I spent much of July in two modes -recovery from one or other health issues or a banging work routine. It is obvious which one of the two was my favorite. Yes, the working part was thrilling, but the painful health issues were like a deep soul massage. I hated those moments but they taught me things no good time can ever teach.
July being our first travel month, I also tried many new ways of life. Below is the list of things I tried that I loved, the lessons I learned, and the fears I tackled.
Read the blog I wrote when I was deep in the sick world. I Care About Health When I Am Unwell
THINGS & SERVICES I TRIED
DEXCOM
I am finally on a ‘continuous glucose monitor’.
I had my reservations about going this route. Yet, with us talking about family planning, it is crucial that my blood sugar drops to a healthy range. Dexcom has changed my life and I am saying this only after 1 month of use. I now see how crazy I was with continuous finger pricking to keep myself in range. Now, I have a lot more control over my blood sugar. It has helped me not binge eat as I can see how my blood sugar is at all times.
To be honest, the beepings irritate me a lot when I am sleeping but these are helpful. Like last night, it kept beeping as I was high and I was in deep sleep but Jonathan woke up and told me about it. I took a small shot of insulin and I was fine.
I love this device and the control it gives me. What I don’t like is the monthly cost of having this.
Know more about Dexcom
INSTACART
I have firm beliefs about saving money but I notice that to save a few bucks, I end up costing us a lot of pain and time.
After the first week of living in LA, we noticed that we were spending around 3 hours of our weekend grocery shopping. We were also paying for cab rides at least one of the way. One weekend Jonathan suggested Instacart and since then this has worked perfectly for us.
Yes, it cost an extra fee for delivery and tip but I save myself a lot of back pain, cab rides, and hours from our weekends. And we can always go to stores to pick up small items if we need them. I am not sure if this is how we will shop forever, but till we are in LA where you need a car to go anywhere, we will be sticking to this amazing service.
TRADER JOE’S
One of the things I found entertaining last month was going to different Trader joes. My favorite was the one on the UCLA campus. I know it sounds weird that I loved exploring grocery stores. But hey, I was sick most of the time so had limited energy to do anything fun. And these trips were to get out of the house and at the same time, to stock up on fun healthy things that I can eat with my type 1 diabetes. The few things that
LYFT ( WITH WAIT TIME)
Did you know that if you are willing to wait a bit to board the cab, you can get it at a discounted price? I did not know that as I never used Lyft in New York. I loved this service. Since I am not in hurry here, I choose this option and it saves me a lot of money – honestly.
WHAT I WATCHED
STRANGERS THINGS SEASON 4 ( LAST TWO EPISODES)
If you don’t know, Stranger Things released season 4 except for the last two episodes in June. They were sort of underwhelming. But the last two episodes which came out in July were amazing. We both loved them and I have already seen them 3 times.
MASABA MASABA 2
I did not like the first season but loved this one. I watched this while being ill and feeling completely disheartened in my work life. I was not able to do any work and was feeling let down. This show was a life savor of sorts. There were so many moments in the show which gave me that oomph I needed to keep going for my dreams.
It is a very entertaining and relaxing show.
MUSIC TEACHER
Loved loved loved it. This is the kind of movie I would love to watch with Jonathan but he will never get the feeling I am feeling. This is the only time I wish he knew Hindi and Bollywood as I do. I wish he knew the music of RD Burman and Kishor Kumar. Alas, this has become my romantic abode. It was for me with a cup of tea and a lot of nostalgia. I loved the narration, cinematography, music, and the valleys of Shimla.
I add this into the category of beloved movies like ‘is love enough SIR’.
LESSONS I LEARNED
I am awesome when I am sick. I take care of myself, try and eat healthily and stay positive most of the time but at times, I turn into a big baby. When I am a baby, I need to be fed, given several cups of tea, a foot message and I want to feel like I am loved by the world at large.
July had a lot of those days. We were in a new house in a new city. Jonathan was busy with work so I was alone in the house a lot and I did not feel safe walking around in the area we were living in. So I was cranky a lot. I wept like a child on several occasions saying ‘I want to go home to be with my mom’.
In all this, I started reading the book ‘feeling great’. I have not read the whole book yet hence this is not a review. But I learned how sometimes I have this tunnel vision on the bad feelings of life where I overgeneralize the feeling and project a lot of pain on myself. So this July, I learned to let go of the feeling of abandonment.
It is a big issue to solve and needs constant work and now I know that I am on the right track to solving this for myself.
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