I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! Lots has happened, at least internally. I injured my back and was seriously out of commission for several days. Thankfully a teacher suggested I visit a chiropractor, and during my first visit he made me feel 80% better. I returned the following day and was back at 100%. I've been considering alternatives to typical western medicine (e.g. family physicians, prescription drugs) and my experiences so far with the chiropractor confirm that I'm on the right path. He actually spent time with me, assessed me by really looking at me and feeling around to find the troubled areas, then he healed me with his bare hands. That's how health care should be for the most part.
I went to my old PCP because I had hurt my arm through repetitive motion at work. He didn't touch me, didn't ask me to raise or twist my arm to get an idea of where the pain originated . . . nope. After being in the room for less than a minute he started to write me a prescription. I spoke up and asked if there was something I could do besides medicating the pain, like stretches or exercises. He was surprised and said, "Yes." I also started rotating jobs at work so I wouldn't re-injure my shoulder. Meds would've only covered the pain, and if I had continued working the same position throughout each work day, it would've most likely gotten worse.
Another good thing is that I'm really seeing great improvement in managing my anxiety. The real test was Thanksgiving. Typically I am a wreck every holiday (although I didn't really notice until now), especially when I'm hosting a holiday meal. I've hosted Christmas breakfast for more than 10 years, and every year I am freaking out for the last couple of hours of cooking and the meals are never ready on time. Would you believe that this Thanksgiving I only got upset once (when I was having trouble with the home-made bread) AND the food was ready almost an hour before guests arrived? That has never happened. Let me really stress this important point: THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED! I see it as another sign of how volatile my relationship has been with my family. This time I was relaxed and calm, and I even got started late. I'm still amazed :-D
As for other stressful areas of my life, I have an overwhelming amount of work and school projects due a.s.a.p. that were put on the back burner in part because of my back injury (I was in the least amount of pain lying down; sitting in chairs was not an option) so I had to clear my schedule last week in order to bust tail and catch up. It really sucked that last week was Thanksgiving because I literally lost two full days of work because of it. Normally I'd freak out (and actually, just typing this, I can feel my bp and heart rate increase *sigh*). It is the hardest thing in the world for me to stop working because my attention has to go elsewhere. It makes me feel guilty and helpless all at the same time. However, in spite of feeling this way, I cleared my schedule as much as possible and stuck with the tasks. This is a very big deal because typically I shut down and avoid it all because it increases the anxiety.
Things are definitely getting much better :-D
LL xoxo
