A little over a year ago I was sitting at the doctor’s office asking them to run a blood panel to confirm that I was not pregnant. For the first time in my life my period was over 2 months late, and although all of the urine tests came back with negative results, I did not want to risk the potential it could be a false negative. Thankfully the blood panel confirmed I was not pregnant. However, with that confirmation it meant that there was something else going on with my body that I needed to investigate.

In December of 2022, six months prior to my missed period, my mother had passed away from a seven year battle with breast cancer. A couple of months following that my grandma had a fall, which resulted in her breaking her neck, thus leading to a long road of recovery. My family was going through a tough battle in life as we navigated these pivotal moments. It would make sense that all of that stress would affect my body in a way I had never experienced. Missing my period was the signal my body needed to give me to make a change.

After I did my annual exam I had my baseline. The first thing I decided to work on was prioritizing exercising. One week in July I had a day off of work and decided to take that opportunity to try out an Orange Theory Fitness class that my friend had been asking me to join. Upon showing up it became apparent to me that this was exactly what I needed. I have a fitness background, along with my personal trainer certification, but with all of the mentally exhausting things in my life I needed something that was going to allow me to show up without having to plan or think.

As time went on, working out consistently began to improve my life in other areas. The back pain I had been feeling for two years started to diminish, my sleep began to improve, I was able to show up more sexually with my partner, and my period began to regulate itself back to its normal timeline. On top of all of that, I began to seek out other areas to improve my health. In October of 2023 my dermatologist decided to switch my topical medication, which resulted in my acne getting substantially worse. Upon her seeing this she asked, “why did we change your medication?”

I replied, “I don’t know. I thought my acne was doing great, but you decided to change it.”

She followed up with, “was it because the old medication was too expensive?”

I responded, “no, it was $5.”

From there she wanted to put me on a medication in pill form that would create changes in my period. Having already experienced changes to my period in the previous months I made the decision to give my body a break from all medication and work on healing my acne through natural methods. I began to attend red light sauna sessions post working out, and bought oils for my face and hair. I am beginning to see improvements in my skin, as well as growth and health added back to my hair.

There are many things I plan on continuing to improve. Through and through this journey is about taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and building an overall lifestyle that is sustainable and filled with continuous growth. My body is here to be alive and thrive, and I want her to do so for years to come!