Life in Lockdown, 2021
I woke up with a screaming headache again, third time this week. A front-line worker, my shifts are crazy, and my body hasn’t been coping very well.
I have two children, aged 6 and 13. The gap between them makes it difficult to do just one thing at a time, each needing specifics that my exhausted body just can’t deal with on most days. Breakfast is a particular nightmare that I muddle through, at best.
With lockdown, both kids are homeschooled, and although the school gives us great support, the supervision aspects mean I can’t catch up my sleep like I used to when they were at school. Emotionally I’m doing alright. It’s the physical aspects that bother me.
My skin is flaky and dry, no matter how much I moisturise it. My hair is a limp mess that never seems to have any volume or shine to it anymore. At this point, cutting it seems to be the only option unless I wash it daily.
I’m tired. Not the kind of tiredness when you haven’t slept; it’s that deep, intense fatigue from stress.
Week 1: I Added Collagen To My Diet
My neighbour, Betty, is a kindly woman, who’s into this healthy lifestyle that I envy. I mean, I can’t keep up, it’s just that I wish I could. Betty is over at my place most mornings with a smoothie in hand. It looks delicious, but I barely have the energy to make a spot of tea, never mind blend up a smoothie.
Today she arrived on my doorstep with two smoothies, some vile-looking green slime in a glass jar. I could smell the cucumber and my stomach leapt.
Betty says I’m run-down, that the fatigue is because my system needs a detox and a kick-start.
The smoothie she’s given me is cucumber and lemon and is supposed to flush out the toxins and cleanse my gut. Drinking a glass of it on an empty stomach every day will boost me, she says.
I’m not sure how I got through that first glass. It was creamy and refreshing, but I hardly noticed it going down. An hour after she’d left, I realised I’d been humming while cleaning. I really did feel better already.
I had a 2-day break in shifts and was looking forward to getting a lot of things done around the house. When Betty popped in the late afternoon, I was finished with the cleaning and laundry and was busy starting dinner. I’d even managed to make it through an entire morning of homeschooling without losing my cool.
Betty asked me what I thought of “the smoothie” and smiled all congratulatory to herself as I told her about my day. “You know I added collagen to the mix, right?” she said.
Really? I hadn’t tasted a thing, other than the lemon and cucumber.
Betty reached into her handbag and placed a blue bag on the counter next to me, launching into the general health benefits of collagen and marine collagen, specifically.
A hundred “Did you know’s?” later and my head was full. I’d always been skeptical of the so-called benefits of supplements.
There was just not enough scientific evidence or studies done out there to convince me it was worth spending money on, so no. I didn’t know.
Betty told me how she added collagen to everything, from her morning smoothies to her late-morning coffees. In fact, she added collagen to her oatmeal, her salad dressings, and even her sauces and baked goods.
I was astonished, but mostly so because I also didn’t know that you could cook it. I’d heard that it breaks down into gelatin and was bad for you, but Betty assured me that this only happened with inferior products.
“Correxiko is not like other products,” she says. “You can see and feel the difference in just a couple of weeks, whereas, with other products, it takes longer – unless you’re doubling up your servings”.
I listened to Betty rambling on about the benefits she could see and feel for another half-hour while finishing up supper. For the first time in weeks, I was really hungry.
Week 2: I Added Collagen To My Schedule
I’d seen Betty a couple of more times over the past week, and each time she’d had a new and exciting smoothie for me to try. Always with added collagen, she’d say.
In the beginning, I was hesitant to drink too much of it, so always skipped a serving if I’d had a smoothie. After about a week, I actually looked forward to those mornings with double servings.
So far, I’d only tried the Correxiko collagen stuff in my coffee, morning and night. It really was tasteless and odourless. If pushed to really analyse the taste, I’d probably admit that it actually made the milk in my coffee somehow a little creamier.
I’d been taking a few extra minutes to prepare and really enjoy my coffee. Added collagen means added minutes of effort, too, but it was beginning to feel worth it.
Today was the first day in months that I didn’t have to wash my hair to be able to leave the house. I really felt confident enough to go to work without washing it, and my scalp felt a lot less itchy, too.
At odd moments throughout the days that followed, I’d catch myself feeling something like hope. I mean, it wasn’t hoped exactly – more like excited optimism, maybe – but it felt great, nonetheless.
I’d been sleeping better, too. Either I was too tired to notice the tossing and turning of a couple of weeks ago, or it had simply been replaced by restful sleep.
Week 3: I Added Collagen To My Budget
I was waking up energised and feeling good every morning now. And because I wanted to enjoy my morning coffee, I was also finding time to sit quietly by myself before the day began and I had to deal with the kids’ needs before even my own.
Their father plays a large, supportive role in their lives but isn’t here for daily routines and such. We’ve been divorced for about 6 months now, and the adjustment has been hard for us all.
I find myself reflecting on the things that tore us apart in a more abstract kind of way now. Some of those things have even stopped hurting enough to look at and it feels good to be moving on.
My hair seems to have a mind of its own these days and is even busier than usual. I’m now washing my hair three times a week and still loving the way it falls across my shoulders in-between wash days.
Phyllis asked me yesterday at work what I’ve been doing with myself because I look different. “Somehow brighter” is what she called it. I’m not sure what that means, but Peter up in management gave me a nice smile and said my name had been mentioned as a possible supervisor for the new division. For a second there, I thought he had been flirting with me!
Supervisor means no more night shift, and I’m not sure I would take it. Of course, that’s added income and I could afford a tutor to manage the kids while I worked, but I’m feeling very capable these days and so full of life. I don’t want to waste that behind a desk until I’m 65.
Frank came to fetch the kids for his weekend with them and asked who I was dating. He caught me off guard and I just laughed as I shook my head. “You look very pretty,” he said in that Irish brogue of his.
I wish I could give collagen credit for all of this, but I can’t; not really. I mean, yes. I can see and feel the benefits Betty was telling me about, but collagen had added something to my life, even as I had added collagen to my routine.
I sat down to work out the budget and added collagen to the list of must-haves.
Week 4: I Added Collagen To My Meals
Mary has decided she’s going to be a vegan and has chosen not to eat meat anymore. For some reason, she’s hungry all the time now. Betty says she’s not getting enough protein for her age and energy levels, so I’ve been cooking with Correxiko for a couple of days to see if it makes a difference. I’m even sprinkling it over salads now!
It took about a week before Mary stopped moaning about being hungry. Her teen acne also seems to be looking a lot better, but she’s taken to being more aware of her habits since I became more aware of my own, and so I’ve let her be.
I’ve also been getting up an extra 10 minutes earlier so I can moisturise my face and add lotion to my exposed skin. I read on the Correxiko blog that the sun is not good for skin, even in weak doses. Here in the country, I’ll wager we get a lot more than those city folks do.
I get on the scale every morning now. Not because I’m trying to lose weight but because I just feel so lean these days. Compact, I think. That same blog reckons that collagen is great for cellulite, and I honestly think I’ve lost some of mine.
People who have known me for years are commenting on how different I look now, complimenting me on my hair and skin, talking about how I’ve lost weight and “taken years off”. The scale says I haven’t lose one single pound, but my clothing tells me I’ve lost centimeters, especially around my stomach and butt.
With Mary no longer eating red meat, meals have become a little trickier. She seems fine with fish, so we’re eating that most days now. I had to become quite clever at finding new ways to cook and tastes for it, mind you!
Vegetables remain a staple part of our diets, and always have been. These days, however, I’m paying more attention to what vegetables we eat. Correxiko has some great recipes and plenty of handy tips to guide me, and so far, I think I’m doing alright.
Week 5: I Added Collagen To My Belief System
There’s a huge difference between taking something for a specific condition (like when you have an autoimmune disease and are forced to take your meds), and taking a supplement that you believe will change your life. Vitamin C is one of those supplements. So is collagen.
Back when Betty was telling me a hundred “Did you know’s?”, I listened with half an ear, convinced she was trying to make a hard sell. In fact, I’d go so far as to tell you that I thought she was exaggerating things quite a bit.
Since I’ve begun noticing changes, I’ve also realised that I’m beginning to sound a lot like Betty – to anyone who wants to listen. It’s pretty difficult not to gush when everything feels and looks so good.
My hair is thick and lush, and the sunspots and other skin tone blemishes have faded away. My skin looks amazing and my nails are stronger now than they’ve ever been.
The aches and pains that kept me down for days at a time whenever I wasn’t working aren’t there anymore. I’m not sure where they went, but I don’t miss them at all. Getting out of bed is an easy decision now that I have so much lust for life held deep within me.
Again, I can’t give collagen all the credit, but I can tell you that it made me take care of myself in ways I hadn’t done for decades. My life is just better since I added collagen to it.
Week 6: I Choose The Correxiko Collagen Lifestyle
One of the things that Betty tried to tell me is that collagen is a lifestyle choice. You don’t have to take it. You don’t even have to believe me in my choice.
The blog post that changed my mind and made me realise that there are real truths to living a collagen lifestyle is this one: Switch To The Collagen Lifestyle & Embrace The Change In A Healthier YOU!
And what that boils down to is that lifestyle is a definite factor in how you look and feel, not just in general but deep within yourself, too.
