I have gone silent for several weeks/months because I have had other priorities. This post made me post again - without question lifestyle choices will forever influence our challenges. This is not up for debate as much as it is a fact. Twenty years ago I was Dx with breast cancer and this became real to me. We are the result of what we expose our bodies to - eat, inhale, inject, absorb, etc. Emotional health is known to be reflected in our immune system. What is in the air we breath is reflected in the reactions our body has, simple case is seasonal allergies. Our bodies are a series of very complex subsystems that need certain things and are challenged by other things.

When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago I went on an all-out search for lifestyle changes I could make to reduce my chances of a recurrence. I discovered that food additives were biggies as were non-GMO, but so were environmental chemical both inside buildings and in the open air. I decided that if I wanted to maximize my lifestyle changes, I was going to need to move to an uninhibited isolated island and learn to live so far off the grid it was laughable.

Every decision we make to any form of bodily abuse will incur consequences. Over exercise is abuse but so is under exercise. Same can be said for eating, sleeping, and even life experiences. Living is a tradeoff of cost, benefits and risks. I refer to this as looking for the Goldilocks zone. I learned this at 50ish. Balance is key with keeping both long- and short-term goals in mind. No one promised us simple.

My PMR journey has been 6 years and I am still struggling to find the magic bullet to quell my "PMR" pains. I divide my life into two categories, pre-PMR and post-PMR because PMR has been that dramatic of a life changing challenge for sure.