Take Charge and Make Changes

[MUSIC PLAYING] You do what you can to change today. Today I'm going to make a difference in my own life. Today I'm going to choose healthier choices. Today I'm going to take care of me. Seeing my mom laying in a hospital bed, I was shocked. I was really taken aback, just watching her there, just laying there hopeless. I said, you know, that could be me in 20 years. And I said, I can do this. I really had to appreciate myself and take the time for myself. I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother. And I always put me at the bottom of the totem pole. At this point I was like, I'm doing this for me because I'm worth it. I want to be around to watch my grandchildren grow up. I do. I want to grow old with my husband. I thought actually, healthy lifestyle is like, getting lettuce and tomato on your burger. That's vegetables, right? But there was more to it. There was other vegetables. I really believe my whole family is eating a lot healthier now. Exercising, which is a word I didn't like, I learned to love. And exercise is a lot of fun stuff. Once a week, start moving, doing something, maybe a small walk. And then I slowly but surely built up and went to two days, to three days of walking or just dancing around the house, getting some kind of movement. My life has definitely changed in a positive direction from everything that I've learned. I think being mindful of even the activity levels of my children, my grandchildren, my husband. If I have a hurdle, which I have in the past, I just pick myself up, dust myself off, and I say, let's start. Right here, right now, move forward. I think I used to beat myself up all the time about not being perfect. But really it's about progress. I feel so much better now that I've started to move my body and eat a lot healthier. I actually feel younger.