When I first started my Sudden Sight personal blog on WordPress in 2011, it was because I wanted a place to share my experiences of recovery. If I wanted to take back my life and become a writer, I had to start somewhere. Where better to start than with my own life experiences? My first…
Tag: #hope
Acknowledging the “Spoon Theory” & Accepting Your Limitations
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…
My Sudden Sight
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…
Trapped
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…
Pressing the Reset Button
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…
Waking Up: How I Took my Health into my Own Hands
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,…
How to Throw Your Best Pity Party Ever!
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…
A Good Day
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…
Scratching the Surface
The past couple months have been a bit of a whirlwind: moving, birthday, leaving my job, and starting grad school. In the movies, the start of an adventure is much the same. The take-off is rocky, you are introduced to a whole new set of wacky, lovable characters, and then set forth on a life-altering…
Fighting Fear, Fighting Frustration, Finding the Silver Lining
I finally made it home today, one week after going to the doctor to check on a fever. Funny how a checkup can turn into a brief hospital stay. Not so funny how a few nights in the hospital can bring back so many memories and ignite so much fear and frustration. Last Sunday, I…