A Perspective on Time

I must admit that when I first heard about the GAPS diet I was floored and dismayed by the recommended 18 month duration (and more for some patients). A year and a half? That long? Really? I couldn't fathom no grains, starches, most beans, and no sugar for that long, I was already restricted in what I could eat. How would I do it? I consoled myself by thinking it would only be a year for me—after all I've been working on my gut issues for years, seven in fact, since my unsolicited affair with Giardia. Surely I was further along in my healing than those still undiagnosed and suffering the worst symptoms.
It's been a month so far and lately I've been thinking about a certain 2 1/2 year-old, a member of my extended community, who has been dealing with Leukemia for over a year now. Just past babyhood when she was diagnosed, her family was given the news that treatment would last 2 years. Two years of chemotherapy, injections, hospital stays and worries over infections. I know there are plenty of people struggling with illness and I'm not trying to compare my diet woes to those in real crisis. I thank G-d for my health all the time. My point in mentioning this family's ordeal is the perception of time. Two years seems like an incredibly long time to endure such hardship. But we do what we have to. I have a choice about my treatment. The adorable toddler does not. So I'm going to try not to think about the process from the beginning as a long arduous hike up a hill, but rather see it from the end—the goal of being completely healthy, at my peak. And rather than count down my time as though a prison sentence, I'm going to count forward, day by day, meal by meal really, and mark progress in accumulating successes, accruing health bucks into my bank account of life. How's that for a lot of mixed metaphors?!
Onward.