I have a new friend going through it. And another friend’s sister who’s gone four rounds and just found out that it didn’t work. Again.

I remember how hard it was. How scared I was:

About how the drugs would affect me. (I heard about this gal who went through it and one morning was fixing herself breakfast and yelled up to her husband: Heh, do you want some toast? – Yeah, that’d be great, he said. Well then make your own f**king toast! ….yeah, so I was freaked about what the drugs would do to me.)

And of course, whether this ultimate intervention would actually work.

One of the things I did to help me cope involved Post-It notes. A friend of mine had pasted them around the house with happy thoughts when she was going through a hard time – and I thought it was brilliant.

So I wrote out a few, something along the lines of: You’re on drugs. Be kind to yourself and Kie (unless of course he’s being a total prat and has it coming!) And lately I’ve been using the simple, yet effective: Breathe.

Along the lines of these encouraging reminders, are self-affirmations: I am beautiful. I can exercise three times a week, etc.

I came across Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong site that talks about these positive thoughts and was really impressed with the detail. About what an impact positive thinking can have on your life.

So…if you decide to post some thoughts around your house, let me know what you come up with. I love a good reminder.

To boost the calorie burn I do something I call ‘mindful walking’.

It involves: tilting my pelvis forward (tucking my tailbone to line up with my belly button) squeezing my glutes as I extend each leg, tightening my tummy, rolling my shoulders back and down and ocassionally thinking positive thoughts like “my body is strong and beautiful.”

I love walking around Portland because it’s so gorgeous and you come across some strange and wonderful sights.

The other day we saw a cartwheeling pumpkin head and a Mona Lisa art door.