live your best life – disability hacks and advice for neuropathy
We learn lessons the moment we can comprehend them. Some are taught in books and classrooms, and some are learned from experience.
I was diagnosed with Charcot Marie Tooth Disease (CMT), a slowly progressive and incurable neuromuscular disorder, in the 2nd grade. But no one ever taught me how to actually live with a disability.
It’s that time of year when we’re all tired of wearing sweaters and snow boots and ready to pull out the warm weather clothes. Although the days are longer and temps are beginning to rise, it’s not yet warm enough to go outside without layers, or to wear sandals without getting hypothermia.
Do you remember when we had to have our photos developed before viewing the images? The days when selfies weren’t even a thing and group shots didn’t involve a million retakes? Back then, we had no way of knowing if our arms looked flabby or if our leg braces were showing in photos until we picked up the physical prints.
I live in Michigan and it’s cold In the month of December. Yep, I know, shocking right? But, once temps drop below 40 degrees it’s all we Midwesterners ever seem to talk about…rather, complain about. For the typical and “able” winter despiser, December to early March is all about layering up, thawing out, and making it through.
The Holiday Season isn’t all jingle bells and sleigh rides when you have an invisible disability. As temps begin falling and your calendar starts filling, the stress and worry about how the hell you’ll make it through it all, rears it’s Scrooge like head. Of course this time of year can be stressful for everyone. There is a ton of pressure to be merry and create picture perfect, Norman Rockwell like moments, to then post on Facebook of course.
When I was 15 years old, I went to “fat camp”. It was the mid-80’s, and after several failed attempts to lose weight via kids’ Weight Watchers’ meetings and “the grapefruit diet”, I begged my mom to send me to a diet camp I had seen advertised in a teen fashion magazine. The camp, named…
Before launching Trend-Able, only my immediate family (and a few men I dated postdivorce -TMI?) had actually seen me in my afos (ankle-foot orthosis). I mostly kept them hidden under my clothing, not so much out of shame (age & Xanax helped with that) but more because, here comes the cliché, they don’t define me.
There’s an app for almost everything these days. I’m by no means a techy, ( I couldn’t move past level 1 in Ms. Pac-Man and flunked high school typing) but in order to keep up with and track of my kids, I’ve evolved into an app connoisseur of sorts.
Before launching Trend-Able, only my immediate family (and a few men I dated postdivorce -TMI?) had actually seen me in my afos (ankle-foot orthosis). I mostly kept them hidden under my clothing, not so much out of shame (age & Xanax helped with that) but more because, here comes the cliché, they don’t define me.
Before launching Trend-Able, only my immediate family (and a few men I dated postdivorce -TMI?) had actually seen me in my afos (ankle-foot orthosis). I mostly kept them hidden under my clothing, not so much out of shame (age & Xanax helped with that) but more because, here comes the cliché, they don’t define me.
Dating sucks. It sucked in the long ago landline days before the Internet, Match.com, and Tinder, and it sucks now.
Dating is a teeter-totter of emotions. One minute you are feeling up, energized, full of hope, anticipation, and excitement. The next minute, you are crashing down to the ground feeling hopeless, confused, and paranoid about the Whys? and What If’s?
Did you know that each day the average person has about 60,000 thoughts? Some researchers say that this number is actually closer to 100,000. Although math isn’t exactly my strong-suit (My kid’s stopped asking me for help with their math homework after 4th grade), I’m thinking that irregardless of the exact number, our brains are really busy. I know mine’s been working overtime ever since my kids became teenagers.