My Journey With Health And Fitness – Never Underestimate The Power Of Friends

Another day here in paradise with just about perfect weather. Sadly we are winding down as we only have 4 more days until our trip home. One of the things I have noticed is being here is now normalized to what we do at home. For example, after my walk this morning I put some laundry on. Meanwhile, as I am typing this, my husband is vacuuming the condo (note, despite the tile floors the best thing I purchased for here is the vacuum). This is what we would be doing at home on a Saturday. We have really stopped thinking about this as a vacation but rather it is our 3rd home (the 2nd of course being the trailer).

I was struggling a bit with what I should write about today simply because my brain tends to work slower when I am in Mexico (you know, manana speed). And then it hit me, the incredible power of friends. This week in particular it has become so very clear. The other day my brother went to the ER (again) because he thought he had a really bad cold but he was very lightheaded. The last time that happened to him he ended up with an antibiotic resistant virus which eventually led to a heart attack and about 4 weeks in the hospital so this time he took the lightheadedness seriously. My sister happened to run into a neighbour as she was coming home by taxi after getting our brother’s antibiotics and after explaining what was going on and him knowing my husband and I are away he immediately told her if she needs anything picked up to call him and he will do it (thus minimizing taxi expenses). He did this not to be neighbourly but because he is a good friend.

I have posted before about my journey not just involving physical fitness but also mental fitness. I have taken myself from a very dark place to enjoying life. I recognize that a big part of that has been because of some awesome friends. I don’t have a lot of friends but the ones I have are wonderful. I have one friend who always knows when I need a quick call. I have my neighbour friends who reach out all the time. What I didn’t realize is that we would develop the same type of friends here in Mexico.

The other night we had an impromptu dinner party with a couple we have become very close to. This then led to another couple dropping in as the 6 of us played dominoes for hours. While all of this was going on they let it slip that they were planning a bit of a get together for us today. We were a little surprised by this but they told us that they knew it was our last weekend here for a while so they thought they would do a send off for us. My husband and I were humbled by this, we didn’t expect that they would do something so kind for us. I realized that that is probably why it does feel like home here, we have forged amazing friendships with our neighbours and is simply going to make us want to spend more time here.

Never take for granted the power of friendship. Cherish it, return it without thinking about it, use it to build yourself and to share with others.