I am feeling humble, vulnerable, and excited to share how a combination of grace, discipline, education, faith, and surrender has led me to have of the best blood pressure numbers in over 3 years.

Disclaimer – I am not a doctor. This is my story for my clients and students.

I didn’t know if I was ready to talk about it. It may be too soon. I’ve only been off of meds for 9 days, but then again, this is important. Some of my readings are better than when I was on medication!

Factors That Can Lead To High Blood Pressure

For sure, not everyone has the same opportunity to be healthy. There is a disproportionate amount of African Americans who suffer from hypertension and diabetes. In part, it is an economic problem. There are many communities you cannot even find grocery stores. There are no fresh vegetables and low sodium options available.

Education is also a factor.

This generation of Americans is the first-ever who are not destined to live longer than generations before them.

My family has a history of high blood pressure & diabetes. There are hardly any who are over 50 who are not on medications, and I’m 59! For me, menopause kicked in and threw my hormones into havoc. I suddenly had high blood pressure and an autoimmune called hyperthyroidism.

My Fight To Overcome Genetics

I suddenly had a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, and more frequent appointments with my primary doctor. “That’s the way it goes sometimes. It’s genetics.”

I told the doctors I was going to try to reverse things. They knew I was already exercising regularly, didn’t smoke, and had a healthy diet. “It’s probably genetics,” they said. I told them I still wanted to try. They didn’t encourage me to but they didn’t tell me not to try either.

God’s Grace In My Journey

So, with just over a week of not being on medications, it is important to share. The reason I say my success is by grace is that ultimately, it’s up to God. We do live in a fallen world. You can do everything right, at least we think we are, and things can still go wrong.

It is also by grace that my wellness journey started way back when I was a mess. I was not taking care of my body, but I knew I wanted to change. I had the faith to believe that I could. I had the grace of slowly developing discipline and I was grateful in advance.

By all means, take your medications, follow your doctor directives, but try making changes that may enable you to feel better, reduce your medications or even come off of them. My suggestions for making changes are:

Faith –

Believe you can make changes with grace and ease

Gratitude –

Appreciate where you have been, where you are now, and where you will be in the future.

Meals –

Begin making changes in your diet.

Movement –

Moderately exercise most days of the week.

Mindset –

Take time out each day for rest, meditation, and prayer.

Check out the video for the full story. I’d love to know about your own wellness story and how I might be able to help you on your journey. Let’s chat at shannonthigpen.com/connect!