My Flat Tire

A couple of posts ago I told you about how I discovered that I had a flat tire, after starting to read a book containing cancer survivor stories. That book gave me a lot of insights into my own life and made me realize that there are things that I need to change about my lifestyle.
Let me explain about my flat tire.

In the center of the tire is the rim. It is made of steel and gives strength and support to the tire. That rim is like my spirit. It makes up the core of who I am, it contains my beliefs and my value system. In me that is strong. I am a good person, not a perfect person but a good person. I have my imperfections which I need to work on and correct but I am trying to be a better person and Heavenly Father knows that.

On the outside of the rim is the tire. It protects the rim from damage, as long as it is well maintained. It needs to be rotated and balanced periodically so that it doesn't go out of round and it also needs to have the proper alignment to keep it from wearing out in different places. My body is like that tire. When I was reading about what helped the cancer patients survive, I recognized that there were things in my life that were missing.

I grew up in a large family and we were taught to work. I got my first job when I was 9. It was helping the landlord with his sheep. I did the running in the hills to retrieve the lambs and ewes during lambing season and helped with the feeding, watering and sheering of the sheep.When I wasn't helping there we were in the bean, berry fields and the fruit orchards during the summer or helping around home. So I learned to have a strong work ethic. Life was never intended to be all work. It is to be rotated with rest and leisure activities. Even my leisure activities of gardening ect. have work involved with them. I need to give my body a rest, when I am tired out I need to rest instead of staying on my feet to keep awake.I tend to push myself to get as much work done as possible in a days time and by night time I am exhausted. I need to stop that and take time to rest during the day. I need to treat myself once in a while too. Maybe it is a day off with friends or family to just go and have some fun and enjoyment but that is a part that I have been lacking in as well. It is wholesome recreation to help my body and mind to restore and balance itself. The next thing I need to work on is eliminating bad foods from my diet. For the most part I have a very good diet but after getting diagnosed with cancer and wanting to know what or where i went wrong to allow this to take over I discovered that there were things I need to correct. I love to bake and do canning but I discovered, through study that white, refined sugars and flours actually feed cancer cells. I have discovered that the more a food is processed the greater harm it does to the body. So my cooking and eating habits have to change. I have already started that process. This cancer is a time out and a wake up call for me.
My life is out of balance and I need to be kinder to my body and in the long run to my spirit.