We all know the importance of a good sleep, particularly when you are also trying to deal with health conditions. Today I want to share some of the things I use to get the best night’s sleep I can, even during a flare-up.
None of the links in this post are sponsored; these are just things I have tried and really like. They aren’t going to cure insomnia, but they might help someone who is just having a bit of trouble.
Getting shut-eye
Many people find it hard to sleep in a room without total darkness. I’m not one of them, but I do have a lot of trouble keeping my eyes closed. They like being open. And when they’re open, they like looking at things, which is not helpful when I am trying to fall asleep. Accordingly, I wear a blindfold/sleep mask at night.
Some people prefer a style that doesn’t place pressure on the eyes – this one seems to come pretty highly recommended – but due to my aforementioned issue with keeping my eyes shut, I like one that rests on the eyelids. I prefer mine thick and squashy with no harsh edges digging in, like this one from Peter Alexander, or this one from Kmart.
Those who don’t want anything on their face at all may prefer to explore options such as blackout curtains, and, if they have electronics in their rooms, covering the lights with dimming stickers.
The nose knows
Whenever I find myself entering a rut where I’m struggling to get to sleep multiple days in a row, I always go back to certain rituals that help me sleep, because my body associates them with sleep. One of our most powerful senses for associating one thing with another is the sense of smell. Certain scents to me – lavender, chamomile, and clean fabric, for example – immediately say to me “sleep”. Finding scents that make your brain go “mmm…sleepy” can be really helpful in getting you in the right headspace. My favourite thing to use is Lush’ ‘Sleepy’ lotion. You might find a body wash, pillow spray, or essential oil that triggers a similar reaction in you.
Under pressure
Weighted blankets sort of blew up as a trend in the last few years, but they have a very legitimate purpose in calming people. When I feel the weight of mine settle over me, I start to relax instantly. The gentle pressure feels like it makes things hurt less. That may be entirely a placebo, but I don’t care – it works for me. Mine is 11kg, and I wish I could go heavier, but it’s best to start lighter and work up for your first one (I started with 6kg). The general guidance is not to go heavier than 10% of your body weight (although I find that is not enough for me). Here’s a good article on picking the right one for you (FWIW, glass beads are much more environmentally friendly).
Hit it where it hurts
Even in hot weather, heat is the only thing that does anything for my endo pain. Keeping the room cool and using my plug-in Heat Buddy electric heating pad does so much to help soothe my pelvis and let me relax enough to sleep. It’s not going to cure pain, or even get me to sleep during a really bad flare-up, but when I’m just experiencing that aching discomfort that plagues those of us with endo, this thing is a life-saver. Similarly, when I have back pain, I swear by the Deep Heat back patches.
A bedtime story
Normally, I like to fall asleep in the quiet. Sometimes, however, that just doesn’t work for me, and I turn to a guided meditation. I’ve written about Sleep Cycle before – they have some guided meditations to take you to sleep. My favourite is Body Guide by Kina Nyman. However, when I’m really struggling to sleep and Kina has failed me, I turn to the weird, rambling drones of the Sleep With Me podcast. I tend to skip the introduction, which is relatively wakeful, and jump straight into the strange stories that follow. Their dreamlike quality soon has my brain drifting into my own surreal subconscious.
Of course, these things are all supplementary to the usual “sleep well” advice, like drinking plenty of water (something I’m excellent at doing), not looking at screens an hour before bed (something I’m terrible at doing), and having a strong bed-time ritual to help signal to your body that it’s time to get ready for sleep (something I’m pretty patchy at doing…which sort of defeats the purpose).
In addition to the above I’ve also tried things like moon milk, which was nice enough but really didn’t seem to affect my sleep, and sleep supplements like valerian (smelly and useless) and melatonin (much more effective, but leaves me groggy the next day). I don’t want to recommend trying supplements, though, as I think that is a very personal decision that is best explored in consultation with a health professional.
I hope some of these recommendations can be useful to my fellow spoonies! Sleep well, and sweet dreams.
It’s a question I see a lot in endometriosis support groups: when is it worth going to the hospital?
It’s no secret amongst people with chronic pain – and, I suspect, particularly women and femme-presenting people with chronic pain – that going to hospital is sometimes the opposite of helpful. You will often have to wait in the emergency room for hours before getting a bed, which can be deeply uncomfortable. Once you’re in a bed, you are usually offered a panadol before anything else, and have to wait to demonstrate that that’s not doing anything before you’ll be offered a stronger option. Typically, I eventually get offered codeine, which I hate taking due to the side-effects and the fact that it doesn’t really help my pain – it just makes me too spacey to react to it normally. However, I’ve never been offered an alternative – if I don’t take it, I tend to just get ignored until I eventually cave and accept it, because “there’s nothing else we can really do for you.” Upon taking it, I tend to be sent home pretty quickly. For those who are offered stronger medications – morphine or ketamine, for example – the relief lasts as long as the drug. Once the medication is out of your system, you are back to being in pain until the flare-up ends. In my experience, hospitals have been reluctant to offer me a bed when all they can offer are painkillers, whatever the strength, although I know others who have been able to get ketamine infusions.
From the perspective of the patient, the offers of hard drugs can create hard decisions. The side-effects of strong medication, whether opiate-based or not, are really not fun. Constipation is the least of the issues you may have to deal with. Many of the options are also addictive.
Then you have the problems with perception. If you don’t seem to be in enough pain, you might not get taken seriously. If you cry and scream, you’re ‘hysterical’. If you ask for a particular medication because you know that actually works, you risk being labelled a drug-seeker.
Overall, the hospital experience for an endometriosis flare-up can suck from beginning to end. However, if you are suffering from excruciating pain, it may be what you need.
Here are some circumstances when I would always consider a visit to hospital:
If you had surgery. It can be hard to differentiate ordinary post-surgical pain from bad post-surgical pain, so if you have recently been under the knife and are experiencing serious pain, it can definitely be worth getting it checked out. If you can wait to get in with your specialist, by all means, do, but if the pain is too intense or you are too worried, it is always better to be safe than sorry, particularly if you are also experiencing a fever or there is something not right with your incisions.
If the pain is different to your normal pain. My usual endo pain is a strong ache, low in my abdomen, with a sort of uncomfortable pins-and-needles sensation. However, if the pins turn into large knives, or the ache becomes a fire, or the pain otherwise feels qualitatively different, that’s something I want to get checked out. You never know what else might be going on that your endometriosis symptoms might be masking. You don’t want to find yourself in surgery for a ruptured appendix or ovarian cysts because you just assumed that your endometriosis was up to new tricks.
If you have other symptoms along with it. If your pain has become sufficiently bad that it is causing you to shake, vomit, or black out, it is definitely time to get help.
If it is simply too severe for you to cope without serious pain relief. Sometimes, it does get beyond the point of tolerance, and there is absolutely no shame in seeking medical help to reduce the severity of the pain, or increase your ability to tolerate it. Remember that your tolerance may not always be the same; pain that you could cope with on Friday may drive you to the hospital on Monday, because you are too tired, or too stressed, or you have been feeling pain too long, and you just can’t cope as well as you could last time. That is absolutely fine, and you should never feel bad about that.
If the flare-up has lasted for an unusually long time. If it goes on for longer than usual, or longer than you can cope with, you may need the sorts of relief only a hospital can provide in order to give you a break, even temporarily.
Ultimately it is a judgement call, and the person who is best placed to make the decision about when to go to hospital is the person in pain (which feels really unfair, because I know I certainly don’t make my best decisions when I feel like there’s a live, cranky tiger in my uterus).
I should be clear that I don’t want people to be put off hospitals by what I have said above. Whilst there is often little a hospital can do for someone suffering a chronic pain condition, and whilst one bad doctor or nurse can make the whole experience hellish, sometimes a dose of medication and a kind medical professional can make the world of difference. I want to acknowledge the reality (and my own experience) that a trip to emergency is generally pretty awful, but that doesn’t mean it is the wrong choice.
I hope this is of some help in guiding my fellow sufferers in this decision. If you want a TL;DR – better safe than sorry!
First things first; I haven’t posted since 6 April. I’m sorry about that. 2020 has been a bad year for me, as it has been for so many, and I really struggled with burnout during the lockdown. I was one of the lucky people who was able to keep working during the pandemic, as it was very easy to transition to working from home. However, the isolation, combined with some other factors, made for a severe lack of energy and motivation, and this blog was the first thing to fall by the wayside.
I can’t guarantee that won’t continue to happen over time. Research has indicated a genetic link between endo, gut issues and depression (tell us something we didn’t know!), and I’ll admit my usual positive mood does tend to take a blow when my endo is flaring. However, I’m feeling not too bad at the moment, and have some new content I really want to get out in the next little bit. Expect some updates about surgery, the implanon, and some commentary on the pandemic and disability.
I’ve been really happy to see that this blog has still had views even whilst I’ve been inactive. I hope it has been useful to some people!
I also hope that people have been coping alright during the pandemic. Let me know in the comments what you’ve been up to, and how you’ve been.
You may have heard that quote doing the rounds a few times. To me, it’s super powerful and calls out a big problem with disability policy – it is often made with only minimal or token consultation with disabled people.
I’ve had cause to think about workplace disability policy a few times this year already, and now, during Endometriosis Awareness month, I really want to write about what I think good disability policy should look like.
1) Say why you have it, and do it properly
A lot of policies are all “Woo, diversity! 20% quota for people with a disability by 2050!” or something like that, but they don’t say why. At best, there is often a vague line about “because disability gives you unique perspectives!” and that’s it. That really makes it sound like the workplace is ticking a politically correct box rather than having a genuine desire to engage – employing us just becomes an exercise in making the workplace look good. Gotta catch ’em all.
What I would love to see is engagement with some of the real reasons employing disabled people is good. Reasons like:
It’s good for the economy to have disabled people employed in the first place;
It’s good for the workplace to have disabled people employed with reasonable adjustments so that they can produce their best work;
We are able to provide diversity of experience and viewpoints that abled people don’t have;
Having robust disability policy benefits abled people who are just one broken leg, back injury, car crash, or unfortunate diagnosis away from needing to use it themselves.
2) Make sure it is accessible
When you have a policy, advertise that you have it. Hand out hard copies at inductions. Pin it to your intranet. Make sure everyone knows it is there. Maybe make it compulsory reading, just like the code of conduct and your security policy.
Further, make sure everyone can actually read it. Is it available in accessible format for screen readers or text-to-voice readers? Is the language clear and simple?
3) Make sure the policies actually work
Maybe you have this really great policy allowing disabled people to access extra paid personal/sick leave…but they can only access it if they meet a whole bunch of extremely specific criteria, or are reliant on colleagues donating it, or they must have exhausted all of their annual leave to use it.
My proposal? Many workplaces allow you to buy additional paid annual leave at a one-for-one rate (e.g. you pay one week’s salary to get one week of additional annual leave), and the cost is spread out across your pay over several months or weeks. You usually have to meet some criteria, like you need to nominate a particular time to use it within.
Why not make a similar scheme for additional paid personal leave?Those of us with chronic conditions, who quickly exhaust our paid personal leave, often have to take random, unpredictable, but sometimes length chunks of unpaid leave. We might end up only have three paid days in an entire fortnight as a result. That can be really financially difficult.
If we could buy an extra, say, two weeks paid leave at the beginning of the financial year, and have that financial burden averaged out across our pay slips for the remainder of the year, we’d be losing just a few dollars a fortnight (or month, however often you are paid) rather than the majority of a single pay packet. We’d have a large additional buffer zone against needing to access our unpaid personal leave, and we’d be less likely to come to work when we are just a bit sick with a cold and spread our germs around because we are trying to guard against not having sick days during our next paralysing flare-up.
Sure, it should come with conditions to ensure it isn’t misused. I would recommend the following:
A doctor’s certificate stating that you have an ongoing condition or disability that will sometimes necessitate unpredictable sick days at a higher rate than the general population;
A cap on the amount (say an extra 2-4 weeks per year);
Approval from your manager, noting that they have also ensured that you are aware of your other rights and options under the disability policy (e.g. flexible work arrangements);
A requirement that we still provide medical evidence for that absence as usual;
A requirement that we have three days or fewer of existing paid personal leave.
Conditions I would not suggest are the following:
A ‘use it or lose it’ policy – some years, I might have a great year where I only need three days of personal leave (unlikely), but the next I may need three months. One good year isn’t indicative of my needs in the next year;
No ability to roll over unused purchased leave til the next year (see the first point for why);
A requirement that we have used all our annual leave – chronically ill people will rarely get to take actual holidays. Often, we’ve already exhausted our annual leave trying to ensure we don’t have large chunks of no payment due to having no paid personal leave. But holidays, breaks, mental health days – they are a right our abled colleagues all enjoy. They make people more productive, happier and healthier. Taking that away from us because we are sick means that the only time we get to spend away from the workplace is days where we are sick. Imagine if that was all abled people had too. It doesn’t make for a happy or productive workplace. Besides, if we are paying for our sick leave, we aren’t costing the workplace anything financially.
I think that the current crises highlights more than ever why the ability to acquire additional paid sick leave is vital. My wonderful workplace is providing extra sick leave to anyone who gets Covid-19, but not all workplaces will (admittedly, not all are equipped to). However, I would argue that being equipped for emergencies (not necessarily a global pandemic, but a bad flu season, perhaps) is part and parcel of running an organisations, particularly a large one. My supervisor says he banks on 1/3 of the work force being out during flu season for one reason or another; perhaps that is a good motto for anyone running an area with multiple staff.
4) Make sure your managers understand
I have been very lucky in my current workplace to have extremely understanding bosses, some of whom have very close experience with chronic illness or disability. However, not everyone is so lucky. I’ve heard nightmare stories of bosses who refuse to give disabled people opportunities, because they perceive them as:
inherently unreliable;
not entitled to ‘take up’ an opportunity that could go to an able-bodied person; or
not up to the demands of the opportunity.
Whether it is because the manager views the disabled employee as less capable, or is micromanaging to ensure they don’t get in trouble for pushing the disabled employee past their limits, the effect is the same – no opportunities for the disabled employee. That means no promotion, no career advancement, and a waning desire to remain in the job.
Having managers be educated, supportive, able to talk to the disabled employee about their needs, and able to strike a balance between supportive and over-protective is key. Get managers trained in having disabled staff.
5) Create visibility, opportunity and education
Finally, ensure that your disability policy doesn’t just employ disabled people and support them at their current level; make sure it allows disabled people to move through the ranks. Encouraged higher-ranking disabled people to be open about their disability by creating a culture in which doing so does not disadvantage them. For people at the bottom of the ladder, seeing that there are disabled people on the rungs above them gives them hope that they can also achieve that, which creates motivation and provides better workers for the employer.
It also normalises disability for people who aren’t used to seeing it, particularly in positions of power. That creates an all-around more inclusive and accepting workplace.
Don’t just stop at educating your managers, who will be supervising and mentoring disabled people – educate everyone. My workplace does sessions based off the ABC show “You can’t ask that” that allows non-disabled staff to ask questions about disability in an anonymous, judgement-free way, and hear answers from people living with those disabilities. It’s a great way to educate without having formal training sessions (which can be kind of weird and alienating when you are the person that the session is about!). Create days about diversity – have stalls and education campaigns explaining what it is like to have a particular disability. Send out newsletters. Educate the masses.
That’s my hot take on what larger workplaces can do to ensure they have a useful, robust disability policy. Do you have any suggestions I’ve missed? What does your workplace do well in this area? What does it do poorly? Let me know in the comments.
So, that title is definitely sarcasm. The stretches I am about to link you to are anything but sexy. You will look like a pretzel, like a frog, like you’re in stirrups at the gynaecologist, but I can almost guarantee you won’t look sexy (although you do you, of course).
So why am I talking about unsexy stretches? Because they can really help when you’re having a flare-up of endometriosis, or even on a good day when you want to try and put off the next flare. They aren’t a painkiller, of course; they won’t get rid of the agony. However, if you can do them, they will help relax your body and stretch out the pelvis. This may relieve some of the cramping. Relaxing the body can also help you deal with the pain better – holding tension in the body makes pain feel worse. Trying not to tense up during a painful flare is SUPER hard, but these stretches can force you into it.
Worst case, they’ll make you break wind, which might be embarrassing but can also be a relief, given the common connection between endo and the bowels.
I admit this post is short and really isn’t my work – I want this to be a collation of resources for fellow sufferers who are looking for some good ways to ease a tense pelvis. Please feel free to drop some other poses, stretches or gentle movements that help you in the comments – these ones help me the most but other people may have found some alternative amazing ones.
As with all exercise, if this makes things worse for your endo, stop!
I now present to you the best stretches I have encountered for my pain:
EIGHT STRETCHES ROUTINE
Image description: a person doing child’s pose on a pink yoga mat. They are kneeling down, and have leaned forward so that there chest is close to the floor and their arms are stretched out in front of them.
These eight positions from the Pelvic Pain Foundation vary from, “yes, normal people do that stretch” to “please don’t do that in public, you weirdo.” However, they all help relax the pelvis and open the hips. Relaxed Goddess (the sixth one) is my favourite. It can be very painful to ease into but it provides the most relief for me. I also love Child’s Pose because it helps the pain I get in my lower back.
For an alternative routine, check out this collection of six stretches. There’s some overlap, but this routine uses a supported spinal twist and cobra.
PIGEON POSE
Image description: a pigeon
Pigeon pose is another hip opener. More open hips = a more relaxed pelvic floor. It also makes sitting down more comfortable, especially cross-legged. This handy guide gives you a warm-up on how to get there using a position from the eight-stretch routine above.
Image description: a person doing a variant of pigeon pose. Their right leg is folded in front of them, and their left leg is extended behind them. Their arms are stretched up to the sky.
CAT-COW
Image description: a cat stretching
Cat-cow is more for the back than the last pelvis. The gentle movements help stretch out cramped back muscles and elongate the torso front and back. This guide is a good read as it contains some modifications for people with neck injuries.
Image description: a person doing cat-cow pose. They are on all fours with their head lowered and their shoulders rounded upwards.
CORPSE POSE
Image description: a person lying on their back, arms above their head, in a grassy field.
I know this looks like just lying on your back like a ninny, but honestly, lying out flat and focusing on relaxing is as much of a challenge sometimes as twisting yourself into bizarre shapes – particularly when you’re in a lot of pain. This pose is worthless if you don’t work at it. Pair it with structured breathing and focus on each part of your body at a time, taking the time to notice and feel each part, and releasing the tension piece by piece. Unclenching the jaw, smoothing out the brow, lowering the shoulders, unlocking the joints. If lying flat hurts too much, try tucking a pillow under your knees or neck to create some natural, supported bends in the body. Lying flat on my back puts a lot of strain on my lower back, but putting a pillow under my knees or even lying on the floor with my lower legs up on a chair has the same effect without the strain.
I like to end a series of stretches with corpse pose, particularly if I do them before bed.
Try this guide for a detailed step-by-step and video.
Back in 2019, I wrote a post on some songs I keep in my endometriosis playlist to listen to when I’m having a bad day. Today, I want to list 5 more.
I know there are way more amazing songs out there than I can possibly list here, so please go ahead and drop some more recommendations in the comments. What do you listen to when you are having a bad day? Do you have a favourite song about chronic illness?
1) Fight Song, by Rachel Platten
This song isn’t just about fighting; it’s about fighting when you don’t have anything left, when you don’t have any sleep or anyone left on your side.
Lyrics:
Like a small boat On the ocean Sending big waves Into motion Like how a single word Can make a heart open I might only have one match But I can make an explosionAnd all those things I didn’t say Wrecking balls inside my brain I will scream them loud tonight Can you hear my voice this time?This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I’m alright song My power’s turned on Starting right now I’ll be strong I’ll play my fight song And I don’t really care if nobody else believes ‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in meLosing friends and I’m chasing sleep Everybody’s worried about me In too deep Say I’m in too deep (in too deep) And it’s been two years I miss my home But there’s a fire burning in my bones Still believe Yeah, I still believeAnd all those things I didn’t say Wrecking balls inside my brain I will scream them loud tonight Can you hear my voice this time?This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I’m alright song My power’s turned on Starting right now I’ll be strong I’ll play my fight song And I don’t really care if nobody else believes ‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in meA lot of fight left in meLike a small boat On the ocean Sending big waves Into motion Like how a single word Can make a heart open I might only have one match But I can make an explosionThis is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I’m alright song My power’s turned on Starting right now I’ll be strong (I’ll be strong) I’ll play my fight song And I don’t really care if nobody else believes ‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me
Know I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me
Favourite line: I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion.
Listen when: You need the inspiration to go just one step further
2) I Can’t Feel, by Yours Truly
‘I Can’t Feel’ was written by a fellow spoonie, singer Mikaila Delgado, who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). EDS is a connective tissue disorder that causes hyper-mobility and tissue fragility. Just like those with endo, people with EDS often suffer pain with no obvious cause. Delgado shares her frustration, exhaustion, and loneliness in a world where pain wears us down, people don’t believe us and we so often go without answers.
Lyrics:
I don’t know if I’m feeling right Like this is something that’s in my mind now There’s no signs, there’s no symptoms here I’m aching in my bones, it’s getting out of handBut I’m not afraid of this If only I could put this mind to rest My days blend into one another see Give me a moment to step back and breatheI always feel like giving up Feeling tired out of luck Let me tell you that I’ve had enough I wish that I could sleep at night Close my eyes and feel alright But my conscience, it has other plans and II don’t know if I’m feeling right They tried to tell me it was in my mind and I’ve Been sleeping for days on end Getting told to get out of my bed and move forwardI can’t explain the pain I’m fucking over itI feel like giving up Feeling tired out of luck Let me tell you that I’ve had enough I wish that I could sleep at night Close my eyes and feel alright But my conscience, it has other plans and II can’t feel Anything else But my heartbeat soaring I always feel like giving up Feeling tired out of luck Let me tell you that I’ve had enough Yeah, I’ve had enoughI’m not afraid If only I could put this mind to restI always feel like giving up Feeling tired out of luck Let me tell you that I’ve had enough Wish that I could sleep at night Close my eyes and feel alright But my conscience, it has other plansAnd I can’t feel Anything else But my heartbeat soaring I always feel like giving up Feeling tired out of luck Let me tell you that I’ve had enough Yeah, I’ve had enoughI’m sick of waiting for a change That will never come my way When I tell you that I’ve had enough Yeah, I’ve had enough
Favourite line: They tried to tell me it was in my mind and I’ve been sleeping for days on end, getting told to get out of my bed and move forward
Listen when: you need to feel like someone else gets it.
3) Get Better, by Leslie Mosier
Leslie Mosier actually has endometriosis, so she definitely understands how it feels. ‘Get Better’ really encapsulates the struggle. The video also includes a lot of things we would be familiar with – TENS machines, endo belly, curling up in a little ball in bed. Of all the songs on this list, this one is definitely hits the closest to home.
Content warning: the video does contain needles, drugs and surgical procedures. It also contains a cute cat and a pug.
Lyrics:
Who was I before this? Will I make it through? The pain is slowly creeping Till there’s nothing I can do
My body in a circle Clouds fill up my eyes I wait for it to kick in So the hurt can be disguised
Breathing just feels harder Down I go again
Wake up, put on the makeup And smile for the camera Work hard, make money Maybe that will make me feel alright
No one really knows what you’re going through But they pretend to say they’re thinking about you I’m fine, I’ll be alright I just wanna get better, I feel like I’m a burden A liability But who am I to give a damn When my own body turned on me
Keep pushing on to see better days Even when it hurts I’m not defined by the times I’ve cried Or fallen to the dirt
Breathing just feels harder Down I go againWake up, put on the makeup And smile for the camera Work hard, make money Maybe that will make me feel alright
No one really knows what you’re going through But they pretend to say they’re thinking about you I’m fine, I’ll be alright I just wanna get better
Here I go, here I go, here I go again I’m at war with my body, my closest friend I’ve been broken, I’ve been down got up in the end Here I go, here I go, here I go again
Wake up, put on the makeup And smile for the camera Work hard, make money Maybe that will make me feel alright
No one really knows what you’re going through But they pretend to say they’re thinking about you I’m fine, I’ll be alright I just wanna get better
Favourite line: Who was I before this?
Listen when: you want the endo experience captured in a single song
4) Have It All, by Jason Mraz
‘Have It All’ has nothing to do with chronic illness, but I’m including it nonetheless because it always helps me. I sing it in my head and dedicate to a different person each time whose life I want to be beautiful and lovely even when mine isn’t, whether it be my sister, my best friend, or all the people out that also suffering from chronic pain.It’s just so nice.
It also reminds me of the good things in my life – my friends and family, whom I deeply love – even when I’m in a lot of pain and can’t do much stuff. During those times they can still bring me fun and happiness.
Lyrics:
May you have auspiciousness and causes of success May you have the confidence to always do your best May you take no effort in your being generous Sharing what you can, nothing more nothing less May you know the meaning of the word happiness May you always lead from the beating in your chest May you be treated like an esteemed guest May you get to rest, may you catch your breath
And may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows And may the road less paved be the road that you follow
Well here’s to the hearts that you’re gonna break Here’s to the lives that you’re gonna change Here’s to the infinite possible ways to love you I want you to have it Here’s to the good times we’re gonna have You don’t need money, you got a free pass Here’s to the fact that I’ll be sad without you I want you to have it all
Oh! I want you to have it all I want you to have it I want you to have it all
May you be as fascinating as a slap bracelet May you keep the chaos and the clutter off your desk May you have unquestionable health and less stress Having no possessions though immeasurable wealth May you get a gold star on your next test May your educated guesses always be correct And may you win prizes shining like diamonds May you really own it each moment to the next
And may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows And may the road less paved be the road that you follow
Well here’s to the hearts that you’re gonna break Here’s to the lives that you’re gonna change Here’s to the infinite possible ways to love you I want you to have it Here’s to the good times we’re gonna have You don’t need money, you got a free pass Here’s to the fact that I’ll be sad without you I want you to have it all
Oh, I want you to have it all I want you to have it I want you to have it all
Oh, I want you to have it all All you can imagine All, no matter what your path is If you believe it then anything can happen Go, go, go raise your glasses Go, go, go you can have it all I toast you
Here’s to the hearts that you’re gonna break Here’s to the lives that you’re gonna change Here’s to the infinite possible ways to love you I want you to have it Here’s to the good times we’re gonna have You don’t need money, you got a free pass Here’s to the fact that I’ll be sad without you I want you to have it all
Oh, I want you to have it all I want you to have it I want you to have it all
Here’s to the good times we’re gonna have Here’s to you always making me laugh Here’s to the fact that I’ll be sad without you I want you to have it all
Favourite line: May you get to rest, may you catch your breath
Listen when: You really want to think about someone else instead of your pain.
5) Skyscraper, by Demi Lovato
‘Skyscraper’ is about a relationship rather than a chronic illness, but just imagine, if you will, that she is singing to your endo. It’s a song of defiance even in the pain and desolation.
Lyrics:
Skies are crying, I am watching Catching teardrops in my hands Only silence, as it’s ending Like we never had a chance Do you have to make me feel like There’s nothing left of me?
You can take everything I have You can break everything I am Like I’m made of glass Like I’m made of paper Go on and try to tear me down I will be rising from the ground Like a skyscraper, like a skyscraper
As the smoke clears, I awaken And untangle you from me Would it make you, feel better To watch me while I bleed? All my windows still are broken But I’m standing on my feet
You can take everything I have You can break everything I am Like I’m made of glass Like I’m made of paper Go on and try to tear me down I will be rising from the ground Like a skyscraper, like a skyscraper
Go run, run, run I’m gonna stay right here, Watch you disappear Yeah-oh, go run, run, run Yeah, it’s a long way down But I am closer to the clouds up here
You can take everything I have You can break everything I am Like I’m made of glass Like I’m made of paper, oh-oh Go on and try to tear me down I will be rising from the ground
Like a skyscraper, like a skyscraper (Like a skyscraper) Like a skyscraper, like a skyscraper
Favourite line: Do you have to make me feel like there’s nothing left of me?
By now, the world has heard of the horrific bushfires that have been ravaging Australia for the past few months. People have died, hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and our beautiful bushland has been absolutely devastated.
Living in a country with a climate as volatile as this one – if we aren’t on fire, we are probably flooding, in drought, or feeling the impacts of a cyclone – it is vital that Australians remain disaster aware and know what to do if we get early warning of a natural disaster heading through our area.
Today I want to talk about what additional steps those of us with a chronic illness or disability should take, and what we should have in our go-bags. I’m not going to recap the basics; disabled or not, everyone should be carrying water, first aid kits and food. Those of us with health issues unfortunately have extra things to worry about.
The sad truth is that people with disabilities are twice as likely to be impacted by a natural disaster as those without. In the 2011 Japanese tsunami, the mortality rate for disabled people was twice that of the non-disabled population. We are statistically less able to evacuate, or require assistance to do so, and often shelters and disaster management plans don’t take disability into account. Even once safely evacuated, we often require greater levels of health care and access to services and vital supplies such as medication. We are often not consulted by governments, local or large, when making these plans.
This is why I don’t like writing this article. For sure, disaster-preparedness is on the individual, insofar as the individual can be prepared. But disabled individuals can run into hurdles so quickly. It’s all very well to say “have a go-bag and a method of escape”, but what if you literally can’t? That’s why I want non-disabled people to read the questions below too, and think what you can do to help. If the disabled person asking themselves these questions below has to say no to everything, they may well die when disaster hits. You could be the person that steps in and changes on of the ‘no’ answers to a ‘yes’. You could be their way out of the disaster zone.
In the meantime, fellow disabled and sickly friends, these are the questions we need to consider.
1) Before it happens
Stay in the loop! Studies suggest people with disabilities are often the last to know when disaster is approaching. If you have a smart phone or internet access, sign up for notifications from your local emergency services. If you don’t, know your local emergency news channel and tune in, via radio or tv.
If you are not an electronics person, then forge relationships with people around you so that they think to alert you when trouble is coming.
2) How are you going to get away?
Not everyone with a disability is fortunate enough to be able to drive. Plenty of people who can drive can’t afford to buy or run a car. If you can’t drive or don’t have a vehicle, have you put thought into how you might evacuate in the case of a natural disaster? Do you have family, friends or neighbours whom you can rely on for transport out of there? If not, is there a support network for disabled or sick people that you can reach out to? If not, does your city or town provide any services you can utilise?
If you have limited options, you need to consider those options much earlier than able-bodied people, as it is much harder to leverage the people around you when they are also at the point of scrambling for an escape.
You also need to think about where to go. Often, public shelters are not set up to accommodate those with disability or serious illness. It is a failing of the governments providing these shelters and it sucks that we are disadvantaged by it, but if there are better alternatives out there, you may wish to consider utilising them if you can.
3) If you cannot leave, or do not want to, what is your plan?
Is your home defensible in the case of fire? If you are looking at an earthquake, flood or cyclone instead, do you have a safe place within your home you can shelter? Will you be able to fend for yourself when the power goes out? If you are physically disabled or suffer painful flare-ups and you have to climb stairs or move around obstacles to get to a safe spot, are you able to do so unassisted?
If you know you will struggle alone, do you have a friend, neighbour or carer who will be able to stay with you? If they cannot or will not stay, see if you can organise for them to check on you as soon as they are able to return to the area, or alert emergency services. See if you can get their help in getting to a safe place within your home, and ensuring you have what you need close to hand.
4) Ensure you have all your medical stuff ready
If you have to leave your area or your normal doctor is not available, it can be very hard to get the medications you need. I know of too many people with endo who have seen a new GP whilst their usual GP is on leave and been told that the new GP will not dispense their normal pain medications. If you become aware of a disaster approaching your area, consider asking your GP to give you your next batch of pain meds sooner (explaining why, of course!), or to provide you with a letter to show a new GP to encourage them to write a new script for you. Have crucial numbers – GP, specialists, family, carer and employer – written down, in case you have no internet access to look them up.
If you can, get your most important medical documents together – Medicare card, healthcare or pension card if you have one, private insurance documents if you have insurance, notes from recent procedures, etc. If you use an aid or device, whether it’s a wheelchair, hearing aid, colostomy bag, catheter, or alternative pain management devices such as TENS machines or chargeable heat-packs, have them accessible. Make sure you also have spares, or necessary supplies like batteries or a charger.
If you have a service animal, ensure that you also have their medical stuff together, along with spare food (particularly if they need a special diet).
If you are evacuating with someone (the ideal), ensure that they are aware of your basic needs and know how to operate your equipment or help administer your medication.
5) Consider the extras
For those with endo or other diseases causing random, prolonged bleeding from the crotch, make sure you have plenty of pads or period-underpants. (You can get the Love Luna brand from Woolworths now.) If access to fresh water may be limited, look for wipes that are safe to use for the vulva so that you can keep yourself clean and help reduce the chance of infections such as thrush.
If you are prone to flare-ups, ensure that the clothes you are wearing and the clothes in your go-bag are soft, comfortable and won’t irritate sore pelvises, joints, or other pressure points. Go for quick and easy – maxi dresses, tracksuit or pjs bottoms, and t-shirts. Pack your softest, comfiest bra.
If you have a speech impairment or are deaf/hard of hearing and usually communicate through sign language, pack pen or paper – there’s a good chance evacuation may result in you being surrounded by people who have no AusLan skills and won’t be able to communicate with you properly.
If you are going to be staying, consider devices that can attract attention easily with minimal effort from you – bright torches (a good idea anyway for when power goes down) and a loud whistle or air-horn.
These are the five major things that I think we need to consider above and beyond the things an able-bodied person might. Some of them may not be issues for you; there may be many things I have no mentioned here that are vital considerations for you. You know yourself best and are in the best position to plan.
If you would like a more detailed resource, check out this guide by FEMA and the American Red Cross. It covers a lot of stuff and I found it a bit overwhelming, but it is much more comprehensive that what I’ve written here.
If anyone who has been evacuated or impacted by the Australian bushfires, or by any other natural disaster, would like to share their experiences and insight, please do so. This is such an important area of advocacy – lives are literally at stake – and the more information and tips we all have, the better.
I’ve written before about how the new year is always a time of hope for me – even though it is really just a Tuesday turning to a Wednesday, divided by the fairly arbitrary line of 31 December and 1 January, it always feels like a clean slate. I’ve also written about the importance of people with endo being realistic in their goal-setting. Today, I want to talk about my goals for 2020, and hear yours.
First, a brief note on my 2019 goals. I achieved two of them. They were to improve my Arabic, get my scuba qualification, and read the Old Testament of the Bible. Well, I succeeded in my scuba qualification (a few months later than planned) and will be getting my advanced qualification later this year. I managed the Old Testament with time to spare, and I’ll crack on with the New Testament in 2020. As for Arabic – turns out that is really hard to learn yourself, because trying to get any two courses, youtubers or Arabic-speaking friends to agree on the way to say something is impossible. There are too many dialects, and trying to find a consistent source for Modern Standard Arabic was a wild goose chase. However, I did start Mandarin lessons, and I can now tell you ‘Wo mao feichang shuai,’ (my cat is very handsome), although apparently you should only say ‘shuai’ about people, not cats, even though Max is a very handsome cat indeed.
Image description: A ginger striped cat with green eyes is lying on his side on a concrete floor, looking just below the camera. There is a garage roller door behind him.
Ultimately, I think I took the lessons from my own post to heart, and the Arabic failure was because I lacked resources (which I should have researched more) rather than because my goal-setting process was flawed.
This year, my goals are a little different. I still want to finish off the Bible by reading the New Testament, which is fairly easy to plan out and achieve; it just requires a bit of commitment. My other two are more projects than goals.
Project 20 in 2020
My first project is very involved. Have you heard of the ’20 in 2020′ craze that’s sweeping the bullet-journalling community? Basically, you set 20 goals to complete in the year 2020 – bonus points if they somehow incorporate the number 20 (e.g. 20 days with no social media, 20 days of walking 20k steps or more, etc). Now, trying to do 20 sets of 20 things isn’t realistic for me, so some (most) of my goals are per month instead. I’ll be trying the following:
Publish 20 posts on this blog!
Reading 12 types of books I don’t normally read (e.g. I’m a fantasy/sci-fi girl, and rarely read autobiographies);
Reading 20 books by women (my first list was a little male-heavy; this list is also diverse in terms of ethnicity and genre);
Watching 12 movies I don’t normally watch (I’ve committed myself to such cinematic horrors as a gangster film and a sports film – two genres I would never normally touch);
Listen to 20 new artists (I felt like 20 works for this category as it is pretty easy to listen to music – please leave some recommendations in the comments!);
Go on 12 walks around the local region;
Go on 12 adventures (a coast trip, more scuba, a day at a museum, laser tag – anything fun and different);
Go on 12 dates with my husband;
Run 20km per month (or swim 4km, if running isn’t possible);
Go to the gym twice a week;
Save 20% of my income;
Write monthly emails or letters to my grandparents;
Write monthly notes to my sponsor child;
Bake 12 new things;
Cook 12 new meals;
Complete 12 art projects;
Do 12 pieces of calligraphy;
Complete 12 pages in my beautiful Citrus Book Bindery journal that my wonderful parents bought me for Christmas;
Get rid of 20 items of clothing (that is a net reduction – if I buy 20 new things and get rid of 20 old things, that doesn’t count – I’d have to get rid of 40 old things. Getting rid of can mean selling, donating, re-purposing, or binning only if it is beyond salvation, as a way of trying to live green).
Finish one computer game per quarter (I’m terrible for buying a bunch of games and then just not finishing them, unless they are Batman or Tomb Raider).
Now, this may be an epic failure, because on the face of it, it breaks a lot of the rules I set out in my goal-setting post. However, take this list with a pinch of salt, because it has two important rules.
My health comes first. If trying to complete these things starts to cause my health to decline, everything else takes a backburner, no guilt, until things are back where they should be.
Even if I remain in perfect health all year, this is a list to try, not a list I will berate myself for not completing. The aim of this list is to be open-minded, try new things, have adventures, and see if I can be a more well-rounded, better-educated person with more experiences at the end of it. I want it to make me into someone who doesn’t put things off for another day (which tends to result in them not getting done ever). If I manage that, this is a success, even if I don’t complete a single category on this list.
I want to do it all, but if I can’t, I’m not going to be unhappy with myself. I will only be unhappy with myself if I don’t even try.
You’ll notice I haven’t put traditional New Year’s guilt goals in there (lose 20 kilos, for example). This list is about making me better and happier through new experiences and good habits, not about guilt.
Project Better Life
My second project is to take control of my life again. Last year, my goals related to singular events that I wanted to achieve, and once achieved (or abandoned) I kind of just drifted along a bit. This year, my focus is broader.
What does reclaiming my life look like? Well, it involves the following:
Using my time productively: instead of mindlessly scrolling the internets or watching something on Netflix I’ve seen a hundred times before, I’m going to use the time in furtherance of my other goals. That might mean reading one of the books from the above list, using my commute to listen to Audible or a new artists,, spending time with my husband, or going to a gym class. My time is valuable and could be used for so many good things. I don’t want to waste it any more.
Follow the two-minute rule: if a task can be done in two minutes, do it. That means no more floordrobe, breakfasts prepped ahead of time, etc.
Being consistent and persevering until I have good habits: I’m going to set myself tasks and schedules(flexible and subject to illness) to see what sticks and what I can keep up with. For instance, I wake up earlier than my husband, so if I can get a load of laundry into the machine on Saturday mornings before he does, I’ll actually have my favourite undies clean and ready to go each week instead of having to resort to the Emergency Knickers (you know, the ones that aren’t that comfy and maybe give you a wedgie but you just can’t justify throwing them out so you shove them into the back of the drawer and wear them when the other ones aren’t available. I’m sure I’m not the only person with this sort of underpants division). Once things are automatic, they’ll be easier to keep up.
Acting mindfully, deliberately, in pursuit of my long- and short-term goals, and in support of my mental and physical health. I want the choices of what I eat, what I use my time for, what I do at work, to be deliberate and take me in a specific direction. I am going to check back in with my goals regularly to make sure I stay on track.
The reason for this project is simple: endo – any chronic illness, really – robs you of control. I already know that when I have a habit, it is easier to keep it up when I’m lacking in spoons and just want to collapse. I know I sound like a self-help book right now, but I’m feeling positive. I want to ride this wave of energy through the first quarter of the new year and into new, good habits. Once I hit the quarter-year crisis, hopefully I’ll be fore-armed and be able to keep things up on a more long-term basis.
You’ll notice none of the above relate to my endometriosis specifically. You just can’t plan for or control chronic illness. All you can do is deal with it as it happens and keep your mental health strong.
Once again, I’m using my Leaders in Heels ‘Make It Happen‘ planner as a goal-setting tool. I’m not sponsored by LIH or anything; I just really love this planner. It has a great layout and devotes a heap of space to breaking your goals down and referring back to them.
What are your goals and plans, dear readers? What do you want to change this year, if anything? Do you set goals? Once again, please drop recommendations for new music in the comments – new adventures too! I’d also love to hear your thoughts on what you want to see in Bubbles in the Brain this year. Do you have questions about endo you want answered? Topics you wish I’d write about? Let me know.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. The reason is very simple: life got in the way, as it often does. In September I was so healthy I was too busy living life to blog; in October and November I was too sick. In December I was just too lazy.
Now, however, I am back, and with a goal of publishing 20 posts this year. Let’s see if I can stick to it – 20 posts for 2020. Expect something roughly every fortnight, barring disasters.
I hope, my dear readers, that you have been well and that endo has not kept you from having a peaceful, enjoyable Christmas break. I’ve been fortunate that mine has been behaving pretty well of late.
Today, I want to kick off the new year by looking back at the old one, and recapping some of the thing I learned during it. You can also read my lessons from 2018 here. Hopefully some of these lessons will also be useful to you. Some might be totally different for you – if your experiences are different to mine please leave a comment below.
1) Big decisions can bring big rewards
At this time last year, I had quit my old job as a litigation lawyer and was waiting to start my new one as a policy lawyer. In other words, I was moving out of the world of appearing in court and arguing about the law and into the world of writing and interpreting it. It was a huge and scary move, but it was so worthwhile. I love my new job; I have learned fantastic new skills, come to appreciate an area of law I never would have previously considered, and met amazing new people. Most of all, my health has benefited enormously. Away from the intense stress of family violence litigation and in a more disability-friendly workplace, my endo pain reduced and I was able to recover when I needed to without pressure or condemnation. If you are considering a similar move, I encourage you to read my post on making this kind of decision.
Another huge decision was coming off the depot shot. I wrote about what factors to consider in making a decision like this last year, and that it how I made this one. Remember that dropping meds may not be a success story for everyone, so think carefully before doing it.
I transitioned to the depot (aka leupron or leuprorolin) after my Zoladex went wildly wrong. Depot was pretty hit and miss for me – it worked well some months, and did nothing at all others, leaving me jumping in and out of menopause like a frog with hot flushes, causing my mood, sleep cycle and weight to go wacky. After it failed yet again in November, I threw my hands up and said, ‘enough is enough.’ I didn’t get my next shot. I was expecting disaster, but instead, things got better. My pain is massively decreased and my weight and sleep patterns are returning to normal. Combined with dietary measures, I’m feeling better than I have since my first operation. I don’t know if being on it gave my body the rest it needed or what, but I’m grateful.
Despite ongoing fears, I plan to keep making big decisions with courage over the next year.
2) There will always be people who refuse to understand
Whether they be doctors, family, annoying strangers, or even other members of the endo community, there are plenty of people who will steadfastly refuse to accept what they are being told about endometriosis if it contradicts their own experience or worldview. I see this constantly in the Australian endo community – sufferers regularly report their experiences with unsympathetic family, colleagues and medical practitioners. I’ve experienced it before too. Try and gently educate if you have the energy, but if it becomes clear that you are banging your head against a brick wall, just leave it. You can only hope that enough people saying the same thing as you will eventually change their minds. In the meantime, your precious energy is better spent elsewhere.
3) We can’t hold ourselves to the same standard as healthy people
By this, I’m not saying we have a license to be awful people. What I’m saying is that we can’t always manage the same activities, and that’s ok. We won’t always get the same results even if we do manage, and that’s ok too. We are not in competition. We can only try our best, seek balance between our health and the rest of our lives, and accept ourselves as enough. Giving our all may not look the same as a healthy person giving our all, and it may cost us much more to do so; don’t try and force yourself to keep up if you can’t.
4) There are so many other illnesses
I hadn’t realised the number of other chronic conditions that so many endo-warriors deal with in addition to endo – fibromyalgia, adenomyosis, chronic fatigue, vaginismus, interstitial cystitis, and polycystic ovarian syndrome, to name a few. We are sickly, sickly children.
We are also more likely than most to suffer the various reproductive cancers – particularly ovarian cancer – because the symptoms are so similar to those we already have that we often don’t seek a diagnosis until it is too late. I’m going to write more on the different reproductive cancers and some of the other secondary conditions I haven’t covered yet a bit later in the year; keep an eye out.
5) Just as people can be cruel or ignorant, they can also be very kind
Not everyone we meet will understand endo or be nice about it, but there are some absolute gems out there. You hear stories of people with endo collapsing at the shops and being helped by random women; of people getting caught short with unpredictable periods and angels with spare pads or tampons standing by; of sufferers with no family being hospitalised and visited by other endo-warriors bearing snacks and magazines. In my own life I have my family and friends, who will do anything to help me when they know things are getting bad.
When you see that kind of beautiful act, treasure it; do what you can to spread it further. The world can seem like a really dark and awful place sometimes, but those little moments bring hope and comfort. In the words of Cinderella: have courage and be kind.
So, those are the main lessons brought home to me in 2019. What did you learn, or have reinforced? Let me know in the comments!
August has slipped away and we are finally into spring! Before I can celebrate the joyous arrival of that lovely season, though, I want to talk about what I was grateful for in the final month of winter.
I’m sorry it has taken me so long to do this. I ended August on a bad note, with a solid two weeks of pain that eventually got so horrific I was forced to take a week off. It’s always super depressing that happens, because you start questioning the effectiveness of your treatment and eventually spiral down into deciding that nothing will fix you and you are doomed to be eaten alive by your own uterus. It’s hard to be grateful in those circumstances and it has made this list a little harder to complete.
Nevertheless, grateful I am and grateful I will continue to be. Here’s what about.
1) Having a warm home
I used to volunteer in a men’s homeless shelter overnight in winter. You’d sleep on the ground in the church hall we were given for it, inside a sleeping bag. Even with my cosy sleeping bag, it was chilly. Of course, I only had to do that one or two nights a month. For the men that utilised the shelter, they had to sleep in those conditions or worse every night.
Image description: a wood fire burning in a brick fireplace.
Australia can get cold at night. Really cold. Dying of exposure is a possibility. Each winter I am grateful for four walls and a roof, a warm bed and fluffy pyjamas. I am glad that my pets are also safe and warm around me.
2) Wonderful work friends
As I noted in July, our team grew again, and I’m delighted that our new additions are, like my existing colleagues, smart, capable, hard-working, kind, hilarious women that I can have a good laugh with even whilst we are working under heavy pressure to produce good stuff. With or without these ladies, my work would be interesting, but they make it delightful. People really do make a workplace.
3) New suit
It’s red. It’s fabulous. It was on sale. Enough said.
Image description: a blonde white woman wears a black dress with flowers printed on it and a dark red blazer with a waterfall front. This is the jacket from my new suit. Image and jacket from Review Australia.
4) Blue skies
You know those windless winter days where the air is still crisp and cold but the sun is beautifully warm and the sky is a perfect rich blue without a cloud in sight? Australia does those days well. I love them, and the end of August gave me plenty of them.
5) Gorgeous sunsets
The sunsets really started to get pretty in August. They’d be gold at the horizon, fading up through pink, into violet, through all the shades of blue. The city skyline and the hills around were silhouettes perfectly against it. It was all just super pretty.
6) Two straight weeks of work
Sure, I ended August with a horrific flare-up and the two weeks leading up to them involved a fair amount of pain, but I managed them at work and I achieved good stuff.
7) Age of Empires
Image description: computer graphics showing some short wooden towers and walls on either side of a path. There are trees and cliffs to their right. Further to the right is a stone house and a stone tower, looking over the coast line. In the very blue sea is a dock and three little ships. The text across the picture reads, “Age of Empires II: HD Edition.”
I got my first copy of AoE in a box of Nutrigrain. It was great. My sister and I soon acquired Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. We were thrilled when Age of Empires III came out. It’s fun, it’s pretty, you get to fight the French. I went on a bit of a binge during August and enjoyed not only the game, but the nostalgia too. There are many different nations to play as and against, each with their own distinct characteristics and style. Also exciting: apparently there is going to be an Age of Empires 4 released next year.
8) B12 spray
Image description: a white spray bottle with a blue label that reads: B12 Liquid.
I take a LOT of vitamins. Between the IBS and the endo and the various deficiencies, I have to swallow a lot of tablets. Not only is a sublingual spray a more efficient way of absorbing B12 (particularly important for vegans), it’s relatively tasty and it is one less pill to have to force down your throat. It’s actually a big relief for me to find a way to take this important supplement without having to fight nausea to do it. I use this bad boy: https://www.discountepharmacy.com.au/bioceuticals-b12-spray/
9) Tofu
Maybe it sounds like a silly thing to be grateful for, but I really am. It’s such a versatile and delicious food. It’s really quick to cook and it doesn’t cause me digestive issues. It’s very nutritious, with plenty of protein and surprising amount of iron for a such a pale, flabby-looking food (I always associate iron with dark colours like kale or spinach). I particularly like it as a scramble (crumbled into a frying pan with oil and whatever herbs, spices and vegetables I fancy) or fried in a coating of salt, pepper and flour. Yum.
10) My parents
Once again, my parents helped me out during my week of sickness. My mum came out twice, brought me some groceries and did some of my laundry, and my dad came out once, drank my tea and then had to leave because he’s allergic to my cat. Having help with the chores went you can’t stand is just the biggest weight off your mind – not only does a cleaner space make my mental health better, it relieves the pressure on me and on my husband, who of course otherwise has to pick up the slack when I’m sick. Even just having company makes a big difference – being home sick is a lonely, isolating experience. You feel a bit unloved and a bit useless. Company helps relieve that.
What were you grateful for in August? Anything amazing happen? Did you have to struggle to find the silver lining in the clouds? Let me know in the comments.
Bubbles in the Brain 