Here are my 2012 goals:
Organization: Have the house always be ready for visitors at any time.
Swedish: Attain conversational speaking ability
Money: Save a specific amount per month.
Friends: Make 6 new good friends
Health: Weigh < 130lb (59kg), Body Fat % < 25% and no anemia or major stomach incidents.
Based on what I’ve read from Willpower and the Happiness Project, I’ll be tackling only a few new activities each month. Changing my habits slowly should lead to longer lasting change.
For January, I’ll be adding these tasks:
Exercise/Move 45 min/day
Record Food daily
Record expenses weekly
Wash dishes after each meal
Watch 1 hr Swedish tv/day
And my reward will be a new robe at the end of January.
I just perused several different lists of “great” books you should read that were between 30-50 books long. They all covered fiction and non-fiction books and of the approximately 50+ books on these lists, I counted 5 women authors. Apparently it is more important I read Lolita than Their Eyes Were Watching God or Little Women or Harry Potter or the Hunger Games. Ugh
And not a single one listed the Vagina Monologues
