Category Archives: Staying Positive

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

Humor, Mental Health, Staying Positive December 4, 2012 Comments: 2

Last winter, housebound and often in bed, I watched the video above many times every day. Who knows why it makes me laugh out loud—though I will admit, dogs and food rank as two of my favorite things.

At any rate, more than 123 million YouTube views say I am not alone. I am pretty sure I accounted for a healthy portion of that number.

Let me just say that it’s a downer struggling to recover from a disease that affects your mind, your body, your family life, your career, and your bank account. Sometimes you just have to look to humor to get by.

To my daily task list (swallow pills, infuse IV drugs, inject blood thinner, follow steps to detox, rest, exercise (baby steps), rest some more, and eat loads of vitamin-rich food), I have added: laugh.

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An Encounter a Day

Battling Isolation, Staying Positive December 1, 2012 Leave a comment

Mo says, “Time to go out and greet the neighbors!”

I woke up this morning gripped firmly in the vise of depression. The minute I opened my eyes, I felt the weight of negative thinking pressing hard on me: “I will never again have my life back as I knew it.”

Sure, since my total relapse a couple of months ago thanks to a new tick bite, I’ve improved drastically. But still, on a good day I can manage only one or two activities—and manage is the key word. The rest of the day is an interminable stretch I try to fill with reading, movies, and rest enough to keep the pain at a tolerable level.

I miss walking, running, biking, hiking, traveling, shopping, visiting my kids, cooking wonderful meals, visiting friends, volunteering in my community. Not to mention working. I’m not always able to be positive about my slow but steady improvement.

Fear that I’ll hit a plateau weighs me down. But I’ve learned I can help myself by sticking to this anti-depression strategy: enjoy one social encounter a day.

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Shoe Shopping

Mental Health, Staying Positive November 18, 2012 Comments: 2

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Today I ordered shoes online. Three-inch heels. A purple pair. And another, goldenrod yellow. Such extravagance.

I am not normally the sort of person that revels in retail. Usually, I give my spirits a boost by seeking nature, not Nordstrom’s: the sun on my skin, bird calls, an array of wildflowers or beautiful leaves.

But today, as I was surfing the internet in bed, a shoe store ad appeared in my inbox. I felt compelled to indulge. The effort and strain of going to a store does not appeal these days, but I felt great satisfaction clicking through the pages and hitting the “complete order” button.

You have to understand that shoes have not been fun lately. Ever since a tick bite a couple of years ago, I’ve had a stabbing pain in my left foot. It seemed to be a nerve inflamed by bunion pressure. But now I am not so sure, now that I know I have lyme. The foot pain flares when other lyme symptoms do; it is the one symptom that has remained constant as others ebbed and flowed, flared and faded.

The podiatrist gave me custom orthotics and told me to stay out of heels; I gave most of mine away and bought expensive, practical, unlovely sandals made by a running company. But improvement in my foot pain came only when I started antibiotics for lyme.

So today as I lie in my bed working on my computer, my cheerful thought is that the treatment will ultimately fix my poor foot along with the rest of me. So I can get out of flats and back to strappy, three-inch heels.

I place the order for pretty footwear, and I can see myself walking straight and tall instead of scrabbling along limping and hunched in pain. I can imagine walking easily down city sidewalks, feeling strong and independent again in sexy, feminine heels.

And for once, I don’t mind calling myself a material girl.