Happy New Year 2020

 

Hello .. Thank-you for reading Choix d’ Vie | Lifestyle choices

January 8th, 2020

7min read- written by Joyce C Wood,chhc

So, what is Choix d’ Vie? (means Lifestyle choices in french.) 

Sit back and enjoy your favorite beverage; I will share my story

My beginning…

To start, my life began pretty uneventful until I reached 6 years of age, which I experienced a major health crisis landing me in the children’s hospital for over a month with an undetermined health diagnosis, which caused my heart to enlarged 2x its normal size.

After numerous painful tests, several doctors were baffled as to what exactly caused this condition; maybe a virus? Inconclusive.
I returned home to continue experiencing health challenges from: bronchitis, strep throat, tonsils that grew back which needed additional surgery to be removed; and continually feeling sick & miserable most of the time.

Around 11 yrs of age one doctor finally diagnosed me with several allergies and emphysema. This was crazy; 11ys of age, with rapidly declining health. I was very old and dying @ 11 yrs of age. He told my mom that I better not smoke… (Which of course I took up around 15-16 yrs of age, more on that later)

After several rounds of antibiotics and constant visits to the doctors resulting in no improvements, I started to feel this condition was going to be my life.

During these young years, I didn’t enjoy my mother’s food; I would pretend to eat it while disposing most of it in the restroom. It wasn’t bad food; I simply didn’t like it. Later, coming to discover that multiple allergies could have been the reason for it.

My dad always tuned into me. He knew I wasn’t eating due to the signs of losing weight and declining health. He would take me to Burger Master treating me to a chocolate malt shake; in his mind, that was the cure-all.

He was my Hero most of the time.

I felt like my battery within was dying and if I could simply recharge it, I would be ok, but How?

It was during this time I found my creative side. I entertained myself with painting, Chinese knot designs, jewelry making, learning to play the cello while enduring a sick and weakened condition .

At 16, my health kept deteriorating coupled now with female issues related to blood loss and chronic anemia. The solutions for that? Doctors recommended: iron pills, the result- constipation and the constant taste of iron in the mouth, with continued anemia.

My current daily cocktails of antibiotics, iron pills and food that I didn’t enjoy was my normal routine; I simply couldn’t follow. Since there were no other solutions at that time, I decided to take recreational drugs to escape my life; this behavior led me to dropout of high school in my junior year, not to mention the cause for destroying my life itself.

(I will share more about addiction in another post.)

At 18, I was introduced to an eastern philosophy that resonated with my life; something I simply felt within. My dad had connected me to pen pals in Japan when I was younger; he loved Asian culture.
He was an airline pilot and loved to explore life!

You know how you feel when you find the perfect thing that simply fits?

This philosophy was exactly what I was yearning without really understanding why. I plugged into the practice and my life began to recharge. That battery within I shared above? was finally being recharged!

Ultimately, I wanted to experience a better life and it was finally happening!

I could have simply made do with what was familiar by trusting my parents- the doctors recommendations or, I could seek and explore  something different; by trusting my own intuition .

This is a favorite quote that has ignited my confidence to choose better and ultimately, led me to awakening into something greater within- rejuvenating that battery- I mentioned above. 

“A great human revolution in just a single individual
will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation
and further, will enable a change in the destiny of all humankind”

By: Dr.Daisaku Ikeda- Ikedaquotes.org

The joyful journey towards finding solutions began from there.

My health started to improve so naturally; it was my spirit that started to feel hopeful at first. I developed hope and courage to challenge my issues with school which I returned to graduate with a near 4.0 and have never stopped learning to date.

I attended a European Skincare school, euroinstituteofskincare.com to work in Esthetics and later, attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, integrativenutrition.com to practice health coaching; continuing, I attended suchavoice.com, as a voice actor to promote life-sustaining ideals see voicesbyjoyce.com. I simply love education!

Through this philosophy my values have elevated; I started appreciating my life more and saying NO to lifestyle habits that seemed to break me down: recreational drugs, smoking, and poor eating habits were the big ones. I started to choose Life-sustaining behavior over my own self-destruction.

However, the choices for solutions – GADS! There’s so many choices with how to stop a bad habit or in making other decisions: education; careers; which doctors, skin care, vitamins… the list goes on. Enough to make one dizzy!

So, relying on my spiritual path while seeking solutions provided the drive to explore many types of options/ therapies; hypnotherapy, chinese acupuncture, herbal medicine, reading about habit breaking. What finally worked, was my overall determination and all the action I was taking…with plenty of choices!

I was determined to experience ideal health.

Decades later, I don’t smoke; I have healthier eating habits;based on what I enjoy rather than forcing myself to eat things simply because they are good for me. I’m not taking any type of drugs; I’m in good health and feel younger in many ways; decades later!

It’s my personal choices that I feel good about! Ultimately, this is what makes the difference. I’m making my own choices. I’m exploring my options and choosing better for me.

Thus, Lifestyle choices means- Choix d’ Vie..(its French).

I chose Choix d’Vie to give honor to my European heritage.

The challenges in life to explore or not; choosing what direction to go into.There are plenty of choices. Especially in this digital time; it can be overwhelming!

Do you want to explore more? I hope through my experiences, research and discoveries, I can inspire you in your journey along the way.

This is my beginning story, there is so much more to share which is another reason- Why I started to blog. Blogging is about sharing. I choose to share healthy victories & what has helped me along the way with you.

I promise not to spam you; I’m simply sharing what has inspired me and has affected my life in a positive way. Take what’s of value to you.

My hope is- To Inspire you to: choose wisely; live wisely..be happy!

Blessings, Joyce

 

PS. Please share your thoughts, reach out to me should you care to share privately.3