When I had the surgery, I wanted to blog about my experiences for a few reasons. 1) I wanted to be able to look back and see how far I had come. It's very easy to forget where you started when things were good and I wanted to make sure that I always stayed humbled and remembered the struggles that led to where I was to be in the future. 2) I wanted to maybe one day inspire others or help them with their journey by providing insight into my experiences to remind them they are not alone and it does get better.
By year 2, I felt amazing and was on top of the world. I was meeting people online in the Bariatric communities and found myself helping people on a daily basis. People said I could inspire many with my story and I would joke that I should write a book. Over the years I would make comments about it and then finally in June of this year, my husband said "Stop talking about it and just do it already." It started to get me thinking. These past few years have been mentally draining with stresses from family, finances and life. I was finally in a place where things were calming down and figured why not now? Why not write a book? Or at least sit at the computer and see what happens. Maybe I will start writing and it won't go anywhere but I will not know unless I tried.
So I decided to sit at the computer and make some notes on what I would want to include. In my head I had ideas on what stories I wanted in there but how do you start that first sentence? That first sentence has to capture them. It has to want them to continue reading. It's the very first impression you will make and sets the tone for the entire book. I have never written a book before, am I in over my head? I started at a blank screen for a while. I decided to put on some trance music and see if it would help me zone out and write.
I put the music on, placed my fingers on the keyboard and a minute later the first sentence was written. And then the second. And then it was a paragraph. And then a whole page...
It just started pouring out of me like nothing I had ever experienced. The thoughts were rushing from my head through my fingertips and on to that computer almost faster than I could comprehend them. I typed for hours and hours until my fingers were hurting and forced myself to take a break.
For 5 days I wrote non stop from the time I woke up til I got home from work. By day 4, my wrists were hurting so bad that I had to wear an ace bandage because I didn't want to lose momentum. On the 5th day, the book was done!
3 months later, it was edited, book cover done and published on 9/12/19, 1 week before my 5 year Surgiversary!
I still can't believe that it happened so fast but when the time was right, it happened. I have already been getting a great response from people and books are selling daily.
This is my calling right now. To help people with their journey. To inspire change in people. To encourage them that it's never too late to start a new journey.
We can't change yesterday but we can sure as hell change how tomorrow will look.
Whatever your challenges are, they are temporary and your mindset can always be changed for the better.
We are all slayers on the inside and the hardest part is making the decision that you want to slay and do something about it.
Slay Away!
