An Unconventional Book Stack for Healthy Living

I can still hear my mother’s voice on the other end of the phone: “You may not agree with this, but the oncologist prescribed cannabis for me and I think I’m going to try it. She said it might help with my appetite and the emotional side effects, and it might even slow the tumors from growing. What do you think?”

Without a second thought, I said, “Of course you should take it, Mom—I’m completely on board. And don’t even worry what anyone thinks; just do what’s best for you.” But when we got off the phone, I was sad that my mom had been afraid I would disagree with her taking cannabis. Her cancer had been getting a lot worse at that point and although I knew she knew I would be on board with whatever would help her, I couldn’t help but wonder why some part of her thought I might get judgmental about her using medicinal marijuana.

Then, my mind flashed back to 2003 when 21-year-old Celeste was sitting in her Sociology seminar classes participating in heated debates about the legalization of marijuana, 100% sure that “weed was just wrong” and I probably hadn’t hidden those beliefs from my family. That was before my mom had cancer. That was before, well, a lot of things.

It’s true, I’d changed a lot since then, but reputations die hard.

That conversation with my mom happened six years ago (and yes, the cannabis helped her tremendously in the last year or so she was with us and we were beyond grateful for it). Since then (& also since moving to a state where it’s legal), I’ve seen cannabis, medicinal marijuana, and heck, even recreational weed help so many people with everything from chronic pain and seizure disorders to depression, addictions, and anxiety.

Myself included.

I’ve also seen things like therapy, self-love, breathwork, yoga, meditation, elimination diets, and plain old exercise work wonders for people dealing with childhood trauma, emotional distress, and all sorts of diseases, disorders, and physical ailments.

Myself included.

So, dear reader, you may not agree with this. . . and if you don’t, that’s perfectly okay with me—feel free to delete this email and forget I ever brought it up.

But, on this last Friday of Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought I’d share one last stack of health-related books I’ve been loving recently—just in case you could use one. It’s an unconventional stack, I know, but I can vouch for them, so maybe, just maybe, someone reading this needs one⤵

 
 
Good BooksCeleste Orrunconventional health, cannabis is medicine, mental health awareness, mental health month