Category: Strategies

  • Jumbled journal prompter

    Jumbled journal prompter

    I’m not one to follow the daily prompts of blog-land (I’m flat out getting through my own material (can you believe I still haven’t gotten around to writing about hydration!?)).  That said, I did see something about an A to Z challenge that for some reason reminded me of a…

  • Are you a super-hotty or a cool kid?

    Are you a super-hotty or a cool kid?

    In anecdotal evidence, I’m discovering that migraineurs tend to be either ‘hot’ or ‘cool’ people. Those of us who are ‘hotties’, like to take our caffeine hit in the form of a cup of coffee.  When we take a shower to relax tired muscles, it needs to be nice and…

  • “Medical retirement” – leaving your job because of migraines

    “Medical retirement” – leaving your job because of migraines

    Dehenna Davison (1993-) was born in South Yorkshire, England. After studying British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull, she was elected as MP for Bishop Auckland during the 2019 general election. [I hope that’s right, because it comes from Wikipedia and as an Australian, the titles and places…

  • Creating a (mental) happy place

    Creating a (mental) happy place

    When I was a child, I used to suffer from insomnia.  I would lie in bed and overanalyze what had happened that day… agonize over whether I could have handled things differently… imagine alternative tomorrows… catastrophize a bit.  I’m not a huge fan of the concept of a ‘migraine personality’…

  • The Boston Marathon and Mount Everest

    The Boston Marathon and Mount Everest

    What do the Boston Marathon and Mount Everest have in common?  They seem to be the two most common stories I hear referred to as an (im)possible dream.  A dream so big, the dreamer knows it could take them years to achieve, but one which they believe the sacrifice will…

  • Living in the grey (or orange) zone of life

    Living in the grey (or orange) zone of life

    Our language tends to favor a binary (on/off or 1/0) version of events.  Life is good/bad, the sky is clear/overcast, people are heroes/villains, decisions are right/wrong, play a game and you’re a winner/loser, and in our final hour we may well turn out to be saved/damned.  If you used traditional…

  • 3 months young and getting resourceful

    3 months young and getting resourceful

    OK, one more post about mini-milestones, then I promise I’ll stop carrying on (for a while at least!) On the 17th of January 2024, I posted my first ever entry – “My migraine story” – since then, I’ve slowly got into the habit of posting Monday to Friday, until here…

  • Domino thinking and anxiety

    Domino thinking and anxiety

    After I posted yesterday’s note where my mind was ‘spinning out’, I realized that some of you might think I’m a bit of a looney.  That may be true, but I also trained myself to think that way – for better or for worse.  When I was at university and…

  • Personal boundaries for chronic pain

    Personal boundaries for chronic pain

    Somewhere, long ago, I remember hearing the notion that ‘personal boundaries are like picket fences.’  The idea was that you can be immersed in a community and set apart.  Fences act as a demarcation between a shared space and what is private.  They create the reassurance of a line that…