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Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.
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All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.
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Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
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Balance is something that many people take for granted. It is one of many wonderous ways the body gets you from point A to point Z and everywhere in between. However, for those of us living with a chronic illness that involves our ears and our balance, it is very hard to explain to others what it’s like living with an illness that can wreak such havoc with our lives. Dizziness, vertigo and disequilibrium are a daily part of our lives as well as falling, nausea, tinnitus, spending hours in bed, migraines and many other symptoms and side effects of having a vestibular illness.
The fifteenth annual Balance Awareness Week will be held September 18-24, 2011. Balance Awareness Week was established in 1997 by The Vestibular Disorders Association (VEDA) “as a way to help raise awareness about the importance of balance and inner ear health”.
From the VEDA website:
Millions of people are affected by inner ear balance disorders. However, getting effective treatment is frequently complicated by the challenge of diagnosing the specific source of the problem. The impact on an individual’s work, family, and personal life is often made worse by the disorder’s invisibility to others. Balance Awareness Week was created to improve public understanding of inner ear balance disorders and their impact on the lives of affected individuals of all ages.
Here’s more information courtesy of the VEDA website:
If you or someone you know has an inner ear dysfunction, clinics and support groups will be offering free balance screenings, question and answer sessions and presentations during Balance Awareness Week. If you are able to attend, this would be a great opportunity to ask questions and learn more about what is a very mysterious chronic illness to so many of us.
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Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?
Rose F. Kennedy
Sometimes the littlest things in life are the hardest to take. You can sit on a mountain more comfortably than on a tack.
Author Unknown
When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.
Barbara Bloom
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It’s not easy taking my problems one at a time when they refuse to get in line.
Ashleigh Brilliant
That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not.
James K. Feibleman
Allow yourself a moment of grief when life’s misfortunes visit you. However, do not spend your days building a monument in honor of them.
Dodinsky
Not that much, as it turns out. The changes in weather this spring and summer have me feeling worse. Hot and humid… cool and rainy… warm and sunny… sometimes all three happen in the same week. Even had a few vertigo attacks, mostly when I was taking a walk. Freaky scary as vertigo is something that only rarely happens to me. Usually it’s disequilibrium.
I also started my fall cleaning/reorganizing early. Or maybe I’ve started my spring cleaning a bit late. Anyway, I’ve got a bag of clothes to give away and I’ll be looking through my books to see what I can give away. I’ve also been getting into those areas where I don’t get to that often and I’m finding that the dust bunnies have gathered to mock my cleaning plans, have fabulous dinner parties and reproduce, well, like bunnies.
Although they’re not this bad. Really. But still something that’s bothering my allergies which, in turn, bothers my ears.
And for fun and excitement tonight, I rolled a bunch of loose change. Because my life is filled with exciting things like rolling coins. I do this every couple of years and take it to the bank. I’ve got a nice little sum. All I have to do now is decide whether to put it all in the bank or keep some out and treat myself. I always have a running list of things I’d like to get and can get off the internet. But, sometimes it’s great to go to some stores I haven’t been to in a long time and do some shopping. Which is what I’ve decided to do as I was typing this paragraph.
I’m going through my pile of magazines, finally finished a book on Kindle and have started a hardcover. I want to read more of the books that I keep saying I’ll read. Looking at my shelf there is probably about 10 I need to give away, some still waiting to be read.
I started drawing this week by doing a bit of a doodling journal. Basic chronic illness stuff, what’s happening and what I’m doing about it.
And, before I forget, I’m now on Google+ as of today. It’s still in beta but if you want to try it, let me know and I’ll send you the link that got me to the sign-up page as I don’t know if the invite would work. (The one person I thought would try it while it’s still in Beta, I sent him an invite. He said he’s not sure if he wants to try it yet.) Google has a profile name policy that they are following right now. When you set your profile up, you will be using your first and last name. This is what they have at the bottom of the page:
We understand that your identity on Google+ is important to you, and our Name Policy may not be for everyone at this time.
I’d like to set up a separate profile using my blog name as I know a lot of people who blog don’t use their names or only a first name. Most of the people I know, don’t know I have a blog. I kept it that way if I want to vent about them or things that are happening. Even though I know there are the circles (groups of different people where they only see what you want them to see), I’d still like a separate profile to use with the blog and not have to worry about an oopsie. I’ll see what happens when they open it up to the public.
So, that’s been my “summer vacation”. Fall, my favourite time of the year, is starting to creep up on us. A lot of us have gone through a tough patch lately. Hopefully, the new season will find us feeling better.
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This is a video I found this morning on the blog Miss Cellania. It may have you tearing up by the end, especially if you are even the slightest bit of a romantic.
Shawn and Colleen are engaged and what they eventually “planned” was to sneak away to Vegas, elope and have a BBQ the following weekend and surprise everyone with the happy news. Shawn, however had a different plan in mind to surprise his beloved.
His plan? “Operation White Cake”!
The year before, Shawn started asking Colleen “Hey, if we were to get married what kind of…” type of questions. He found out what she would like and planned the whole wedding according to what she said! He even brought all their bedroom furniture to where they were getting married so that she could get changed in familiar surroundings with everything she would need.
Colleen had no idea!
The 9 minute video is a heartwarming way to start your day. I had a bit of a problem viewing the video as it would start and stop. All I had to do was change the settings on the bottom of the video from 360p to 240p and it worked fine.
(Image via quotesbuddy.com)
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Emo Philips
Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done.
Andy Rooney
I am regularly asked what the average Internet user can do to ensure his security. My first answer is usually ‘Nothing; you’re screwed’.
Bruce Scheneier
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(Image via cambridgechic.blogspot.com)
Over the years I have developed a picture of what a human being living humanely is like. She is a person who understands, values and develops her body, finding it beautiful and useful; a person who is real and is willing to take risks, to be creative, to manifest competence, to change when the situation calls for it, and to find ways to accommodate to what is new and different, keeping that part of the old that is still useful and discarding what is not.
Virginia Satir
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I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson
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Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
Gloria Steinem
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On August 10th, FibroDAZE is excited to be hosting PFAM and the theme is “Your Happy Place.” (We’ve all heard the expression “Find your Happy Place.” That may be a tough thing to do as a chronic chick. So this edition of PFAM asks “Where’s your Happy Place?” )
I had some trouble trying to come up with my happy place.
To be honest, I don’t know if I have a happy place. I am able to do things that helps reduce stress or pass the time, but that is now more of a reactionary thing I do as a result of having a chronic illness.
Pre-illness, I probably would have said going out Sunday mornings for breakfast and then doing some window shopping or walking around downtown and relaxing by the canal. I worked in a department with a bunch of people, so doing something by myself for a couple of hours was wonderful.
Post-illness is an entirely new ballgame for me. I’m not able to go out and do much. If I want or need to go somewhere, I go by taxi. which costs money. Buses make me dizzy and most of my friends don’t have access to a car. Most of the time I stick pretty close to home.
Currently, my definition of a happy place is where I go to escape when I’m tired of dealing with situations or with people who are stressing me the &%$@ out. But, for me, that is dealing and reacting to things so that I calm down and destress. I want and need a happy place where I enter happy, not as a stress relief.
So, I think my stock answer at the moment is to say reading, music, or going on the internet. I do find the internet a wonderful escape and time waster (I’m saying that in a good way). And if my happy place is the place I can escape to, then the internet is probably it.
But, this question has me thinking of changing my definition of a happy place. I want it to be a place where I want to go and stay happy, not a place I have to go so I can calm down. Lately, I’ve been thinking about different crafts I can do while considering I have to do it in my room or something I can easily take if I go somewhere. And if my ears start bothering me and brain fog kicks in, I need something I can put away and not worry about anything I may be in the middle of doing.
I have some drawing supplies, coloured pencils, watercolour pencils, pastels and 2 sketching books. I have found a place for free drawing lessons on the internet that I’m going to try. I’ve also been looking at jewelry making and will probably do that. I had taken an introductory class years ago that taught the basics of making an earring and a necklace and I enjoyed it.
So, my happy place looks like it will be an activity where I can learn and create something. It will be something I want to do, something I will be learning to do, which will help with this older mind of mine. And I may end up with something that I can wear or hang on my walls.
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(The remaining images are from various icanhascheezeburger.com sites)
