Louder Than A Bomb Prelims MA Overview

The points are not the point, the point is the poetry! I said the points are not the point, the point is the poetry! That is the mantra of Louder Than A Bomb, a slam poetry festival, and I could not agree more. Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th of April I went to UMass Boston for LTAB prelims. This was my first year going with the Peabody Poetry Collective, and we rocked it. Our Friday night bou we placed second and the bout on Saturday we got 1st. But as i already stated twice before, the points do not matter at all. It is all about the poetry. We may be competitive, but we are all there for our love of the art of spoken word. We understand how each poet has worked so hard to prepare for prelims.

The first thing I noticed was the positive energy that filled the whole campus. Everyone was so excited and pumped to hear the words of other poets. We all yelled “Listen to the poem!” when we thought the judges should have scored higher and we hollered when high scores wwere being called. People were reacting here and there during people’s poems and it was absolutey awesome. The second thing that I noticed was that everyone was extremely kind and supportive. I noticed this during my first bout. People from other teams would pause when they could not remember a line and the crowd would cheer the poet on. We yelled things like “You can do it poet!” and “Great job keep it up poet!” until they remembered. Always snapping and encouraging each poet that their work is awesome.

I knew it was going to be a great weekend when my coach tld my team “Let’s make history!” as we walked into the building. At the registration area I met up with some people I knew from Crossing The Street (The opening ceremony for LTAB). friendship is a huge part of LTAB, which is another reason why I love this poetry festival so much. I get to meet people from across the state that have the same passion of poetry as I and support them and their work. They say poets make the best friends, and I can testify that that is the truth!

My team performed our first bout of the competition in the Snowden Auditorium at 7 PM. I couldn’t believe it that Michelle, an alumn of the Peabody slam team and “Mama bear”, was our bout manager. I was also extremely happy to see that my friend from the Billerica slam team,  my school friends, and my slam poet Boston Nerdfighter friend (Colin) were all able to watch. My teammates did a spectacular job with their individual pieces, and I did a pretty damn good job myself. Our group piece was amazing and scored high, but we did get a 1 point penalty for time. Regardless, our coach was still proud. 826 Writers slam team won that round, us trailing close behind. 826 very much deserved that win too.

Saturday was quite the interesting day. I decided to go with one of my teammates to go cheer on Billerica during their bout. I watched my friends Dawn and Connor, whom I met at Crossing The Street, perform and they were awesome. I was in awe at how Dawn could rhyme so well. rhyming is an extremely hard skill for me, so for her to rhyme so easily is a very strong talent. Connor was amazing in the Harbor Gallery with his performance. The group piece that Billerica did was about feminism and I was captivated. I almost fell off the bench because I was in a trance with their words.Billerica took 2nd in their bout, which was completely amazing.

My team did their bout next  in the same spot and I was so happy that my dad was able to watch. Billerica and FreeVerse came to watch my team slam. We have a historical friendship between the teams, which I personally think is rad. The judges were scoring high and the competition was stiff, but we pulled through. I got my first 9s in that bout, and also recieved a score of 9.9 which was my personal highest for an individual piece. I would say personal highest period, but we scored three 10s on our group piece. I was shaking so much I thought I was going to pass out. I probably would have if I was not sitting and keeping hydrated. I even made a new friend from another team that liked what my poem had to say. Billerica and Peabody then headed to the Ryan Auditorium to support FreeVerse in their last bout. It was no surprise that they took first, although Quincy was pretty amazing and their skills were on point.

After the final bouts Dawn and I headed to our first workshop in the, which was about continuing poetry and how we can incoroporate it in a professional setting or college setting after high school. I learned quite a lot and realized that Science Auditorium I don’t ever have to give up poetry. I then left Dawn as she stayed for the Activism Workshop while I went back to the Ryan Lounge for the Wet Ink open mic. Unfortunately I did not get to perform, but two of my teammates did and so did my friends Connor, Kat, and Michelle. Wet ink poems are poems that are new and fresh. I fell twice during the open mic. Once trying to get four slices of pizza to my team and once getting up from my chair. May have frightened a volunteer, ut that’s EDS for you. The open mic ended at 7 and then we cleared the chairs and had a dance party. I danced a little, but mainly had chocolate ice cream, sitting with my friend Emma from Quincy, and writing a new poem which would turn out to be my first rhyming slam poem.

Overall I had the best experience of my life. There is no feeling like the adrenaline you get when you walk off that stage after leaving everything you had on that stage. There is no feeling like when you relate to another poet’s poem and you snap and cheer. There is no other feeling like LTAB. LTAB is LTAB, and its a bucket list item accomplished. It was so much walking though and the stairs in the McCormack building are Satan to EDSers and those with chronic illness, yet I am stubborn so i took the stairs like the rest of my team. Probably the reason why I am sitting on my bed typing this at 1:07 AM in zebra pjs and in pain. Tomorrow is going to be a terrible joint day, but I could care less. I went to LTAB and my voice was heard. I did poetry and I had fun. Crossing my fingers that we pulled through to semis so I can live this feeling of euphoria once again.

 

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Poetry and Music: The BEST Medicine

Being a teenager is already frustrating. You are transitioning into being an adult, but don’t know who you are, who you want to be, and what to do. How are you supposed to learn to “adult” and how do adults expect teenagers to already be prepared? Chronic illness is also a nag. Everyday living with constant pain and fatigue; struggling to juggle all your symptoms just to make it to the next day. Being a teenager with a chronic illness? Well that is like being stranded in the Atlantic Ocean. You are trying to tread water, trying to stay afloat and to breathe, but all you really want to do is drown. But drowning isn’t an opttion, or at least it is not an option I am willing to accept.

So what do I do? I turn to poetry and music. Medicine may keep my body in check and Icy Hot is Heaven for my joints and muscles, but managing symptoms is all I am doing; besides that is a lot for a teenager to handle along with making ith through high school and life itself. That is where poetry and music come in. Poetry is the voice inside me that is not afraid to be heard. If I have something I want to say but am too afraid to share, I write about it and then sometimes fix it up so I can perform it, whether it be afterschool with my poetry team, at an open mic, or competing at a slam. Music is the subsitute for spoons when I need it most. Music is what I listen to when I need to make it through a school day without succumbing to fatigue or to get through the worst of flare days. It is a distraction to the pain and helps with anxiety, depression, and stress. Not to mention, music is relatable and teaches self empowerment.

Let’s start off with poetry. I am extremely lucky that my school has a poetry team and that I have an amazing coach wh is understanding, blunt, and pushes us to do our best. He reminds us of the potential we have, work with us to reach and surpass it, and will be absolutely honest when our work is crap. If it wasn’t for my coach I don’t think that I would be doing slams. I would still write, but my coach inspires me to actually use my voice. As a teenager this is crucial. Our voices deserve to be heard. Teens have so much to say and poetry, in my opinion, is the best platform for voices to be heard. Louder Than A Bomb was created for youth poets to compete and have their voices heard. Poetry is how hey free themselves from the strait jacket and constraints life has locked them. The words they spew in the mic come directly from the heart and are the keys to freedom and self acceptance. My LTAB individual poem this year is about EDS (my chronic illness if you are new to this blog). No spoilers, but it is pretty amazing and I can’t wait for my voice to be heard.

Music is relatable to teens. There is literally a song for everything. From personal experience I can testify that music has helped me save my life. Music helps me explain my emotions, make me feel less alone in this wild wild world, makes me feel more confident in who I am, helps me through pain, makes chronic illness bearable, teaches me life lessons, and helps me realize who I am and who I want to become. This is one of the many reasons why I am excited for Vans Warped Tour 2016.

Music and poetry combined is the life boat sent to me to save me from drowning. They have taught me that I am not defined by my illness. I am a zebra, but my stripes are not defined by EDS, anxiety, deppression, or anything of that sort. I am a pop punk poet, an author, a Hufflepuff, a synchronized swimmer, and a human. Life is a higway, and with music and poetry I will drive away from the city lights on a road trip to happiness and success. For that is where I belong.

My Zebra Story

Rare Disease Day is February 29th, so I thought what better way to raise awarenes for rare diseases than to share my very own personal story. The story of how I became a zebra. For those who don’t know, I have a rare genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) Type 3 or the Hypermobility Type. EDS is a conective tissue disorder where the collagen refuse to work right at a genetic level. Collagen acts as the glue that holds your body together. It is in your skin, joints, organs, and practicaly everywhere. this means that several systems are effected, not just one. Each individual case varies on severity and type, even if you do indeed have the same type. EDS is very underdiagnosed because of this aphorism “If hoofbeats are heard think horses, not zebras.” But how are you supposed to find zebras if you are not looking for them? Chances are, if you know what EDS is you either a) have it yourself or b) know someone who has it.

As a young kid I was always hypermobile. I would unintentionally show off my flexibility, and often was called a klutz. I would bump into everything and fall over my own two feet. At the age of four I began dance class and at six I started gymnastics. This put my flexibility and “double-jointedness” to good use as well as teaching me the safe and proper way to do tricks and teaching balance. I was still a klutz, but that was seen as a phase I would eventually out grow. When I was seven I quit gymnastics when I broke my elbow doing a back handspring. coincidentally that was my second ER visit (first being some breathing thing when I was three or four), first ambulance ride, first joint injury, and first surgery. Once that was fully healed I returned to dance and excelled dramatically. At the age of eight I was on the prep team and danced in Disney World.

When I was ten I quit dance and began to explore what would become my favorite sport of all time, synchronized swimming. I joined the novice team on the ANA Synchers (now known as ANA Synchro). Immediately I began to shine, and my coaches raved about my flexibility, extension, and awesome toe point. I fell in love with the sport and made it my dream to be in the Olympics. My klutziness phase never really ended, but we ignored it thinking it was just a character trait. As my skill increased so did the pain. I would often come home from practice exhausted and complaining of how sore I was the next day. but I was an athlete, nothing new there. So I pushed through the pain, worked hard, was careful when I was training with injuries, and kept working to reach my goal of being an Olympian.

When I was 14 my family and I moved in with my grandma. I switched from ANA Synchro to the North Shore Selkies and joined their Junior Team ( 16-17 Age Group). I trained harder than I ever had before and the pain increased. I went to Boston Children’s in Peabody to speak with a pediatric orthopedic, who thought it was just Patello Femoral Pain Syndrome and Osgood-Schlatters. I had the clear to keep on swimming, so I continued to train. The pain did not go away however, despite PT. So we went to the doctor again who had us go to PT again and said if it gets any worse we would get x-rays.

The pain got to a point where I could not run with my teammates as a warm up and I had to modify my on land training to minimize the pain. I missed days of school because the pain was too much and I ended up dropping out of synchro halfway through the season :'(. My PCP (Primary Care) sent me to a new doctor at Mass General Hospital and there he immediately set e up with x-rays and an MRI. I got stabilizing braces, which helped me not fall as much. I was a mystery, going in and out of doctors appointments trying to find what was wrong with me. Several illnesses were brought up, but then crossed out. The main thing confusing the doctors was my hypermobility and high sed rate, yet no sign of inflammation and no stiffness.

I wasn’t diagnosed until my transitional skills teacher mentined EDS to my parents. I was clinically diagnosed by a Rheumatologist at Lahey Clinic and sent for an ECG to see for any potential heart complications that can happen with EDS. The ECG came back normal and for insurance issues refused to send me to genetics, saying that since I did not have Type 4 (Vascular Type) my treatment options would not differ.

Fast forward to today and I am laying down on my recliner typing this post on a flare day. I feel like an Axe is whacking away at my bones. What you don’t see when you look at me is the pain, but also the thrills I am secretly planning. I can’t wait to go to my first pop-punk concert in March. I want to go to Warped this summer and meet my favorite bands. I want to go rockclimbing and do the Relay for Life and go see Deadpool. I am always seeking to live life on instinct and have fun while being dumb and naive. Except when I try to be dumb and naive I actually have to plan ahead. I have to see how much spoons I have for an event to plan what to do, I have to be wise about my medications, and I ave to be careful not to hurt myself. Kinda a lot of stress, but as long as I remind myself there is more to life than breathingi remember that I have the capability to do amazing things. So what i will not be an Olympian? I plan to coach kids so they can live their dreams. I also plan on not letting EDS take my life away, no matter how it tries. 

 

 

Return of the Blogger

Hey guys! It has been forever since I uploaded, and let me tell you, it feels so good to finally be back to doing this. I have some real cool topics in mind, but since it has been months since I last uploaded I thought to give you guys some updates on what’s been happening since my hiatus and the awesome things to come. So, what am I still doing an introduction for? Let’s get on with the updates already!

I don’t know where to start, so why not start with the fact that I have a boyfriend? His name is Zach Hazel and he is nerdy cute, compassionate, sarcastic, hilarious, and the best guy I could possibly have. I call him Duck, so if I ever say that Duck and I did something know that I am talking about my boyfriend Zach. We have been dating for two months. Wednesday November 25th was when we because couple, which meant that Christmas Day was our one month anniversary.

Speaking about Holidays, I guess I should share how mine went, starting with Halloween.  For Halloween I did a few things. The Wednesday night before Halloween I competed in the Dead Poet Slam, where I took second place. I was Lewis Carrol and recited The Jabberwocky. Then Thursday night I went to the Halloween dance at my school I went as a character from The Book of Life. It was also my parents’ anniversary that night. On Halloween night, which was Saturday, I went to a party at one of my best friend’s house as the Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera. We played party games, had candy, and so much more. Thanksgiving was spent at my aunts house. While cooking all the smoke alarms went off. Turkey was a tad dry, but the ham was to die for. I spent the rest of that day being dragged around by my four year old cousin who was trying to arrest me. Chanukkah was amazing and my dad made some of the best Latkes I have ever had. Christmas Eve was spent at my cousin’s husband’s parents’ house. I tried octopus for the first time (tasted good) and had some amazing cheesecake. Christmas Day was spent at my the Duck’s house and at my Uncle Mike’s. Was awesome to spend time with my boyfriend and my family.

My birthday was January 14th. On Saturday, January 16th, I went to the Science Museum with Duck, my best friend Josh, and my twin. Highlights of that day were the Thrill Ride 360, learning about NASA engineering, having Michael Douglas narrate an Omni Theater presentation, raiding Science in the Park, building my own burrito, and chilling with friends. Oh, I almost forgot about the chicken caeser salad pizza from Mr. G’s for dinner. Epic!

Now is the time where I get you excited for all the awesome things to come. Febuary 4th is the kick off for the Relay for Life in Peabody. Then Febuary 5th and 6th are the home shows for “A Long Christmas Ride Home”, which is our Drama Fest entry. I am so excited for Drama Fest! March 6th is when twin and I are going to the Fight For Something Tour with Set It Off, Tonight Alive, The Ready Set, and Say We Can Fly.

I smell pizza, so i am going to end this here. Until the next time, DFTBA and Stay Posi!

 

Self Confidence for the Soul

Hey guys! So today I was watching Dr. Daniel Amen speak about how we can heal ADD. He clarifies that healing does not mean cure, but to make better and shows how we can manage ADD. There are actually Seven different types of ADD and each type is treated differently so the patient can benefit more from treatment. I’m not going to talk about the types of ADD and the healing of it. I do suggest you look up +Healing ADHD and get the book and DVD set, but I want to specifically talk about one of the ways that you can use to manage ADD or just help boost your self esteem period.

Dr. Amen said that one of the ways to help manage ADD is to think of things that we love about life. This is important because it helps us boost our self esteem and remind ourselves how awesome we are and that we can do awesome things. This advice resonates so well with many other things to. Thinking about the perks in life is something that could benefit everybody. There are perks to everything, and if we can find them the health of our brain will increase. The magic of optimisim. I have two exercises I want to do to back up this theory that Dr. Amen preaches.

The first exercise is one of my favorite things to do to boost self esteem. It is called a MindFlowers. A periscoper named Victoria James started a MindFlower movement. What you need is a journal, a pen, and your amazing self. Every day set some time aside to think of a compliment that you would say to yourself and write it in a journal. This instills positive thinking. If you wish to take your MindFlowers to social media be sure to use #MindFlowers. My MindFlower today is that I love that I am a helpful person.

The second exercise is writing a list of perks about yourself, a negative thing you deal with, or just life itself. For example I am going to do a list of the perks of being a zebra:

Perks of Being a Zebra:

• I have soft velvety skin
• I look young
• I am flexible
• I have the capability to do “party tricks”
• I am empathetic
• I was good at synchronized swimming
• I have an abundance of time to read

Now most of you probably don’t know this, but a zebra in medical terms is a rare disorder/disease/condition. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) Type 3 (Hypermoblity). That is my zebra and the above list is the perks. Yes, chronic illness is very annoying and painful, but by focusing on the positive things I feel like a warrior and not a victim. It remids me on bad days that I am not defined by my illness and I will kick EDS’ butt.

I suggest incoroporating one or both of these exercises in your lifestyle. I also suggest looking into more ideas and checking out Dr. Daniel Amen’s research. It is absolutely amazing. I hope you learned something from this post. Self esteem is very important. Well it i getting late and I need to get back to studying. Love you guys and remember: Don’t Forget To Be Awesome!

Fun Things To Do In Hospitals

Having a chronic illness or disability pretty much guarantees that you are going to be in the hospital. Whether it may be for out patient care, an appointment, or a stay, a hospital is still boring. So naturally I looked up on google fun things to do in the hospital. Most of them were funny as hell, but I wouldn’t dare actually do them. It seems that those lists were literally just created for laughs. So I decided to create a list of 15 things that you could do to help the time pass by and will most likely not get you in trouble.

1. Pretend that you are a wizard/witch preparing for another year at Hogwarts. Practice incantations for spells and charms. If someone asks what you are doing stare them in the eye and say “muggle alert, muggle alert, muggle alert”.
2. Walk up to random people in the waiting room and quote Doctor Who. Other fandoms also work well with this.
3. Take a book and “John” while reading. (Johning is the position that John Green writes in. You lay on the ground and put your feet up on a chair.)
4. Practice singing for American Idol, The Voice, or any other singing competition show by singing Disney songs.
5. Grab an empty wheel chair and ride down the halls screaming “I AM LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!!!!”
6. Have a photo shoot with your doctor’s and nurses. post your favorites on social media.
7. Recreate the You Shall Not Pass scene in front of the elevators.
8. Pretend that the elevator is the TARDIS. Every time you walk out act as if you are in a different era of time.
9. When eating your food become Gordon Ramsey and criticize it.
10. Go up to strangers and ask in a singing voice : “Do you wanna build a snowman?” If they say no then sing “Okay bye.” and run off to the next person.
11. Wear a mask and tell everybody that you are the Phantom Of the Hospital and start singing from the Phantom Of The Opera.
12. Pretend to be reading or on your phone. Make a different animal noise every five minutes or so. Try not to get caught.
13. Drink fruit punch and tell people that you stopped for a drink at the blood lab. Let them know your preference on each of the blood types.
14. Draw an animal near you IV so that the IV looks like a tail. Give it a name and introduce your new friend to everyone you meet.
15. Record yourself doing items off this list and upload it to YouTube.

I hope that this list inspires  you to make the best out of a bad and boring situation. My next trip is this Thursday, so I will be doing as many things on this list as possible. Don’t Forget To Be Awesome!

An example of Johning is shown on this examining table.

Life Long Goals and Dreams

I am watching ABC Family’s new reality show Startup U, and I want to say that this awesome on so many levels. I find entrepreneurship quite interesting, so I was super excited to watch the first episode. What I gathered is that this show is not just about students at Draper University trying to start up their own companies, it is about chasing their dreams and achieving goals. It got me thinking of my own goals and dreams that I should be chasing.

Another factor that got me thinking about life goals and dreams was chatting with my neurologist.  We were talking about what my plans for school were going to be. Boring stuff really, such as a key to the elevator, attendance, and how to focus in school with anxiety, ADHD, and chronic pain. However it got me thinking about my own personal goals and dreams. So let’s talk about them shall we?

In my opinion a dream is a monster goal that you can reach by creating little goals like stepping stones to form a path. A goal is an obstacle that one must come over or want to achieve. Whether we are chasing goals or dreams, we all need motivation or we would be running in circles instead of forward.

There are two types of goals: the goals we want to achieve and the goals we have to achieve. The first step in achieving these goals is to distinguish the difference. Then you can set up a game plan. This goes for dreams too. Basically anything you want to do in life you need to establish a game plan. Once your game plan is set, find the motivation to follow the path you created.

Instead of a bucket list, I have a life goal list. This is a list full of dreams and goals that I want to achieve in my lifetime. The things on my list range from practical (go to college, have a Harry Potter wedding, work for Buzzfeed, work as a cinematographer, go on a cross country road trip, etc.) to the craziest dreams that you can think of (snorkeling in the Coral Reef, travel to Israel, go surfing in the big waves of Hawaii, etc.). I also have fandom goals on my list as well (play quidditch, attend VidCon, attend GeekyCon, Have tea with J.K. Rowling, etc.). I am always adding more things down as they come. This list serves as motivation to live life they I want to.

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you are inspired to live your life the way you want to. Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot accomplish your dreams or put you down. There is this quote that I like: “If you can believe it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can do it.” I forget where this quote is from, but ya’ll should all pay attention to it. Until next time live life and DFTBA.

Defined By Choices and Fight Power

Hey guys. I am so sorry that I couldn’t get the Night On The Towns Review up. Life got in the way of things once again. Life gets in the way with a lot of things. And by life, I mean the shittiest part of life itself. Depression, anxiety, ADHD, and chronic pain all take a toll on what I do. It gets annoying, which is why I am going to start taking back my life.

You see, we are not define by our problems that life throws at us. We are defined by how we choose to live life. You get to choose how you want to live. It is important that we remember this because when our problems get in the way of living how we want to it is challenging. But I promise you this, the choice of living life to the fullest is definitely worth it.

I am tired of letting my problems get the best of me. I am tired of turning down requests to hang out with my friends. I want to be more active in any way that I can be. There is a line separating what I can and can not do. My goal is to get as close to the line as possible without going over.

As for motivation, I really like “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. This song reminds me that I have a bunch of fight locked up inside me. If I am going to start living this life I need to start running on Fight Power. To recharge this power all I need to do is give my body rest.

For example yesterday I was on my feet at the mall all day. It was a bunch of fun to hangout with my good friend Erica, but we were both sore and tired. Today I was still sore and tired, but I went out to go to Gloucester with my brother and my dad. We came back home and I am resting as I blog. Ice and rest. Then tonight we will be heading out to a cook out and fireworks at the Marina in Rockport.

I hope this post encourages you to live your life fully no matter your obstacle. If you are having any problems, just talk to me. I’m here behind the screen willing to give you hugs, spoons, and advice. The video below is from my friend Carson’s camp. Until next time live life and Don’t Forget To Be Awesome!

Paper Towns and Painting

Oh yeah! Paper Towns is coming out Friday in all theaters in the United States. But in select theaters across the country there is the premiere event called The Night On The Towns happening tonight, and I am going. I AM GOING! 🙂 Can you tell how excited I am? Like so excited. It is going to be awesome and I will most likely meet tons of awesome made of awesome nerdfighters.

I am going to write a review of the event tomorrow without spoilers. #SorryNotSorry. I don’t like spoilers. They ruin the excitement. I mean, I want to discover how the director’s perspective compares to my perspective first hand. I will also be filming a little bit for The French Llamas and maybe for my personal channel: Thy Art Is Vlogging. I haven’t filmed for my personal channel in a while so this should be exciting.

So Paper Towns. I can’t wait. I have read this book maybe two or three times so far. It is also highlighted and annotated in certain places. What? I have to highlight in my books. How else am I supposed to find my favorite quotes and interesting facts or just plain awesome. Although the whole book is made of awesome. If you have not read the book go get a copy and read. I don’t care if you break into your neighbors house and steal the book, just get it and read it. Actually please do not steal. Stealing is bad, and illegal. I am not held responsible for book thievery of any kind. (The Book Thief is an excellent book though). Go to your local bookstore, buy a copy, and read it. Love it. Be happy. The book won an Edgar Award, so you know its a good mystery.

I guess my biggest fear with the movie is that it will turn out how The Lightning Thief turned out. The book is astonishing (props to Rick Riordan), but the movie was the worst movie that I have ever seen. Never is it acceptable to change the antagonist of the story. You just don’t. That is insulting. However, with John Green as the executive producer I doubt that I will have to worry. Speaking about John, I hear he has a cameo in this movie. I hope they didn’t cut it.

Now before I end this blog, I want to share with you a painting that I had painted yesterday. It is by far my favoriteand I am planning on making another one today.

Look at those clouds though. I wonder what I will come up with today. Well I have to go check to see if the coffee is done (Shout out to WheezyWaiter). DFTBA and see you tomorrow 🙂 !

Spoons For Thought

Metaphors are created for a reason: to help people visualize what you are feeling. Some people have trouble understanding what others are feeling. Especially when disabilities and chronic illness is in the mix. But there is a way to feel how someone with a disability or illness. It is called The Spoon Theory. The Spoon Theory was discovered by Christine Miserandino. The theory is used by several people facing chronic illness and disability. I am one of them.

I have Anxiety Disorder, ADHD, and a chronic pain known as Chondromalacia. Based on the theory, spoons are metaphors for energy. You only have so many spoons to start off per day. Some days II have a few more spoons than other days, but you have a limited amount of spoons. Lets use today for example. I have ten spoons today. Now normally most people do not think much of getting up, but for me that’s a bit of a struggle. I am quite lethargic so finding the energy to get up on most days requires one spoon. Now I have nine left. Once I am up I have to walk. I have to walk to get ready and then I have to walk down stairs since my room is on the second floor. Depending on my pain level up to two spoons can be taken from my spoon stash. For demonstration purposes let’s say two spoons have been taken. Now I am left with  seven for the rest of the day. Anxiety attacks and painful spasms take up spoons. When you are running low on spoons you tend to feel tired. This is the life of those who live by The Spoon Theory.

I highly encourage you guys to read this article here: http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/. Christine’s wrds are much better than mine, so be sure to check it out. I am going to use up somme more spoons so I can have food, because food is life. Until the next time: DFTBA!