Category: Checking in with Michele’s Life and Status
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Returning to Work Update
On January 2nd, I returned to the office for two days a week. I must say the first week was awkward as I tried to navigate using a different computer, my office space, a broken coffee pot, and the fact that I had to get moving quicker than normal. I have to be out the door…
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Ch-Ch-Changes and Life goes on…
I have taken a month to try to get my energy directed to my blog. I miss contributing to the larger MS community. However, sometimes, life happens, and others need a hand up, which in my case, uses any available energy I have. Life can change in a heart beat. I have seen this in…
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Community Where You Find It
I am reminded that family and friends move around a lot and are engaged with work and other obligations. In trying to be present, I find that I have worked hard to find those special moments surrounded by neighbors, family, friends, or colleagues from work that define community at its best. This is an action…
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Three New Activities in My Life
As a means to tackle the MS anxieties I have struggled with for the past year and a half years, I have taken on three specific activities: I am seeking go-to activities to help myself. These tend to be actions and not just thoughts. Movement also helps rest when the time comes to do that.
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Disaster in the Washer
Cognitive overload is a reality some days. About a month ago, I was loading the washing machine. I thought this was a meditative activity until I hefted the large liquid laundry soap to pour it into the small soap portal. Oh man, did I pour! The weight of the soap container and my poor muscle…
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Surface Acting Seems Easier than Emotional Openness
I teach college academic writing; one of the topics I covered was the Workplace Culture. In an article that delineated why workplace culture is important, I came across a phrase that I am very familiar with: surface acting. Suface acting is a psychological term for pretending to feel good or inline with one’s peers when…
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Vision Interruptions: Glass Splinters
A day in my life is normally full of action, laughter, and joy. Yesterday, I needed to go out shopping to get ready for a very busy week. Wouldn’t you know it, MS wanted to accompany me with yet another annoyance….kaleidoscoping vision, but without the colors of a migrane. The clear glass shards kept moving…
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Stages of Grief and MS
I am an optomist by nature. Facing MS head on reminds me of the seven stages of grief. For me, I keep thinking about these stages and how I will continue to be handling my MS. The 7 stages are: The problem is that once I have thought I have worked through these stages, some…
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Falling into the Season
I have been back at work and that has meant managing unexpected duties, meetings, and ways of working to adjust to. I find the weather to encourage a meditative mindset. Some of my random thoughts: Summer is in the rearview mirror! It can stay there. The oranges of fall make me smile. The heat exacerbated…
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Situational Sitting
I returned to my online post as a college writing instructor this week. The first week back included some meetings, professional development, a welcome address from our college president, and a guest lecturer. All of these meant hours of sitting — three full days of sitting. I am a very active person who is walking…
MS Fortunate 