A lot happened in the years I didn’t blog regularly. For one, health issues popped up. After living like a couch potato for 15-20 years, it should not have been a surprise, but it was, only because my body type never really gets “fat” — even at my biggest I was a size 8, smaller than most women. That said, I’d get headaches and digestive issues, and I’d get irritable and the occasional skin conditions. But I figured that was just a natural part of life.

When I found myself sleeping all day and getting nothing done, I knew something was wrong.

I’d been active as a kid, with an abundant energy and an athletic build. I did well in P.E. and thrived as a cheerleader and a dancer. I took stairs three steps at a time without breathing hard as I jogged to the top, just because. That all changed when I lived with H.E., whose habits rubbed off on me; I ate too much, moved too little, and indulged in too many things that were bad for me, all of which got me into my unhealthy lifestyle.

Sleeping all day was carrying that unhealthy lifestyle a little too far, though. So I made some changes, and in doing so I rediscovered myself.

I started walking in 2013, around the block at first, then a bit more each day until I found myself doing at least 3-4 miles a day, everyday, logging 100 miles a month. I did that for three months and then started hiking in 2014 and entered a couple of half-marathons. For a little while, I even took up some Zumba, yoga, and a touch of weight training.

I also gave up processed foods. I stopped buying sweets and snacks, only eating them if I’ve made them myself from scratch. I also saw a nutritionist, and after discovering just how badly I’d been eating, he put me on a meal plan that reset my thyroid and my glycemic levels so effectively, I dropped 20 lbs. of weight in the first month — weight that, at my size, I didn’t even think was possible to lose; weight that I wasn’t even trying to lose.

I went from being sluggish to being energetic. I no longer had to take naps in the middle of my day, and I was getting a full night’s sleep. I went from being inexplicably depressed and anxious to being my old cheerful and positive self. I also went from being a size 6-8 to being a size 2, and I felt as good or better than I did back in college. It didn’t take much effort at all; in fact, since then, I actually cut back on exercise because my nutritionist said I was doing too much, and I still eat as much as I want without feeling hungry. All it took was eating the right foods, staying just active enough, and eliminating the things in my life that stress me out.

Best of all, I stopped being sick. Before, I’d get a cold, followed by acute bronchitis, maybe about every 2-3 months. Once I started walking and eating healthy, though, I didn’t get sick at all. For three whole years, I didn’t get sick. I broke my streak this summer, though, when I got sick while working at a full-time job that was wrong for me — which I know now not to do.

Health is everything. If something in your life is making you unhealthy, you need to make changes. That’s your body telling you everything you need to know. And if you take good care of yourself and are kind to yourself, you can do anything.

So when people say, “Well, at least you have your health!” — don’t blow it off. It’s a very big deal.

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