How quickly I forget.

It can be a huge blessing that when bad or particularly painful things occur to us; we are able to forget the details that made it so painful or horrible - or at least minimize the trauma to a point of being willing to try that thing again. We have car accidents that can leave us in physical pain, financial pain, or simply just give us a really bad headache trying to get through the insurance paperwork. Yet, this never stops us from getting back behind the wheel of a car and driving again. Loved ones have illnesses that cannot be cured by doctors, but we all go to the doctor for our own illnesses. I have heard that it’s this same concept with women and child birth.

I am having one of those moments (admittedly in an odd way). My friend T and I have started our annual cleanse and all I can think is “if I had known that it was going to be this hard I never would have agreed to do it.” I don’t know if you caught that “annual” part or not … this is something that I have done at least once every year for several years. Yet, here I am wishing it were day 15 and I could eat what I wanted. It is not like I did not know that it was going to be hard, I got that. I just forgot how hard it was! Haha. Food that never usually sounds appetizing to me suddenly pops into my mind as a craving; driving down the road it’s as if every billboard for food is standing taller waiving at me to eat what its advertising. Good grief, I am already planning my first real meal back!

Don’t get me wrong – I love all kinds of fresh fruit and veggies! I just like to supplement them with things like bread, milk, cheese, pasta, eggs, jelly, peanut butter, cookies, lemonade, beans, tortillas, cereal … yummy!

Each year, I sign on and agree not to eat these things for two weeks. I agree to follow the plan, take the herbs and fiber blends, drink the horrible nutrition shake, get all my water in and eat only fresh fruits and vegetables raw (or lightly steamed) and each year I am surprised at how hard this really is for me! At the end of my two weeks I am never disappointed in how much better I feel and my mind begins to associate the cleanse with health and energy and not the restrictive food regime.

As I sit here eating a green bell pepper like it was an apple, I am thankful for my minds ability to get over and move forward from the hard, painful and sometimes annoying experiences in life.