This vacation has been a whirlwind of travel and exploration.  I’ve spent time in Center City Philadelphia, the Philadephia suburbs, New York City as well as parts of Maryland.  

This has been the most enjoyable and comfort zone expanding experiences I’ve had in some time.  I’ve had much needed time to myself as well as time with friends and time with family.  I’ve come to learn the value of  setting aside time to nurture all three of these aspects of my life.

I will say the most unsettling but perhaps life changing aspects of this trip happened on Saturday, April 20th when i woke up ready to explore my friend Deb’s neighborhood before returning to Philly.  I awakened on Deb’s fold out sofa to hear Deb sitting on her bed on the other side of the room.

In her most reassuring and calming voice she said, I am pretty certain you have an extreme case of sleep apnea. She said I made sounds like I was not breathing for extended periods of time and then gasped for breath as if my life depended upon it.  

If I’m being honest, my sister Lady D and her boyfriend Jazzy J have both mentioned I might have sleep apnea but I brushed them off and tried to pretend like they were overexaggerating the situation.

It was the overly calm way Deb told me her thoughts with the added comment that she worried I was  not going to restart my breathing one day gave me a serious wake up call.    

The fact of the matter is, I have been unable to think of much else since that conversation because I realized how I have often felt for the last year as if no matter how much sleep I got I never felt rested.

Was this news I wanted to hear? No. But I am amazingly grateful for Deb, Lady D and Jazzy J for pointing this out to me in such a way that was loving but required me to take action. 

Since returning to Philly, of course, jet lag has hit in along with a cold from getting caught in the rain in Center City. The result has been many nights waking up, talking in my dreams and gasping for air, reminding me of the need to face this sleep apnea issue head on.

Plain and simple, I plan on returning to Los Angeles with the single-minded focus to lose as much weight as possible from now until July 4th when hopefully, I am able to be with family for our annual BBQ at Annie’s place.  I need to research all of the natural approaches to sleep apnea before I bind myself to a lifetime of using a c-pap machine in order to breathe while sleeping.

By hook or by crook, my goal is to get to my goal weight of 175 lbs or as close as possible.  I truly believe my hair loss, type two diabetes and sleep apnea are related.

I think this vacation marks a turning point for me. I am writing about living my best life and steppng out of my cofort zone. However, the first step has to be to get into optimum health. It will be a journey, true, but it will only be step one in my living my best life. 

I know this article is relatively short but I am in need of rest. I want to enjoy the last few days of my vacation with my family as the success of this blog will determine my ability to travel back regularly. I want to make the most of this time. Monday, I will start tackling this sleep apnea in earnest and hopefully come up with a game plan to seriously lose the weight to get me to 175 lbs.

I will be sharing everything I learn. The successes and failures will be included.  I have way too much living to do to allow this excess weight I am carrying to have such  an unhealthy impact on my life.  This may mean  dramatically altering my relationship with eating and exercise.  Stay tuned. I hope what I learn will help others in the same boat as I am.

Talk to you again on Tuesday. For now, I am enjoying the rest of my vacation!