Change Is Inevitable

This time, I had to get on board.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

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Once upon a time, a girl lived her life day by day. She minded her own business and did things she thought were good for her body and soul.

Unfortunately, on March 31, 2024, her body revolted, and she ended up in the ER with a perforated colon that ultimately could have killed her.

To say this was a surprise is an understatement.

That girl I mentioned was me – the old me. That day in the ER was a big wake-up call; one that will last for the rest of my life.

We will be forced to change even if we don’t want to.

When the on-call surgeon came into the ER room and announced that I needed emergency surgery, I think I was in a state of shock. I wasn’t sure what that meant.

He started to explain:

• He would have to go in and cut out the infected part of the sigmoid colon.

• He would check for any other issues in the colon.

• He would place a colostomy so that my bowel could rest.

• The colostomy was most likely temporary because I was young, but that can’t be determined for a few months.

• My life would change, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t handle.

I didn’t realize that all his words sunk into my brain until I was out of surgery. As soon as I was aware enough, the first thing I wanted to do was flip off the bed covers to inspect my belly.

Sure enough, there it was. A colostomy appliance protruded on the left side of my belly, and there was a huge, top-to-bottom abdominal incision that was packed with a wound vac.

Now what?

I didn’t cry – that came later – but I sat there and realized that my life was now changed forever.

Until then, I didn’t think I had ever had to adjust to a life-altering change. Not like this. Not one that, had I not gone to the ER that day, would have killed me. This was what I called the “big league of change.”

In an instant, everything about how I would manage my health had to change, yet I had no idea how.

Image of a woman meditating in front of a sunset. The image has a quote from Marilyn Monroe on it that reads: “Sometimes good things fall apart so better things could fall together.”

Why do we wait too long to make a change?

I recently started to ask myself questions about change. Are humans always afraid of change? Why does it take us so long to make a change that will ultimately help us? Can change be easy?

I won’t answer all those questions in this article; however, in the coming issues, I will explore those and others as I discover what change is, how and why we change, and what we can do to make change in our lives easier and more rewarding.

For now, let me say this.

After five surgeries and eight months and nine days with a colostomy bag attached to me, I am now healed from the ordeal and recovery nicely. I have a hernia repair in the near future, but that is for another day.

Since that Easter Sunday in 2024, I have made a commitment to myself to change how I take care of myself. It includes what I eat, how I move my body, how much rest I get, and how I reduce stress.

Those can be significant changes for some of us and I’d like to share my experience and hopefully guide you, my lovely readers, through a change process that can make your life changes easier and worth pursuing.

In the meantime, what significant changes have you been forced to deal with? Share in the comments or write a journal entry (or both) to see if you can discover your feelings about the change and how you reacted to it.

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