Archive for the “Blissful Thinking” Category
Hey ya’ll,
Happy Monday to everyone. It feels so good to be able to sit here, sip my Grande Pike Place and share some conversation.
I am taking some creative license with today’s topic and in the process introducing you to Carolyn Ellis.
I don’t know Carolyn personally, but her website is www.thriveafterdivorce.com. I can’t even tell you how it is I ran across her website because for me personally…divorce is soooooo yesterday! Been there, done that. And “yes” I am thriving. I hope you will check out Carolyn’s website, especially if you are going through the big “D” and I don’t mean Dallas.
Anyway, at some point in time I signed up for Carolyn’s newsletter and one popped into my mailbox today. The subject, “Productivity and Energy: 4 Strategies to Managing Your Energy Cycles”, really jumped out at me. So, today’s conversation is going to relate these strategies to “Us”, the autoimmune community, no divorces required (that’s my personal disclaimer, grin).
The article started out by asking if you struggle to become more productive and get ahead of your “to do” list,
“He-llo” often times when we have serious health concerns I don’t know about you, but I shut down. “To Do” list? What “To Do” list? I ain’t got no stinkin’ “To Do” list!
Next we are given a gentle reminder that:
An important, yet often overlooked, aspect that is critical to your success is your energy cycle.
Carolyn’s tips are to:
- Tune into Your Energy Cycle
- Grab Your Board When the Surf is Up
- Dig for Clams When the Tides are Low
- Shift Gears When You Need to
For the sake of not overwhelming you I am going to share my insights on each of the four items in separate conversations…because I have so freakin’ much to say about each one, LOL!
I would like to tell you that I will share my insights on Tune into Your Energy Cycle in tomorrow’s post, but alas, if you have been paying any attention to this blog at all you know that I am not exactly on a schedule.
On a lighter note, don’t you just hate it when you hold down the key on your laptop for a capital letter and you just get a string of lower case letters? Please tell me I am not the only one who does this…pretty please.
Thanks for following along with me as I face life with lupus, join me next time as we discuss “Tuning into our Energy Cycle”. And I hope you will have some input, aka comments…one way conversations are ok, but joint conversations are “Priceless”.
Later,
Ruby
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Hola Compadres, are you watching “So You Think You Can Dance”? I am .
Are you aware of the benefits of dance?
NO?
Please be pulling my leg!
Here are just a few:
Can you say “flexibility”?
How about “strength”?
“Endurance“, you bet!
Dance improves your “self esteem”.
Did I mention “FUN”, hel-lo!
Dance has been part of my life forever. I took modern jazz classes as a young girl, you know, so I would have a talent. Really, that was my stepmother’s reasoning. I took a year of tap lessons, but I was never interested in ballet until a few years ago when I was trying to improve my “arm lines”. Dance was a big reason I was healthy enough to survive my horrific lupus flare that left me with lungs full of scar tissue. Dance was an intricate part of my recovery. Dance lessons were something to look forward to. An escape from the reality of medications, pain, doctor visits, CT scans of my chest and pulmonary function tests every six months for several years.
My lupus diagnosis journey was of course the culmination of many factors. The week Mick and I had an appointment at the County courthouse to get married I was in the hospital for three days with “pneumonia”. Loaded up on antibiotics and released on Thursday so I could get married on Friday. The following week…you guessed it, back in the hospital, “pneumonia” again! This stay was 10 days, but I checked out with a definitive diagnosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
The amazing thing about dance for me, someone with an autoimmune disease, was its ability to lure me back into an active life.
Mick and I were on a Country Western dance team for several years. Two hour practice sessions once a week, three performances at Dance Competitions each year. It was awesome. We made some lifelong friends and continue to social dance with many of them.
I danced Pro Am competition for a couple of years after our dance team experience. Talk about feeling like you are on top of the world. I may not have looked like Ginger Rogers, but I surely felt like her, albeit a country western version. I am smiling right now just thinking about it. It’s a feeling I will always remember. Competing required weekly private lessons and a practice party. For several years I was at the dance studio most evenings for group lessons, practice, private classes, and just the love of dance.
And each time I went to see my Rheumatologist he would ask me if I had the stamina to make it through the grocery store I could smile and say emphatically, “yes”! My doctor told me that most people with my limited lung capacity were on oxygen. Thank you physical activity for keeping in the game of life.
Currently Zumba is my dance of choice. It is my “icing on the cake” exercise. I am also certified to teach “Flirty Girl” fitness. Both formats allow for some self expression, fun, and interaction with other dancers. Yes, every member of a Zumba or Flirty Girl class is a dancer or they would have chosen a traditional aerobic class.
If you haven’t tried dance…pull down the shades…crank up some tunes…dance like no one is watching, deal? Enjoy!
Thanks for joining me,
Ruby Aguilar as I face life with lupus
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Singing…”I’m a Barbie girl; in a Barbie world”…NOT…I’m a real person, in a real world. I’m unique, just like you. My husband sent me this quote today, “Hard times flush out the chumps.” – Ulysses Everett McGill. Of course Mick added his two cents “don’t get flushed”. Where is this conversation going? I had a really crushing day yesterday.
It was an extreme up and down emotional roller coaster kind of day, a bit of not so good news, something positive, some aggravating news, something positive, some mind and body numbing news, more positive news. And this was all just during my 8 hour real life work day! I was emotionally and physically exhausted by the time I got home. Hard times seemed more like the end of times, so when Mick sent me the quote, which he actually received from a friend today, I really took it to heart.
I had some lab testing done recently, more details about that at a later date, but one of the findings was that my adrenal hormone levels are low. The levels are quite low in fact. So what does that mean, well, it is not a good thing for anyone. Adrenal hormones are actively involved in the body’s development, growth, immune response, and cardiovascular function. Adrenal function can affect your energy level, check, emotional state, check, disease resistance, check, and general sense of well-being, check. This is some serious stuff ya’ll. Hmmmmmm, hard times flush out the chumps. Maybe what flushes out the chumps is poor hormonal function. Did I mention that stress can cause lupus flares (autoimmune disease/immune response)? OMGosh, Calgon, take me away! In case you are too young to remember the Calgon commercials, Calgon is a bubble bath product.
Whew, I started this post very early this morning, it is now late afternoon. If I had finished it in one setting I promise this is not the direction it would have gone in. Honestly I would not have thought today could have been any more stressful than yesterday. Wrong. So my mission for this evening is to relax, shake it off, and start all over tomorrow. Do you think it will happen? Can it really be that easy? Probably not. So how can we handle stress? Head to the fridge? Big mistake. Have a drink? In this scenario one drink could lead to two or more and then maybe a trip to the fridge or pantry. That just sets us up for a diet guilt trip tomorrow. Ok, ok, I’m thinking…I am usually really hungry and ready for dinner as soon as I get home, but I have actually reached the stress level today where food doesn’t even sound appealing. I think I will start with a warm bubble bath, dimmed lights, scented candle, and relaxing music. Just thinking about this is having a calming effect. An alternative plan could be to get some exercise first, enjoy a quite dinner, then the warm bath. I guess the point I am trying to make here is we can control our response to stress if we choose to. It is a good idea to have some pre-planned tactics ready for when you are feeling the weight of the world.
Thanks for listening, I am feeling somewhat better, talking with friends is a good plan!
Ruby
Facing life with lupus.
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Well, here goes day two of online conversing. My major accomplishment for today was inserting a photo on my About Me page.
I receive a lot of newsletters, quotes of the day, positive affirmations, etc. every day from a variety of sources. So part of each of my posts will be sharing one of these tidbits, which ever one happens to speak to me as I am writing. Ok, for today we are going with this positive affirmation, “I love nutritious healthy food, and I enjoy eating fresh fruits and vegetables.” I am amazed at the number of adults who tell me they “hate” vegetables! Exposure equals preference people. There is no nutritional value in 100 calorie snack packs. What is your favorite vegetable? I love so many I can’t choose just one. The good news is I continue to discover more vegetables to love all the time and you can too.
After coming off all my lupus medications it seemed I was constantly in the doctor’s office. Part of this was due to fear, my physician had told me if I had a temperature of 100 degrees to come into the office. I was constantly on and off antibiotics in an effort to be well. One evening I went to the walk in clinic at my doctors office and saw the doctor on call instead of my regular physician. This “new to me” doctor did not want to give me any antibiotics. I was stunned, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me. She actually told me I needed to eat a healthy diet, exercise, and get plenty of sleep to rebuild my immune system. I decided my regular physician was afraid to “push me out of the nest” so to speak. She was afraid I would have another flare and I was too. But I didn’t get the antibiotics this time and I started eating a healthier diet and exercising.
Before I was diagnosed with Lupus I ate healthy foods, exercised 6 days a week and got 8 hours of sleep most nights. When I was sick my Rheumatologist told me if I hadn’t been in such good health at the time of my flare the outcome would have probably been a lot worse. “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates, the father of medicine, powerful words that I take to heart, no pun intended.
Currently I am loving greens. Greens, you know, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, kale, swiss chard, just to name a few. I have a new appreciation for greens, the taste and what they do for my body. Growing up in Tennessee my exposure to greens was not a positive experience. My grandmother actually picked dandy lion greens and polk salad that grew along the fence in our backyard and we lived in the city! All greens were cooked for hours with ham hock. They tasted bitter and slimy to me, yuk. 
Well, it’s a whole new day and thank goodness for mature taste buds. I won’t go into all the nutritional value right now, but please make the commitment to try some greens. Everyone out there with autoimmune disease, greens are like a gold mine to your health. You already love greens? Which ones are your favorite? How do you prepare them?
Facing life with lupus, Ruby
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Hi, I’m Ruby Aguilar, and I just barely met two goals today. I decided to write a blog in mid April of this year. I guess you are wondering what is taking me so long. Well, I have never thought of myself as a writer, but my understanding of blogging is that it is a conversation, and I can have a conversation. Sharing my thoughts online is way out of my comfort zone and fear of the unknown can be paralyzing. And as I try to get this project up and running there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to complete a post or master the techie stuff.
So, back to my goals, the first goal was to have a post online this month, May, which is Lupus Awareness month and the second goal was to have a post online within two weeks of the “Blogging” class I took on May 18, 2010.
Well, now that you understand my timeline, I will share my purpose. I attended a fitness conference in Houston, Texas in April. I am a Certified Group Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. In efforts to build my business and develop an exit strategy from corporate America I concentrated my session choices on Holistic Nutrition and Business Development, in that order. But that order soon changed because the business sessions presented by Andrea Metcalf were so powerful I left that conference with a new determination and direction for my business. During one of Andrea’s sessions the subject of blogging came up and that is why we are having this conversation today. Thanks Andrea!
My vision for this blog is huge, I will be reaching out to others with autoimmune disease and to everyone who wants to share health and wellness with me. I was diagnosed with Lupus in April 2002 after I had a flare involving my lungs. So my efforts at being healthy are compounded by negative effects of medications and only having 65% of my lung capacity due to scar tissue. As I wade into these unknown waters, did I mention I can’t swim, my plan is to discuss food, exercise, product reviews, inspiration, family, friends, all things that have an impact on my quality of life and most likely yours too. I am going to have “free” giveaways each month, because I love free stuff. And I am going to introduce you to my darling chihuahua, Sport. Saturdays will be “Sport’s Page” day.
Wishing you a fun filled Memorial Day,
Ruby
It’s likely that you or someone you know has Lupus, but it is more likely you or someone you know doesn’t know they have Lupus.
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