IN YOUR OWN WORDS HEALING MY BODY BY RAELENE JOHNSON, VOICE VENDOR I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN MY SURGERY DONE. After all of the pain I had been in, I know that in a short time, I will feel so much better. It has been hard on my body – the cancer, and the impact of the car wreck I had earlier this year. Then, I had to have surgery, where I was on the operating table for 2.5 hours. They kept me in the hospital for two days. I was finally discharged and sent home. My body has been to hell and back, and it is now on the road to recovery. I can’t wait for that to happen, so I can be around people again. Being a person who loves talking to everyone I meet, the isolation has been hard on me. When I feel I’ve been alone too long, I have to tell myself it won’t be much longer, and all of this will be behind me. LESSONS I WANT TO SHARE Staying still will let you have time for yourself. You must take time for yourself to be your best Self. You must eat right, exercise your mind and body, get the proper amount of sleep, and pay attention to everything you put in your mind and body. When you pamper yourself fully, you will have the energy to live a healthy life. You will want to see others do their best. (You can’t help others if you can’t do it for yourself.) Let go of things that upset you. Let people, who upset you RAELENE JOHNSON. CREDIT: KAREN BEEMAN when you’re around them, walk away. Don’t let anyone steal your joy, happiness, self-worth, self-respect, or peace of mind. Sometimes, letting go is very hard. Just know you will be better off. The enemy will take every chance to see you suffer and put people around you that cause you pain. You can’t allow anyone to have that much power over you, or over time, you’ll lose who you really are! Unhappiness sets in and the longer it stays, the less light you will see! (We must always stay in the light. It is so peaceful there.) So many people ask me how I can be so at peace, and I tell them that if I cry and bitch about life not being fair, or wonder, “Why me?” where would I be? I’d have no peace at all. Everything is temporary. I don’t let negativity grip my mind because that wouldn’t do me any good. Your body cannot heal if all it takes in is negativity. Nothing can grow in darkness. Things grow better in the light. Hope is better than doubt. Believing things will be okay is better than thinking the worst all the time. Staying strong is better than giving up. Loving people around you is better than giving up. Loving people around you when you’re trying to recover is better than having hateful people around you. How you recover is up to you. I choose only good to be around me, to keep a smile on my face rather than pout and complain. If you keep REAL PEACE inside you, everything will be easier than it will be if you worry or are afraid of what’s next! (What has worrying ever done for you? It made you sick or sicker.) Most of the things you worried about or allowed yourself to go crazy over were never as bad as what you thought might happen. You spent that energy on nothing, and you can’t get that time back. ■ CELEBRATING PRIDE ILLUSTRATION BY GIGI GALEN, VOICE VENDOR LOVE BY CHARLES SPRING, VOICE VENDOR Lifetime of you In my dreams You I woo My heart Screams In silence For your love Happiness My mind Cries To be noticed 12 DENVER VOICE June 2024
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