A Journey

It is 2 AM; I am exhausted from hours of dance and school; all I want to do is sleep, but I can hardly breathe through the congestion and the wheezing. There is that constant tickle in the back of my throat, tempting me to cough, taunting me. I know when I cough it will not go away, but I have no choice. COUGH-­COUGH-­COUGH. I lay my head on my pillow. COUGH-­COUGH. I try to relax. COUGH-­COUGH-­COUGH, all night long. I hate that cough. Will it ever go away?

I have battled constant sickness since infancy - asthma, pneumonia, sinus infections, even shingles. My arduous dance schedule was hard on my body, resulting in long bouts of pneumonia, but halfway through my junior year in high school, I discovered how to make the cough go away. After educating myself about food, my diet became increasingly healthier. I learned that dairy increases your mucus content, so I went vegan, and from vegan to almost completely raw. My health quickly improved and within two months, I was off all my medications. It was like a miracle. Overcoming my weak immune system and chronic sinusitis has become an obsession. All processed foods are marked evil, and my diet is closer to that of a rabbit than a human. I prepare my own meals separately from my family. When they eat McDonalds, dessert, or birthday cake, I have fruit and vegetables. I feel HEALTHY, and this perspective has changed my entire mood from hopeless to optimistic. I have the energy to wake up two hours early to do Pilates and ballet, and then go to two hours of dance before school! I have become powerful and strong.

It is amazing how becoming disciplined in one area of my life taught me self-control in all other areas. I am more responsible, completing homework as soon as I get home from school. I improve my dancing during every minute of free time. The extra hours of dance training have helped me find alignment and resistance in my body, information I share as a substitute ballet teacher at my studio and as co-captain...