A Secret Addiction....

~Excerpt from a Beethoven Love Poem on My Photo~

I have a dirty little secret....when I am in the throes of a major flare-up I need distractions. This latest flare has been horrific - I can't move my arms without stabbing pain, and my fingers feel like they are breaking. Normally I would make jewellery or knit to distract myself, but with these latest pains I can't use my hands as well as I have previously, so I did something I don't normally do: I watched television. Now, normally that isn't a bad thing as I usually watch science shows, but this time I couldn't stand anything heavy - I needed something light and fluffy.
Enter Sex and the City the Movie.
Oh my goodness. The storyline is pretty light, but the real stars (aside from the ladies, of course) are the clothing and accessories, the houses and the lifestyles of the rich and successful woman.
Okay, I really liked it for the clothes, shoes and handbags. I don't think I've seen so many guilty little pleasures all at once. Manolo! Vuitton! Westwood! Oh my. Although I want a very simple wedding, I have to say that the scene with the couture wedding gowns was incredible. If I had the lifestyle, I think I would have actually fainted at the sight of those dresses and not rested until I had one of my own.
One scene really got to me - Sarah Jessica Parker was reading love poems from historical figures and one was from Beethoven. Here it is:
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us -
I can live only wholly with you or not at all -
Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits -
Yes, unhappily it must be so -
You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never -
Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves.
And yet my life in V is now a wretched life -
Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men -
At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection?
My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once -
Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together -
Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell.
Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

After hearing that I almost cried (okay I did actually cry) and I put the end of the poem on my photo of bleeding heart flowers.
The movie really emphasized the value of great friendships. Really good friends, really supportive, special people in your life. It really made me think - am I a good friend? Can I be a good friend when I am sick on the couch so much? Maybe I should get some Chanel - maybe that would really help me ;-)
So now you know my addiction. I am now addicted to Sex and the City. I'll be purchasing the movie and the entire television series the second I get the money. Fluff never looked so good (I think it's the Jimmy Choo's).
Meghann

Distraction is the Best Medicine

So someone asked me the other day how I deal with the constant, unrelenting pain of Fibro, and I really had to stop and think. I'm not taking any medication at the moment (the Cyclobenzaprine was doing some nasty things to my digestive tract and not helping the muscle cramping at all). This now brings the total to somewhere around $900 in wasted meds over the last 6 months that haven't done a thing but make me sicker, the pain has been getting worse over the last 2 months, I'm absolutely broke and stressed and really sick of the whole situation.
So Pain Management? Not really. Pain distraction? ABSOLUTELY!! The only way I've found to manage the pain, not to mention the whole host of other symptoms that come with this disease, is to distract myself. Here are some of the things I do:
1 - I love to cook and bake to suit my many food allergies, and I've now started a blog called Low Allergy Kitchen, you can find that here at: www.lowallergykitchen.blogspot.com and my aim is to help others manage their food sensitivities too. I have a cookbook that I am trying to get published, or I'll do it myself, again to share the knowledge I've gleaned while trying to ignore my Fibromyalgia.
2 - I also love to make jewellery. Since I've been unable to work since November 2007, I've started selling my jewellery as a business, not just a side-hobby/obsession. I have a website where I sell my jewellery at www.littlestudio.ca or you can read my jewellery blog at: www.meglittlestudio.blogspot.com where I describe the methods and inspiration behind the pieces I make.
3 - I love to read. Fantasy is great (LOTR, Inheritance, Harry Potter), Crime is awesome (Dick Francis anyone?), and of course, Non-Fiction is just superb (Cookbooks, Gardening, Jewellery, you get the idea).
4 - I love to garden. Though I can't do as much as I used to, being in tune with our planet is very humbling. Seeing birds grow up in my backyard and return year after year is incredible and puts things into perspective - sure I'm sick, but I don't have to hunt for food, travel thousands of miles each year to get to a warmer climate to survive, build a new house every six months, fight for my life every second of every day, and procreate whether I want to or not (I think my species will still survive if I don't). Makes me feel almost lucky.
5 - I love to exercise. Sure, it's painful, and there are times I'm crying on my exercise bike, but it helps the pain. There are days I can't exercise. There are days I can't even think of exercising, but when I can, I do. It's incredible how yoga makes me happy. I'm still a stark beginner, but yeah, I'm hooked.
Distraction really is the best medicine. Nothing else works anyway! I try to stay positive and distract myself as much as possible, and if that doesn't work, I'll sleep! Or watch Katherine Hepburn or Humphrey Bogart movies - they're always awesome!
Take care, I send you happy thoughts!
Meghann