processing emotions

How long awaited hEDS diagnosis actually FEELS

~ Helen White ~ 2 Comments

So as it turns out, I'm not lazy, not hypochondriac, not a malingerer, not attention seeking, not making it all up, not interfering where I shouldn't, not feeble (far from it), not "over-sensitive" (ditto), not making a hobby or a hyperfocus out of illness, not collecting labels, not depressed nor anxious (except when the circumstances themselves pushed me that way), not trying too little nor doing it all wrong, not lost in self-absorption, not avoiding being a grown-up...or alive. I have been dealing with a complex multi-systemic health condition with as much grace and determination as I could muster on a daily basis. Unpacking some of the emotions of receiving a long awaited diagnosis.

Cultivating joie de vivre

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

As an autistic person, I find there is a definite link here between my particular wiring for high sensory processing, which can make me feel more overwhelmed than some other people might be in the same situation, along with a tendency to live in my thoughts way too much, plus also the need to actively process those senses though my body in such a way that the body fully registers them, but without overwhelm, on the way through…because, otherwise, I can tend to bypass the body altogether. Not least because of issues with chronic pain, learning to bypass the body can become a really big issue. What I need is exuberance, joie de vivre, activities that ground joy in the very cells of the body...and I suspect a lot of people (not least those who live too much in their heads) are needing that right now too!