Tag: Living

I Am No Longer Superwoman

“Done is better than perfect,” according to Sheryl Sandberg in her book Lean In (one of many unread books on my list. More on that another time). It’s a philosophy I have tried to adopt this past year, as I have come to these realizations:

  • I am no longer Superwoman
  • I can’t do everything
  • The things I do manage to do are far from perfect

For a Type A perfectionist, that was a bitter pill to swallow. These realizations come after my years of suffering from Fibromyalgia. I find as I get older it is harder to recover from a “flare” and I really need to make myself a priority if I am going to minimize the number and lengths of flares and remain pain-free.

Continue reading “I Am No Longer Superwoman”

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day

Your Voice Matters

For those of us who live with fibromyalgia, we are painfully aware of it every day. But May 12 has been designated to educate others. The theme this year is “Your Voice Matters” to call attention to the fact that everyone has a say in education, awareness, and making changes to help those who suffer from chronic pain. fibro3

What it Is

As I described in an earlier post, extreme fatigue, sleeping issues, and that “I-just-got-run-over-by-a-Mack-truck” feeling are the most prevalent symptoms for me.  Other common symptoms of fibromyalgia include:
  • Constant dull ache on both sides of the body and above and below the waist
  • Tension headaches
  • Inability to concentrate on tasks
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Depression

Fibromyalgia is the second most ailment affecting the musculoskeletal system after osteoporosis.  Source: http://www.ecarediary.com/Blog2713

Sounds great, huh?  Lucky me, as I have both!  Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2000 and with Osteoporosis in 2015. I know and live with chronic pain, but try my best not to let it get me down or slow me down. And then there are all of the other weird ailments that get lumped in with this condition, for lack of any other explanation. Here’s a list of 100 Symptoms of Fibromyalgia. I have probably had most of them at one point.
fibro2

More Reading

So in the spirit of helping with awareness, here are a few other websites and bloggers I follow that write about life with fibromyalgia:

fibro1

My Voice Matters

Hopefully I have provided *a little* awareness on this “invisible” condition. So the next time I seem a little grumpy or am moving slowly, it’s probably because when I crawled out of bed and kicked fibromyalgia in the butt that morning, it kicked back.

Do you have any good resources for fibromyaglia or coping with chronic pain to share?

Cheers!

Cynthia

Hello world!

This is my very first post. I have been toying with this idea of blogging for quite some time now, but really haven’t found a focus. I have a variety of interests, but really don’t have enough to say to devote an entire blog to any one of them. So this blog is going to likely be a random collection of things for now, while I find my way.

A bit about me and some of the things you may see here on my blog. I am married to an awesome and ever patient husband. We have two kids who I adore and two dogs who are a bit crazy.  I love beauty and fashion, but there are so many awesome bloggers out there that I follow that have far better taste than I have. My family and I love to travel, and try to take one or two big trips a year. I love to eat healthy and take care of myself, as I suffer from fibromyalgia and control it with healthy habits. I work in technology and government, and love to read the insights from leadership gurus such as John Maxwell, Jack Welch, and Dr. John Izzo. I try to learn something new everyday!

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” ~ Andrew Gide

If you follow me on twitter, most of my tweets are related to technology and leadership.

If you follow me on Instagram, most of my pics are of food and my travels.

Happy Friday the 13th and happy blogging!

Cheers!

Cynthia

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