confessions from a woman with impaired vision, complex PTSD, and hope
I started learning the Primary series of Ashtanga yoga last November on a whim. An acquaintance posted something on Instagram that caught my eye, leading me to follow Ashtanga Yoga Atlanta on the app. Just my luck, their beginners course was starting in just a couple weeks and at a very reasonable price! I hadn’t…
In case you haven’t heard of the “Spoon Theory” before (and even if you have), please take the time to read Christine Miserandino’s account of how she began to discuss living with chronic illness in terms of having utensils. In essence, the Spoon Theory is a metaphor that sets up health like a bank account…
I got up this morning Where’s the prize for that? I put on socks that didn’t match, I brushed my hair and washed my face I even thought to rinse with mouthwash I got up this morning Can’t you be pleased with that? I tried to eat a bit of toast I drank some juice…
Tonight I had a spectacularly eventful Friday night! By which, I mean I went to Trader Joe’s, made cauli-alfredo with quinoa fusilli, and settled in to watch a movie. I chose Return to Me with Minnie Driver and David Duchovny. In addition to Minnie Driver being one of my absolute favorite actresses (a master at her…
Last night, I watched the movie Cake, which stars Jennifer Aniston as an ill-tempered woman dealing with chronic pain. Seeing her move slowly and robotically, small gasps with every effort, brought back some difficult memories. But also a clear sense of strength and of hope. As anyone with chronic pain can tell you, it becomes…
Today is a bad day. For those who know what I mean, let’s just say I woke up without any spoons left. My head ached, my eyes were blurred and pained by the small light streaming through my window. It was a feat simply to look at the extraordinarily large numbers on the face of…
Now and again, there comes a time when we just need to take a breather and hit the reset button on life. Frustrations mount, stresses build, and complications twist everything into a knotted, tangled mess. You can’t always walk away from your stressors – usually you can’t – but you can take a step back. You…
For the past year, I’ve been tired. Exhausted, really. I’d sleep anywhere from 10-12 hours a night, but still walk around like a zombie all day and take frequent naps. I was miserable. But according to my doctors, nothing was wrong. Vitamin D levels? Normal with my daily supplements. B6 and B12? Fine. Thyroid? Enlarged,…
You just found out your best friend has been sleeping with your significant other. Your cat has the flu. Your job promotion went to the guy two cubes down who can’t even find AutoSum in Excel. The fecal matter has found its way up and into the proverbial fan, and life seems like it just…
So often when you have a chronic disorder, especially a painful or debilitating one, it can be difficult to talk about the good days. That seems counterintuitive, right? Shouldn’t we want to talk about the good days more than the bad? Of course we do! Thinking of the good days is what gets us through…