Thanks for your patience while I took a break. It felt good. I want to do this again a couple times a year, maybe in the Spring and Fall.
Since we were last together, I have some news in three areas:
- My brother Eric
- My health
- My writing
I’m going to save Eric for next week because there’s a lot to say. (Don’t worry, it’s good news.)
My health
A couple of weeks ago I saw my most wonderful thyroid surgeon, Dr. Katie Heiden, at the Cleveland Clinic. For the eighth year, all is still well. I always like to hear that.
As for my fatigue, she and I figured it out.
I take two thyroid medications. One of them was damaged and ineffectual. I was running on half-gas from mid-January through mid-March.
The lack of thyroid hormones put extra stress on my adrenals, which were already stressed from having Covid at the end of December/ beginning of January.
Then, because the only thing that gave me any energy at all was eating things like grapes or potato chips about every 60 minutes, I put my glucose out of whack.
It’s good to know what’s wrong because then you know what to do to fix it.
My medication was fixed when the 90-day supply ran out and I opened the new bottles.
For my adrenals, I’m focused on taking things easy, resting when I need to, taking daily walks outside, eating more salt, and taking salt baths (not for osmosis but because they feel good).
For my glucose, I’ve radically changed what, when, and how I eat (vegetables first!). I haven’t had sugar in almost four weeks.
I can feel my body recovering. I just need to take it slow, be patient. I’m not sleeping until 10AM anymore, I get up at eight, and I don’t need a morning nap. (The afternoons could go either way.)
So far, so good.
Every year when I go to the Cleveland Clinic, I buy myself a souvenir from Joseph-Beth Booksellers. It’s more gift shop than bookstore but it’s a colorful oasis in a sea of white, gray, and scrubs blue.
This year, I got the Journal of Radical Permission. I’d never heard of it but liked the cover. Plus, I wanted to support Black women authors.
It’s got twelve weeks of daily exercises. The Day 2: Surrender exercise was, “What in my body longs for radical permission?”
This is what I wrote:
My hair wants to be loved just as it is.
My face wants to be loved just as it is.
My belly, my hips, my thighs want to be loved just as they are.
My body wants permission to be.
My body wants permission to rest when it is tired, to eat when it is hungry, to be a body, not a work horse or a meat sack for my brain.
My body wants permission to enjoy.
Author Update
Jane Friedman is a publishing expert who offers frequent educational webinars featuring guest speakers. They’re excellent and priced for value, typically $25 for a 1-hour webinar. (She can make the economics work through scale.) Jane also occasionally offers free webinars, usually when the guest is not well known.
A couple of weeks ago Jane reached out and asked if I would like to partner with her on a webinar for The StoryWheel. I said Yes! and suggested it be a free webinar since I am not well-known (yet!). It’s Friday, May 26th at 1pm Eastern. If you can’t attend but would like to see it, register and you’ll get the recording.
Guess what? There are already over 500 people registered!
Chewing the Cud of Good
Thankful for my body. And hot salt baths. And the flowers the Cincinnati Parks District discards under the Big Mac bridge every May.