Today I’m 37. 35 comment(s) | 225 view(s)
About 34 comment(s) | 3,781 view(s)
What’s Wrong With This Picture? 28 comment(s) | 3,194 view(s)
The 10 Most Common Candida-Diet Mistakes That Could Be Keeping You Sick 28 comment(s) | 22,817 view(s)
Announcing Autoimmune Warrior Bootcamp with Ann Boroch 26 comment(s) | 673 view(s)
Yup, I’ve Got MS. And I’m One Hell of a Catch. 24 comment(s) | 1,047 view(s) 22 comment(s) | 661 view(s)
Sex, Lies & Healing Multiple Sclerosis 22 comment(s) | 911 view(s)
Video: How I Discovered Ann Boroch’s Recovery Program 20 comment(s) | 1,034 view(s)
Wanna Eat Well But Don’t Wanna Cook? Look No Further. 19 comment(s) | 1,655 view(s)
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the phrases we play on repeat in our minds and how they frame our reality. I wrote about one of these the other day – the phrase “be free.” When I say that phrase to myself, I feel my consciousness expanding. But here’s another one that many of us have on repeat that we often aren’t even aware of: It’s the phrase “I know.” Unlike “be free,” which creates expansion, “I know” creates constriction. If you know, there is no room to learn. If you know, then...
This morning I was cranky and PMS-y and didn’t want to get out of bed. But my roommate thankfully knew what was best for me and all but pushed me out of the house to go to yoga. I drove my lethargic bag o’ bones there, all the while dreading the feeling of not-good-enough-ness that would surely descend upon me when I failed to meet my own yogic standards. But I got lucky today. I was blessed with a yoga teacher who delivered exactly what I was too constricted to realize I needed. She...
I have a friend who suffers from chronic cluster headaches.If you’re unfamiliar with cluster headaches (and hopefully you are), they are like migraines on steroids. Debilitating, stop-you-in-your-tracks, please-stick-a-need-in-my-eye intolerable pain. A few days ago, I was with him when he had one. Today we were talking and he said he wished I hadn’t seen that because it’s ugly and dark and scary and he thinks anyone who witnesses it would, and probably should, turn and run the other way, fast. I told him he’s been blessed with a very effective no-guts filter for use...
Earlier this afternoon, I felt the beginnings of a virus coming on. Turns out I had simply gotten caught up in my day and forgotten to eat anything, and I mistook a drop in blood sugar for the beginnings of sickness. But in those few moments that I thought I was getting sick, I didn’t feel dread, or anxiety, or frustration, or anything like that. I felt relief. I thought, “Oh thank goodness, I can take a break.” And then I thought, “Geez, that’s a really twisted thought, what’s that about?” Here’s what I...
My daughter has been on winter break and home from school for the last two weeks. As a single mom with no family around, these sorts of child-rearing marathons can be very taxing. It’s like, I love you and all, honey, but pleeeeasssse stop talking. Also, I wasn’t feeling well for most of the last week. Maybe it was the mild stomach virus I had, maybe it was a detox from how clean I’ve been eating, I don’t know. But what I do know is that I’ve felt this week like life was more...
Humans are adaptable creatures. If it takes 45 seconds for the water in your shower to get hot, then you learn to wait 45 seconds before stepping in. If you find a revoltingly humungous water bug on your bathroom floor one day while in mid-pee, then you start scoping the bathroom floor for unseemly creatures before sitting down on the toilet. (Yes, I may have pulled that example from recent personal experience.) Adaptability is an essential quality for humans to possess. Survival of the fittest and all that. The ability to adapt is biologically...
I am 9 years old. My nose is cold and so is the metal of the seat belt as I pull it across my chest. It’s 5:30, already dark, and my mom, my sister, and I are driving to McDonald’s for dinner. The McDonald’s is across the street from the Marlboro Motor Lodge, where we live, and it’s cheap, so we eat there most nights. We’ve been living at the motel for two weeks, ever since things got uncomfortable at her friend’s house, where we’d been staying in their semi-finished basement for the five...
Here’s the problem with living with MS and dating Superman. When he gets home from circling the earth 259 times and you say, “I’m not feeling very well today, I slept until 2 pm and I’m still too tired to make lunch,” he will look at you like you are speaking Swahili. Me and Superman, we may live in the same town, but we are from two very different worlds. It’s not really his fault. Superman’s a good guy. But his experience of illness and disability consists of menacing villains who trap him in...
So I’ve started dating this guy, and I think he might be Superman. He doesn’t sleep. He regularly stays up for three days at a time, welding and sawing in his shop, building these amazing custom tables and benches and funky metal wind chimes and wrought-iron bed frames, without so much as a cat nap and without the assistance of any drugs, energy drinks, coffee, or even a cup of green tea. I checked his kitchen for signs of artificial assistance. Nothing but fruit punch. I keep saying, “But you have to sleep,” and...
“One word is like a spell, and humans use the word like black magicians, thoughtlessly putting spells on each other.” – Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements “You have multiple sclerosis.” That’s a spell. Anyone who tells you with certainty and authority that you will only get worse as time passes is a black magician. Even your doctor. Even your husband. Even Wikipedia. Black magic, all of it. Anyone who tells you that you need to be prepared for the wheelchair is a black magician. Anyone who tells you that you should expect to...
