Illness as Metaphor, or Befriending the Enemy

31Mar07

Without the imposed structure of work or school,

there are times when I forget everything I love about my life and buy into the societal belief that a lack of structure equals incompetence, laziness, and worthlessness. I’ve worked very hard to move away from this negative belief, and to realize that whatever I am [...]

Filed under: Health, art, books, dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, literature, pain, sleep   |  3 Comments

Dwarf sunflowers, seitan, bad days

24Mar07

I just wrote a post, complete with illustrations, and through a series of absurdly frustrating events it has been lost.

However! Instead of throwing myself to the floor and forsaking my computer, I am going to re-create the post for you. Let’s hope that the parts I forget needed to be edited anyway. [...]

Filed under: Health, art, cooking, dogs, dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, food, gardening, pain, sleep   |  1 Comment

snippet

15Mar07

There are many things I’ve made a note to discuss with you, sweet, faceless readers, and I can imagine writing an engaging, colorful post about them. Alas, imagining it is all you will be able to do, because I cannot summon the mental or physical energy today to write fully or well. Part [...]

Filed under: Health, art, dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, film, friends, gardening, movies, sleep   |  4 Comments

New Art Page!

09Mar07

With the daily pain, exhaustion, and myriad other distressing, often inexplicable symptoms I experience with FM, dysautonomia, etc, it is easy at times to become disheartened and bitter (not sweet or salty, but occasionally sour).

Sometimes I forget what it’s like to feel excited about something, to feel hopeful, to lose myself while focusing on something [...]

Filed under: Health, art, dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, pain   |  0 Comments

Spoon Story

08Mar07

I came across this story, and while it is a bit lengthy I wanted to send you to it because it presents a great metaphor for what it’s like to have a chronic, invisible illness. For those of us who experience this, it’s validating and comforting to read about an experience similar to ours, [...]

Filed under: Health, art, dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, pain, sleep   |  2 Comments

Rozerem, back pain

23Feb07

I’m not having a great day, so this will be short-ish, but I thought it was important to write a post anyway. Lately I’ve been making an effort to do things even though I can’t do them as well as I’d like to. Will/desire is attempting to win out over perfectionism/paralysis.

a perfectionist:

I’ve been [...]

Filed under: Health, art, dogs, dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, friends, sleep   |  11 Comments