New Year, New Diagnosis (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome)
As those who have been following my journey are aware, I began to struggle pretty significantly with my health last summer, after years of things not feeling quite right with my body. In late July, the worst joint pain of my life led me to seek the assistance of a rheumatologist, who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by unexplained widespread chronic pain and fatigue. I was so desperate for answers–and validation–that having a diagnosis, any diagnosis, was a huge relief; it seemed like a step in the right direction, and I felt optimistic that I could manage my condition through mindfulness, medication, and moderated movement. In the month or
The Best Books I Read in 2024
As I wrote in my last post, 2024 was a difficult year, one that challenged me in more ways than I could have ever anticipated. On the positive side, being forced to slow down and rest more meant that I was able to read more books than any previous year–over ninety in total! There was so much incredible literature I consumed last year that it was hard to narrow down this list to just ten titles, but here they are: Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro Never Let Me Go is a beautifully-written work of literary science-fiction told from the perspective of Kathy, a young woman who works as a
2024: A Challenging, Frustrating Year
It’s hard to believe that December is already halfway over. These last few months have felt excruciatingly long, yet looking back on them now, they seem to have passed by in the blink of an eye. Since I finished my book in late-September, my time has primarily been divided among reading, conceptualizing my next project, and trying to get a handle on my persistent–and ever-perplexing–health issues. There’s a lot of uncertainty in my life at the moment, and I feel like I’m suspended in time, biding my time while I wait: for answers; for my writing career to take off, or at least gain a little momentum; for my ideas
A Huge Life Change and Growing Stronger from Adversity
Fall is finally here. The days are getting cooler, the trees are beginning to shed their multicolored leaves, and a scurry of squirrels has inundated my backyard to stockpile nuts for the upcoming winter. This year, the arrival of autumn signifies more to me than merely the changing of seasons, but also a fresh start, and the long-awaited end to what has been one of the most challenging summers of my life. Back in June, I wrote a blog post about the positive mental transformations I was experiencing as a result of certain changes to my lifestyle. Well, no more than a couple of weeks had elapsed since publishing that
Managing My Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (So That I Can Write!)
OCD isn’t something I’ve really discussed much, even though it’s been a part of my life for going on four years. This is partly because, for a long time, I didn’t have the terminology to describe the worsening compulsion that was wreaking havoc on my writing, and partly because, until about a year ago, I wasn’t able to admit to myself that I even had a problem. As infuriating as my disorder was, it was also extremely familiar, and I wasn’t yet ready to face up to the truth and change my counterproductive ways. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the OCD started, but if I had to guess, I’d
Simplifying Life and Quieting My Mind
At the start of the calendar year, I made it my goal to prioritize my mental health; I wanted 2024 to be the year I overcame–or at least began to overcome–the mental health issues that’d been negatively, and significantly, impacting my life for the last few years. Mainly, I’m referring to my anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which, as my eating disorder progressively got better, have progressively gotten worse. And as the latter, in particular, had begun to wreak havoc on my writing career, this seemed like the year to face it head-on, to put in the hard work required to improve my mental health with the goal of improving the quality