I recently found out, via some very uncomfortable lab tests, that some
unwanted 'souvenirs' returned to The States with me from Peru. After spending an incredible week exploring
the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu our family decided to take on a few days 'roughing
it' in the Amazon jungle. I will be the
first to admit that our family could easily personify Troop Beverly Hills and
my father made sure to book only the best of the available Eco-Lodges located along
the Amazon River. What we found out on
our boat ride up the river, as our guide looked amused at all of us with an in
our Lululemon pants and RayBans, is that 'Luxury' in the Amazon simply means
you have hot water in your private quarters.
Needless to say, it was an adventure of unanticipated proportions.
We left in high spirits having experienced something new and different,
but our stomachs were not faring so well.
All five of us experienced some sort of stomach issue for the following
week, but mine seemed to never truly go away.
After three weeks of moaning about my inability to feel like my stomach
was truly capable of digesting food I went to the doctor. I was laying on the table with a stethoscope
to my lower right pelvis and the doctor simply nodded her head and said,
"Yep, it's what I thought it could be.
You have a parasite." My
mouth dropped out of horror, disgust, and fear of what that means. A couple of tests and about a week later I
found out that there was more than one 'Little Creature' in my digestion tract
and some serious antibiotics for the next two weeks were in store for me.
I needed to better understand what it was that we were dealing with
here so I made the terrible mistake of 'Googling' parasites from the
Amazon. What I found was the
following: "An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host)
and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense. The parasite is dependent on its host for its life functions." I apologize in advance for those that
may find the following comment offensive, but upon learning this definition I
immediately called my best friend and requested that we name this little sucker
and he is clearly a male dependent upon my host female body. We went with Sanchez.
Sanchez quickly became emblematic of any person in my past or present
that I felt was taking from me the nutrients that they needed for their well
being, but leaving me behind with nothing but discomfort and hurt. I couldn't help but start to think of the
bigger picture as I was eradicating the Sanchez in my body -- how could I wipe out
the other 'Parasites' in my life?
The thing about Parasites is that they don't just go away on their
own. You have to starve them of the
nutrients. It was all becoming
clear. I needed to stop feeding into the
negative relationships in my life because without breathing life into them they
wouldn't exist.
Within a week, Sanchez was no longer causing me harm or pain and as I
gained my physical strength back I could also feel myself gaining back a sense
of empowerment in other aspects of my life.
Do you have any 'Parasites' in your life that need to be starved? I encourage you to make active decisions on
how to free yourself of such dependant creatures because only you have the
power to make that change.
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