On the eve of New Year’s eve, December 30, 2018, I woke up to a swishing sound in my bedroom. Near the bottom of my bed the room was extra dark and it seemed like there were three people standing there, two women and one man.

Now I don’t know for sure if I was awake or asleep or seeing ghosts, but I felt scared at first. I believe I see ghosts occasionally…please don’t judge me too harshly. There has always been light, not darkness when I’ve seen ghosts before, so I was really scared. I asked why they were there and wondered if they meant to hurt me. It seemed like they were talking to each other.

My heart was racing and when the thought that they may be there to harm me was raging in my head, they all turned to me at once and said “of course not.” So I asked what they wanted?

They looked at each other and seemed to be trying to figure out how to tell me something really important. Then the man looked at me and said they were concerned about my health.

Well that got my heart racing even more. Since I have only been in remission from breast cancer for two and a half years, I wondered if it had returned. They all turned to me again and seemed to shake their heads no. I thought about my routine check-up scheduled later next month and calmed down. I feel sure I’m still in remission, but always confirm a few times a year.

The woman in the middle said they were concerned about my diabetes. Now I was starting to think this dream was annoying. After my battle with cancer, I ended up with Type 2 diabetes. When I get my blood sugar under control, I like to pretend I don’t have it and it was all just temporary. Classic denial stuff.

This holiday I had been eating all sorts of high-carb and sugary foods and ignoring all the signs that my blood sugar is out of control. I kept justifying that my achy joints, tingly fingers and low energy weren’t that bad.

The shorter woman on the end didn’t seem convinced that I would pay attention to them. She kept saying “I don’t think this is going to work, we may have to find someone else.”

That got my attention.

I asked them, “Find someone else for what? What do you want me to do?” The man looked back and said they wanted me to take care of myself. To eat more healthy foods and to exercise. The woman in the middle said that’s all I need to do and that’s why they were there.

The woman on the end looked at me, then looked back at the other two and said she didn’t know if this would work. So I asked again what they wanted me to do. The woman in the middle said the only important thing is that I take care of myself. She said everything else will happen as it should. The other two agreed with her.

Now that was ambiguous, but I somehow believed them and vowed to eat right and get regular exercise.

The next morning I was thinking about whether that was a dream or if I was awake. I was wondering if I told anyone would they think I was crazy. I was even beginning to waiver on my commitment. After all, it was only a dream.

Then I opened LinkedIn and saw the post that Penny Marshall had died the night before due to complications from heart disease and diabetes. Woah!

Now I wasn’t thinking that any of the ghosts in my bedroom were Penny Marshall. But it did make me wonder if I’d had my own personal version of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

Now some of you may be thinking that she was 75 and had a good long life. But it seems to me that her life was cut short by at least 10 years according to what experts say about our average life span being 84-85. A recent study even projected that baby boomers that live past the age of 50 are likely to live to be 100. I don’t know about you, but I plan to become a Centenarian.

My commitment to health is stronger than ever. Without my health I can’t accomplish any of the fun things on my list. Without my health, I can’t truly enjoy the people in my life. Without my health, I can’t accomplish my professional and personal goals of financial freedom and travel. Without my health I can’t be effective at sharing the knowledge I have about personal branding, marketing, sales and leadership that my growing customer base has come to rely on. Without my health, the motivational speaking I enjoy and am passionate about is definitely out of the question.

For some reason my health seems to only surface as a top priority when I’m sick. This year, thanks to my vivid dream, and Penny Marshal’s unfortunate death, my health is back on top as my number one priority.

May you find love, health and prosperity in abundance this year!

Happy New Year!

Debbie Donaldson