Tag: healthy habits

Business Travel with a Chronic Condition

The days are usually long. The rooms are usually cold. The food options aren’t the best. And sleeping in a strange bed without your pillow is never very fun.

Traveling for business requires different strategies than traveling for pleasure, because you can’t always modify your schedule and you don’t have a built-in support network of family to help lug your bags around. The days are usually long. The rooms are usually cold. The food options aren’t the best. And sleeping in a strange bed without your pillow is never very fun.

For many of my work trips I am traveling with some of my employees or co-workers and have vendors to meet. Not showing up to a session doesn’t always work for me, unless I am calling in dead. So I have crafted a few strategies that help me survive business travel while dealing with the chronic pain and fatigue I experience.

“Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” ~ Albert Einstein

Continue reading “Business Travel with a Chronic Condition”

Six Tips for Relieving Pain Naturally

I have adopted many lifestyle changes over the years that I truly believe have lessened the impact fibromyalgia has on my life.

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a condition thought to affect up to 400 million people worldwide, or 5% of the population, according to the National Fibromyalgia Association. It is characterized by widespread pain and fatigue, with 18 key trigger points in the body. There are also a myriad of other symptoms, and I would venture to guess that none of us have the same symptoms, the same level of pain, or achieve pain relief from the same things. Fibromyalgia is still somewhat of a medical mystery with no silver bullets or miracle cures on the horizon.

For years I have considered myself a “high-functioning fibrowarrior” because despite my flares, I somehow manage to push on. I have my share of pain, flares, and exhaustion. Let’s just say there is much less jumping and much more creaking when I get out of bed in the morning. And yes, I spend time in bed curled up with a heating pad. My flares seem to last longer the older I get. But the flares are fewer and far between. Continue reading “Six Tips for Relieving Pain Naturally”

30 Day Challenge – Week 4 – Final Results

We shouldn’t put off until tomorrow that which we can start today.

This is the final post in a series. Read the initial post, Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.

30 day challenge - week 2 results (2)

It is said to take anywhere from  21 – 66 days to build a new habit, with the time really varying from person to person. I started this 30 day journey as a way to get back on track with some of my daily habits that had slipped lately and refocus my priorities. I wanted to concentrate on the following:

  • Gratitude: I had lapsed from writing daily gratitudes
  • Mindful eating: I wasn’t logging my food
  • Fitness: I had added some extra pounds I wanted to lose
  • Mindset: I wanted to see if yoga would be more beneficial for all of my ailments than my typical mindless treadmill walking
  • Rest: I wanted to get my sleep habits back on track

So here is my final check-in of my 30 day personal challenge for the month of April.

Continue reading “30 Day Challenge – Week 4 – Final Results”

30 Day Challenge – Week 3

This is the fourth in a series. Read the initial post, Week 1 Progress, and Week 2 Progress.

30 day challenge - week 2 results (1)

A set-back is defined as a reversal in your progress. This past week I experienced a bit of a set back, that I wrote about in my post on The Challenge of Slowing Down. I hurt my back, came down with strep and inflamed vocal chords, and was ordered to go home and rest my voice. Then came the fibromyalgia flare. And then word that one of my cousins, who is just a few years older than me, died unexpectedly. Talk about some stress on the body.

This is what happens when you ignore the little voices in your head telling you to take it easy. Take a day off. Get some rest. If I had rested sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have developed strep and lost my voice, maybe I wouldn’t have gone into full fibro flare mode.

“Temporary set backs are overshadowed by persistence.” ~Quentin L. Cook

Continue reading “30 Day Challenge – Week 3”