Life Lately: Health Wins, Boundaries, and Learning to Take Up Space

Hey everyone! 🌟 Welcome to a new week—and the last few days of July. Can you believe we’re inching toward the end of the year already? But let’s not rush ahead. I’ve got a lot to reflect on from this past week, especially around my health journey, personal growth, and (of course) setting boundaries online. 🦷 A Fresh Start with Oral Health One of the biggest shifts lately? Taking oral care seriously again. I picked up a toothbrush tracker that not only times each session but helps guide me through more efficient brushing. The companion app includes goal-setting and rewards with fun badges, which surprisingly help keep me motivated. For my first week, I aimed for 14 brushes—but since I got the tracker on a Monday, it showed I missed about 3.5 days. Not bad considering I’ve been skipping morning brushes for a while. By week two, I scaled back my official goal to 7 brushes and personally aimed for brushing twice a day. While I didn’t quite hit two-a-day consistently, I did brush daily. And you know what? I felt it. The bleeding and pain I used to feel? Already easing up. By the end of this past week, it was nearly gone. My mouth feels cleaner, and honestly, I feel more connected to myself. Like each brushing session is an act of self-love. 🥤 Cutting Back on Soda (And Why It Matters) Soda reduction has been a little rocky—especially since Hardee’s doesn’t always have sweet tea ready early in the morning. But I’ve got a plan: buying some liquid stevia or Splenda to sweeten unsweet tea if needed. It might sound small, but missing soda for two days felt really good. This week, I’m committing to: No more than 2–3 soda days total Staying under 48 oz per soda day This is part of a bigger gut health journey I’m on, and it feels good to make intentional choices—one drink at a time. 😴 Sleep Patterns: Still a Work in Progress Let’s talk about sleep. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’ve never had a healthy sleep schedule. Before getting on medication, I was a night owl, sometimes staying awake for 2–3 days straight, then crashing for a day or two. Now, I’m up most days at 4:30 AM—which I actually love. It makes an 8:00 PM bedtime necessary, though. I’ve tried syncing to my circadian rhythm, but I always felt more refreshed when sticking to this early routine, even if my Pixel Watch doesn’t recognize sleep for up to three hours after I go to bed. Turns out, my Fitbit had similar issues. I recently discovered I had set sleep tracking to "sensitive" mode back then—and just changed it back to "normal" on my watch this weekend. No major changes yet, but I’ll continue tracking and will bring it up with my doctor during my upcoming primary care appointment in August. 💉 Mounjaro, Fullness Cues, and Mindful Eating I’ve been on Mounjaro for two months now and am still adjusting. While it’s helping reduce my appetite, I’ve noticed that I sometimes miss the signal that I’m full. It hit me last night that when I am full, the taste of food actually becomes unpleasant. That’s my cue! Moving forward, especially at buffets or restaurants, I’m going to use that shift in taste as a stop sign. I haven’t weighed myself lately, but changes in how I feel and eat are already speaking volumes. 🧠 Therapy Begins (Finally!) Tomorrow marks my first official therapy session with a new mental health network. They require therapy for medication management, but I’m not mad about it. In fact, I’m kinda excited. The best part? The frequency is up to me. Since I’m feeling stable right now, I’ll start with once a month, but it’s great knowing I can shift that if needed. I’m hoping this will give me space to talk about the deeper stuff—like boundaries and emotional processing. 📱 Social Media Boundaries Are… a Journey Whew. Let’s talk Snapchat drama for a sec. I reinstalled it, thinking it’d be fun to meet some new people to chat with—maybe even locals. What I didn’t expect was 50+ requests a day from strangers pushing for video chats, hookups, or unsolicited pics. I realized my old bio might’ve been sending the wrong message, so I updated it and posted a clear boundaries notice to my story. Did that help? Not really. If anything, it stirred the pot. The moment I set a boundary, people either deleted me, pressured me, or tried to cross the line. I started replying with, “Thanks for the view, but I’m not here for that.” Eventually, I disabled the “find friends” setting and the spam requests stopped. Now I’m slowly weeding out the rest. Being single doesn’t mean being desperate. I’m here for real connection, not pressure. 🚭 Two Months Cigarette-Free Last but absolutely not least—I’ve been cigarette-free since late May, and it’s now been over two months. 🎉 I don’t remember the exact quit date—maybe May 26th, 27th, or 28th—but that doesn’t matter as much as how I feel: free. I’m not counting the days; I’m living the choice. What’s been hard, though, is sharing this progress with family. Sometimes it feels like my story gets hijacked. What I frame as my decision becomes “God answered prayers” or “Isn’t God good that…?” It hurts. Not because I reject their beliefs, but because it erases my agency. Even temporary decisions get twisted into lifelong vows I never made. This is something I’ll definitely unpack in therapy—because being transparent shouldn't mean being rewritten. 🌱 Baby Steps Are Still Progress There’s still work to do—but so much to celebrate, too. From oral care to soda reduction, new boundaries, and two months smoke-free, I’m proud of what I’ve built one choice at a time. Thanks for being part of the journey. I’ll be back Wednesday with a topic that’s been sitting heavy on my mind. I’ve got a few blog ideas saved up, and I hope you’ll subscribe, comment, or share if something here resonated with you. 💚 Until next time, – Rusty