When we feel good, we don’t think about our health. It doesn’t distract us with aches, pains, nausea, or possibly, urgency. Right?

When we feel like crap, our health takes center stage and we begin to wonder why. Why are we so tired? Why are headaches are part of daily life? Why do I get winded walking up the stairs, even though I take spinning classes four days a week? At that point, our health influences the way we live — especially if we are living with a condition, be it temporary or chronic. It determines the way we move, eat, sleep, and deal with others.

Those who say, “don’t become a victim to your disease/ condition,” don’t understand. Some issues can change everything. It isn’t that we become victims, it’s just that our health is a part of who we are and how we live.

The journey to find relief, to return to the place where we don’t think about our bodies and to feel healthy, can be difficult. There are trials to experience, sometimes treatments to undergo, and change. Changing the way we have lived is hard, but to feel better it might be necessary.

This is what Health Makes the Girl is about — the journey to feel good despite the health hiccups life and our genes trigger.

I live with heart disease (despite thinking that my surgery would negate that) and some mood disorders and chronic stress. Looming over me is a strong family history of type 2 diabetes, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis. These conditions influence what I do to make me feel better. Some days are great; others not. I want to be able to get to the point where caring for my health is automatic and I don’t have to think about my body. I am searching for the knowledge and routine that does this.

My health dictates how my life is lived, and that is a part of who I am and have become. It is part of the reason why I chose my career as a journalist who covers health, fitness, and nutrition.

Health Makes the Girl is my journey to normalcy—whatever that means. It is also my place to share with you all the cool health information I uncover.

If you’re living with a disease or health condition, please let me know. Maybe I can uncover something that can also help you.