Proactive!!

Proactive!!

There are a lot of things, (politically,) that I get really frustrated about. Mostly because I feel like I can't do anything to change it. It's a lie I have believed for quite a while now.

I want to change things. I want to light the world on fire with the same passion I have. I want to tell people. "Do what's right!" "Quit being rude, and selfish." "Quit having a pity party and do something about your problems!" "Stop being silent and stand up for what you believe in!!"

Those last two I have to remind myself of every now then.

But how do you, "Become the change you want to be"?

I think I might know... maybe. For me anyway.

I'll be the first person to stand up for a child who is being abused. I know what it is to be a kid who is afraid of someone bigger and stronger than you. I know what it's like to have nightmares because that person could "come and get you."

I'll also be the first person to stand up and say, "Abortion is wrong." They are babies after all.

Morally, no matter what way I look at it it's wrong and I've heard it all. And I understand, if anyone had a good reason to have an abortion it would be a woman who was raped, or some other type of situation like rape.

If there was a reason. If.

The fact of the matter is it's still wrong. I am not being mean when I say this I'm stating a fact. I don't want to hurt would be mothers. I don't want to make anyone feel guilty because if you have had an abortion, chances are you feel awful. I want to help and I'm not a 100% sure how to help but I'm hoping to receive training on it n October.

I'm hoping to help the women at Birth Choice to help women who have had an unplanned pregnancy's and aren't sure they know all of their options. I want to help women who have had abortions recover from the experience. I want to show people that "she" doesn't have to plan a baby to have one, that God can supply all of their needs and God can forgive her and she can forgive herself because all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me/you/all of us.

Suffer the little children to me - Jesus Christ

Pain Vs Prayer

I am a firm believer that, you can't control your quality of life. At least not entirely. An example being, I struggle with fatigue. I may even have chronic fatigue syndrome or fybromaliaga. I'm always drinking coffee and energy drinks to help me keep up with life, work and my own goals. No matter what I do I wake up in pain and my back is always sore, just some days it's worse than others. No matter what I do or how much sleep I got I am always drowsy between 1 and 4 pm.

The worse part about this... I'm twenty-four. I've been this way since I was a teenager, so I've learned how to deal with the pain and fatigue. I don't take aspirin/white willow unless I have to. Which, thankfully, is about as often as most people my age.  

The good thing is I have a high tolerance for pain. I can usually tune out my pain and just focus on what needs to be done. Also, being an herbalist who works at a supplement store helps too since I get a discount on the things that I need.

But the point of this particular blog isn't to whine or gripe, but to share.

You see, since I was a child I was taught that prayer is very powerful. I know that God hears my requests because I've never had to call in sick because of these chronic aches and pains. I have, so far, been given the forceful endurance to push my way through even the worst headaches and backaches. I can tell you all now that I am not Juggernaut. When it comes to pain I feel it even when I push it to the back of my mind.

It is God and God alone who gifts me with my endurance. I know because the moment I take my heart away from Him the pain takes over my life again.

Life is painful. Different kinds of pain for some but it is still a struggle we all must endure. Some days it is a struggle to roll out of bed but with God I have assurance that my life has a purpose  and meaning. That my aches and pains are a test and the endurance I have been given is a gift to help me in my struggles.

God also gave me a loving husband who warns me when I have taken on too much. He reminds me to take my days off and rest. He points out my anxiety when I have it confused with stress or excitement. He comforts me when feel overwhelmed with life.

God has also given me wonderful friends who each have something to teach me. These friends look out for me whenever they can and I can't begin to thank them enough.  

All of these gifts are the result of prayer. You can try to take your quality of life into your own hands. In my case that would mean taking aspirin everyday along with a handful of other pills to go alone with my multivitamin, fish oil, evening primrose oil, and Vitex. Doing this would probably result in having a terrible liver by the time that I'm 30 or 35.

Or I can ask Him who I have never seen to heal me. I can cry out to the God of all ages to ease my suffering enough to do His will. It sounds insane but you should try it sometime. God's presence is always there. You just have to remember, he didn't promise to make your life perfect, but to make it bearable. He said, "My yoke is light." Not, that he would take it completely away. He didn't come to end all suffering just to make our suffering have purpose and meaning. To make it bearable. To give us hope. To give us Salvation through something as simple as faith.    

Headaches...

Dear Headache,

I could deal with you when you were just a dull ache in my temple, that only slowed me down a bit. I could even deal with you when you made me down four cups of coffee, and made my slur my words a little bit because I was trying so hard to keep up with the rest of the world.

But now, you are making me regret eating my favorite store bought pizza, I kept having to go back and corrrect type-os, and the dull little ache that you were is now a hammering throb. I can't even enjoy a good episode of "Bleach" because the noise sounds too loud and the lights too bright and now my stomach feel iffy. Despite taking 800 milligrams of white willow bark almost three hours ago.

I am not ok with this. Please go away. Now. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sally-Kate

P.S. Due to childhood trauma and the threat of even a mild bout of PTSD I refuse to admit defeat to a stupid migraine. In fact I refuse to admit that I have one. So Ha! Take that!

Blogging for my Brain Leakage

   Every time I go to write an article I read the first half of it and think, "This more bloggish than article-ish. Maybe I should start a blog?"

   So here I am!

   Drinking my second cup of coffee, in my PJ's at ten in the morning when I should be getting paid to write.

   Oh well! We people who write have to splurge every now and then so this is my splurge for this week. I am starting a blog people! Do you hear me!!

   Okay, no really. Why is it when I think about getting paid to write I do good for about a week....

   Then I take a break and can't write a darn thing and then about a week then, another week later my brain feels like it's going to spontaneously combust at any moment while that book #1 and book#2 (books that I have written or am writing) are screaming at me from their shelves where I have lovingly placed them in their own binders that took my hours to put together and find all of the doodlings I have doodled while writing them so that I can decorate said binders.
   
   Book #1 sounds something like; "You need to COMPLETELY rewrite my first 15 chapters before you can even think about publishing me! Why won't you do it now?!"

   While Book #2 sounds more like, "Will you hurry up and finish me! Why must you cry every time you start typing me! Put on your big girl panties and get back to work!! There's no crying in baseball!!! Space ball? This is a sci-fi after all."

   All of this is going on while I'm thinking, "Oh! I still need to clean the apartment and run my errands and write some articles and go to work and do reading on how to prevent radiation poisoning because apparently everyone in West Tennessee is going to experience Japan's radiation all the way from the Fukushima nuclear plant which I'm guessing is about 16,000 miles away. Oh and did I feed the cat this morning? I can't remember..."


((SIGH))

  Just be glad you don't live in my head. It's a lot going on, All. The. Time.

   And people wonder why I'm so high strung. ((twitch))

   Okay no REALLY, back to the Fukushima nuclear plant! I want to run with this thought for a minute.

   So I work at a Vitamin Shoppe, and this lady walks into my store when I'm the manager on duty one night. She asks my and my associate where the kelp is and so I jump up to show her where the green foods section is. 

   Then the lady sighs in relief and says, "Oh good! You have it! No one else in this town has Kelp. I need enough for my whole family I have three kids and husband how much do you think we'll need?"

   My eyes widen because, as an herbalist, I happen to know that kelp can be used to treat mild to moderate thyroid problems and I can't imagine an entire family of five having thyroid problems severe enough to warrant using kelp. Because if you take the dosage of kelp this lady was talking about you can also get sick from too much iodine which can mess with your thyroid making you feel terrible! And I do mean T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E.

   So I ask the lady who I had never seen in my store before, "Ma'am, may I ask what you're using all of this kelp for?"

   That was when she looked at me as though I had just grown a second and third head right infront of her. "Don't you watch the news?" she asked.
  
   I shrugged since I hardly ever watch the news. In fact the last time I watched the news I ended up crying because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and I couldn't contact any of my friends living in Japan.
  
   Then the woman raised a brow through her sunglasses and asked me, "So you don't know what's going on in Japan?"

   I nodded. Of I knew what was happening in Japan! I have several friends who live in Japan, and I have a fascination for Anime, Manga, Visual Kei, and other Japanese Pop Culture. But I was confused about what this poor lady was talking about.

   I knew about the earthquake and that they were having issues with at least one of their nuclear plants, but I didn't understand why this woman, who lives in West Tennessee needed kelp for her entire family and what that had to do with Japan. Perhaps she thought buying Kelp would support Japan?
 
   ((shrugs))

   That's when she began telling me about to possibility of the Japanese nuclear plant's radiation coming all the way to the United States. And she's not the only one who feels this way because since then I get no less that a phone call a day asking about potassium iodide and kelp.

   While the chances of this happening are slim it can't hurt to be prepared. Even if you do live roughly 16,000 miles away and said radiation would have to cross The Pacific, The Rockies, and the expanse of the plains before making it to my home town in West Tennessee. (Sorry if sarcasm was just launched at you from your monitor to smack you on your face like unwanted space goo.)  

   While I keep  a small bottle of kelp on hand just encase I also keep a stash of military rations and canned goods and jugs of water and a few weeks worth of V8, a bottle of hot sauce, (You always have to be prepared for anything dude,) and a couple of gas masks around too. Just encase. You know.

   Of course I'm also that weirdo that lives in a bunker underneath one of the Smokey Mountains with a beard growing down to my knees. (Which is really REALLY hard to do when you're female!)

   Okay no seriously.

   Having a bottle of kelp on hand in a good idea. I actually do keep one around. Just encase the worst case scenario does happen. If you want to take some reasonable steps towards preventing radiation then make sure you also have some Calcium and Magnesium on hand too.

   It's also a good idea to keep an emergency stash in a closet. I try to keep a gallon or two of water, some canned soups, and a battery radio with extra batteries on hand in the event of bad weather. We're been known to have some nasty tornadoes to come through here a time or two and there's nothing like enduring a bad storm without a radio, and a few good gas masks.

   ((snark))

   Sorry I'll go now before my microwave exposes all of West Tennessee of unwanted nuclear energy. I wonder what would happen if I blew it up..... 0.o