The Buck Stops Here: Getting My Health Back

Bees, I've been slacking on posting -- but for good reason of course! I've been working hard at my new job and really adjusting the norms and minor stress of being on full-time staff. I love it though, it's definitely better than interning. Haha.

Anyway, I've been going through a few things, privately of course. But after reading a post that my bestie wrote (if you haven't read "Handcuffed to God", check it out here) I decided it would do me some good emotionally to share what's been going on.

As most of you know, I was in a major car accident a few months ago where my car was totaled and I walked away without a scratch, but I did begin to notice consistent muscle spasms going on in my back and shoulders. I was treated for it, but the pain continued to come back. So, I made the usual appointment to the doctor. Little did I know that reality was getting ready to smack me in the face. The nurse checked my vitals and took my blood pressure and immediately looked concerned. My blood pressure was very high, in fact too high for a 23-year-old. She said "it could stand to come down" and that I should keep monitoring it. When she left, I took it upon myself to look at my electronic records and I noticed a spike in my blood pressure from the summer up until now and I was pissed no one had mentioned it or brought it up. So of course I tell my doctor and I'm like look what's the deal with my blood pressure? Is it these birth control pills I'm taking, etc.

She literally shot back at me and said, "your blood pressure has always been a bit high, but we're reluctant to put you on medication because you're so young." OH. MY. GOODNESS. Blood pressure medication? A piece of me died. And she looked at me and said, "honestly, between me and you, if you don't lose the weight, you're gonna die earlier than you should." I really just sat there. After that visit I found out (after doing some blood work) I was anemic, iron (I knew about this already) AND vitamin D deficient and I would be on prescription vitamin D for the rest of my life.

Thanks to Google, I found out I've been walking around for awhile with Prehypertension. And actually, my BP readings have dipped into hypertension levels (140/100). In other words, at age 23, I'm already having blood pressure issues, which means I'm already at risk for MAJOR heart problems. My dad had blood pressure issues and he's been able to get his weight down and his blood pressure down to normal!

He almost died a little over two years ago. The doctor told him like was going to have a heart attack very soon if he didn't change his lifestyle and my dad didn't even know that was happening to him. My dad didn't tell me anything until 2 years later. Now...2 years ago I was in college...and everyone that knows me personally knows how close and quite frankly how dependent I am on my dad. My mom left when I was about 13 and I don't have a close relationship with my sister who also left a few years ago. If he passed away then...honestly I don't think I would alive today writing this post. I wish I was kidding...but I'm not.

My dad is 59. And I'm 23. Now, I am facing the same issues as he did. It's scary...BUT if you don't like something...you got it --- work to change it.

So after all that happened, I enrolled at Gold's Gym. And when I told the trainers my story, I fought back the tears because I don't like crying in front of people I don't know and honestly I didn't want it to lead to self-pity, "look at you now, not only are you fat but you did this to yourself". Um no, I'm sorry, I don't want people to feel sorry that this is happening to me just like I don't want people to feel sorry for me that I don't have a relationship with my biological mother and sister. It is what it is and it's made me the young lady that I am today. One's true character always shines in the moment of adversity and I've had a hell of a lot of it. And quite honestly, even though it took me a long time,  I love myself as I am. I'm not walking around calling myself fat or ugly or running around trying to bleach my skin because I'm dark-skinned. I don't care about that stuff anymore, because everyone---EVERYONE has insecurities. And I'll be damned if I'm wasting my life sulking about stuff that I can't change when I can focus on the things I do have control over.

My dad is proud that I want to make the change for myself. One, I really don't like asking for help. Two, it's difficult to go into a gym and admit to yourself that you have an addiction to unhealthy food. Yes, I have an addiction. Three, it's even more difficult to admit to yourself that if you don't change your life you're going to die sooner rather than later. Four, when the people at a gym are extremely worried about your health...to the point where they continue to stare at your blood pressure numbers...yea, its about time to get that life together.

I wasn't the same person after that doctor's appointment. I sat in the car and said to myself. The buck stops here. I'm not going to continue to kill myself. I'm sorry, there are things to be accomplished and my mission is far from complete. So now I go to the gym at least four times a week for about 1 hr to an 1hr and 30 mins and I do cardio and I lift weights now right next to guys who look at me like damn this chick is serious. I don't eat out anymore, I make my own food and I have salad at least 3 times a week. I drink water constantly (I do have those Crystal Light packets and I do allow myself one juice or soda a week), and I take vitamins daily now. My personal training sessions begin tomorrow and yes, this investment in my health is gonna cost me $500 for all 20 sessions ALONE (not including the $30 for gym membership). But you know what, this is my life we're talking about. Cost is a non factor in this case.

I didn't like what I heard...so now I'm changing it. And I already see results. Don't just talk the talk, be about something. What ever it is. Period.

MB

Ladies: We Need to Have Confidence in Ourselves

Chelsea Settles on MTV

I generally don't write posts directed at one particular group but, I felt the need to do this after hearing something on the radio and watching Chelsea Settles on MTV.

Ladies, we need to have confidence in ourselves. It's as simple as that. There are too many capable, beautiful, intelligent young women running around agonizing about the acne on their face, their weight, their makeup, their shoes, whether they're good enough for their man or for a man at all and even whether they are good enough for God.

Listen to me when I say it all starts with us. We have to love ourselves as we are. If there's something you don't like and you can change it, then CHANGE IT. And if there's something you can't change, ACCEPT IT. Strive towards your goals, don't just sit there mopping around being negative, thinking no one likes or loves you and that your worthless. We have to be better than that.

No one will love, have confidence in or appreciate someone who can't love, appreciate or have confidence in themselves. It's not cute and most importantly it will just continue to damage your personal worth and self-esteem. So cut it out!

Plus-Sized Salon in England

The reason why I'm even writing all this is because in England, many plus-sized women feel intimidated to get their hair done in salons because they feel like all the skinny people are looking at them with disgust. They hate all the mirrors and apparently it's just a overall horrifying experience. The only thing I thought was valid was the fact that sometimes the chairs and sinks were too small for the women.

WHATTTTTTTT?! Hold up!

Yes, let me repeat it again, ladies dread getting their hair done because of underlying insecurities. I don't know about you but when I go to my hairdresser to get my hair done, everyone regardless of size gets out of the chair feeling like a BADDDDDDDDDD *****. Period. Why? Because, you just got your hair done and you can care less what people think. I can imagine things are harder over there considering that the average size in America for a woman is a 14/16. In England, I believe it is much smaller. But, I don't think segregation between skinny and plus-sized people is the answer to anything.

Plus-Sized collection at 2010 NY Fashion Week

Skinny people and plus-sized people are not going to go away. Everyone needs to deal with they way they are or work to change/accept it. It's as simple as that. Retailers, designers, etc need to be more accommodating of everyone. And we need to love ourselves to we can work to change the industries we consume from. The sooner we begin to love ourselves, the sooner everyone else will change their attitude and begin to love us too.

We also have to be honest with ourselves, not everyone is gonna like us, or like how we look, dress, etc. AND WHO CARES?! Do you honey. You will rarely see me in heels, but regardless of what type of shoe I have on I always feel like a BADDDDDDD *****. And when I do wear heels, I still feel like the same BADDDDDD ***** that had flats on. Don't do things for other people. Do them for YOURSELF.

That girl Chelsea Settles had to figure that out on her own. I couldn't believe she was like "what if I don't lose weight? Who will love me if I leave for LA?" EXCUSE ME?! With an attitude like that, no man will be knocking down that door. I'm sorry. Don't make decisions based on other people, make decisions for you. I'm glad she made the decision to follow her heart and move to LA to pursue her dream in fashion. Now, will it be a long road for her? Yes, because the fashion industry is obsessed with size 0-4. BUT, if she's good at what she does and works on herself, she'll find her place in the industry.

In the end, ladies, love yourselves. Be confident. Do you. The rest will follow.

MB

Interactive Marketing is EVERYWHERE

I just finished taking my first class at Georgetown and I have to admit it was pretty amazing. I didn't know what to expect in my interactive marketing class because I wasn't sure what "interactive marketing" really was. Come to find out, not only does my work in social media fall into the category of interactive marketing, but it something that touches all of our lives on a daily basis.

The internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, how businesses reach out to each other and consumers. These days anyone can be an information news source and making plans over social media outlets is the norm. I've heard of concepts like pay per click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media, mobility, email etc. But I never understood how many of those concepts fell into the grand scheme of communicating a message to a particular audience.

The biggest thing I learned from my interactive marketing class is that research is pivotal to the success of an interactive marketing campaign. Understanding why your audience wants a particular good or service is one thing, but understanding how they search and locate the information they need is vital.

Keywords and terms can make or break a companies ability to market themselves. Even today, Facebook and timelines.com are going head to head because timelines.com is scared that the "Facebook timeline" will destroy their business. In the past, I would look at a story like that and just say why all the fuss? But it's a major deal when you understand the power of search terms and words associated with a brand. If Facebook does succeed with the usage of the world "timeline" it will have a significant impact on the timelines.com brand. It will affect search results, social media metrics and even their ability to reach consumers.

In the field of work that I do within the nonprofit sector, I believe it would be good to use a lot of the email concepts I learned in class like understanding how people respond to the from and subject lines. I do it all the time, I ignore unfamiliar emails, frequently deleting emails that I signed up for because they end up sending an excessive amount of irrelevant emails otherwise known to many of us as spam.

Nonprofits do a lot of email marketing not only to share information, but to fundraise, encourage a call to action, e-commerce, etc. Social media is also a great tool in the nonprofit sector. Understanding how to cultivate and sustain an audience on the web is crucial. What you do on Facebook does not easily translate on twitter considering there is a 140 character limit.

Overall I'm glad I took this class, it broadened my perspective as a communications professional and now I know that a lot of my work involves interactive marketing. Whether you like it or not, interactive marketing is everywhere and considering that budgets for digital communications are increases across all sectors it's safe to say that it's here to stay.

MB