Playing catch up

Image: 1000awesomethings.com.

Eek! I've been slacking on my #NHBPM posts! I blame Thanksgiving. I was actually just thinking this morning--is it just me or is Thanksgiving weekend one of the busiest weekends of the year? I always look forward to having this super-relaxing four-day weekend, but then it turns into a marathon visit the family, visit more family, get started on Christmas shopping, eat eat eat, clean house, etc. etc. By the time you're ready to sit down and relax, it's time to go back to work! With that, onward...

National Health Blog Post Month Day 23: Clean out your fridge in written form. What’s in there? How does it reflect your personality?

My fridge is a little empty because I've been gone for the past few days, but perhaps I can still glean a little bit of my personality from what's left:

• Leftovers from Thanksgiving on a plate and in Tupperware (including turkey breast, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and black olives). Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals of the year. Even when I was a vegetarian, I've been known to request "Thanksgiving dinner" on my birthday, which is in August. I also buy canned cranberry sauce year-round and use it to make turkey sandwiches.
• 1% milk
• Brita water filter
• Goat cheese with herbs, shredded cheddar, sliced swiss cheese (I have a weakness for cheese)
• Grape tomatoes, butter lettuce
• Tortillas
• Diet Coke (not mine, this is my boyfriend's. I can't stand diet soda)
• Bottle of champagne (I read somewhere once that you should always keep a bottle of champagne in your fridge in case something happens worth celebrating. I've kept a bottle in there since. Last time I toasted was when I got a raise. Waiting patiently for the next good thing to happen)
• Condiments: whip cream (for pie that I ate), ranch, mustard (yellow & Dijon), balsamic vinaigrette, hot sauce, ketchup, sweet and sour, and Parmesan cheese
• Freezer: frozen veggies, pork chops, ice cream bars

How does this reflect my personality? I love food. Yum. Aside from the cheese and the ice cream, I'm actually a pretty healthy eater. I load up on tons of fresh produce every week and eat a pretty balanced diet.

National Health Blog Post Month Day 24: If I had more than 24 hours in a day…

I love this prompt because I am constantly saying, "I wish there were more hours in the day!" To be honest, I would probably just sleep more. I've been kind of an insomniac since I can remember, but I also get really cranky when I don't get enough sleep. I'm much more productive when I'm well rested (9+ hours), so I'd take some of that time, I try to use it to relax and rejuvenate. I might also try to work out more often. Going to the gym often gets cut out of my schedule when I'm busy with extra things, so it would be nice to have an extra hour or two so that I could go to the gym (or go for a jog) before work in the mornings.

National Health Blog Post Month Day 25: How have your goals as a patient / advocate / person evolved?

I don't know that my goals have evolved as much as my attitude towards them has. When I started this blog, I created the following tagline: "20-something-year-old melanoma survivor learning how to love the skin I was born in." My goal was to educate other young people about the dangers of melanoma, but also to document my own personal struggles with loving my own natural skin color. There were several times in the beginning when I felt like a huge hypocrite. Here I was going off on people on TV who wore too much bronzer, which I was still incredibly uncomfortable in my own skin. I wanted to slather myself in self-tanner, too, but I felt like if I did that, I would be lying to you all. Somehow, over the course of the past eight months, I've actually started to practice what I preach. There are still times I struggle (I'm anticipating difficulties when I go to the Caribbean this winter and I'm the only person using SPF 50 like it's my religion), but overall, I think this blog has probably been more therapeutic than I ever expected it to be.

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This post was inspired by prompts from National Health Blog Post Month.
View posts by other participants.