Endo 365
"Some people think that to be strong is to never feel pain. However the strongest people are the ones who have felt pain, understood it, accepted it and have learned from it."
So, I have many bad habits. I cackle instead of laughing, I am always right- except when it comes to spelling (that I will admit), and when nobody is looking I pick my nose. I am sorry Granny, I know it isn't lady like. And i'm not afraid to admit this because after all... My blog is about periods. Taboos- I'm coming for ya! And don't pretend you don't!
I have a few good habits like everyone; I enjoy baking and exercise genuinely makes me feel good.
I have to actively seek 'good habits' because I am quite laid back and clumsy. (Is it just me or does the word 'habit' have an intrinsically negative quality to it? 'good habit' seems like either an oxymoron or suitable attire for a nun to me).
I unknowingly started in pursuit of one of my 'best habits' (positive thinking) pre diagnosis whilst very ill and in desperate need of hope that escaping from me.
Lemme set the scene...
It was a scary and depressing time in my life. I was fourteen and in chronic agony every day, being rushed into hospital twice a month with no rational reason behind what was happening to my body. It was also terribly isolating as no one else I knew my age was going through this and I was missing a LOT of time from school.
One day, fed up, I sat at our family computer and googled 'Motivational Quotations' in seek of mental escapism. I wanted to view a different perspective that challenged me, made me think, made me feel better and ultimately gave more hope than I probably previously had.
And it stuck.
I can spend hours and hours late at night unable to sleep just reading quotations. It was the enjoyment of thinking from new perspectives that led me to studying Philosophy and Ethics at A Level, and I will continue to read philosophy for the rest of my life.
These quotations opened the door to a new way of thinking for me. It established and positively moulded my personal philosophies and began to equip me with an attitude that both comforted and empowered me to be more than my suffering.
It is important that I stress I hate cleche and cheesey 'follow your heart and not your pea-sized-brain'quotations. I hope your find something refreshing in my quotations as I do.
Since then, I have kept a quotation journal (I am now on my third) of everything that has touched, challenged and inspired me. I hope one day these books will bring comfort to my children and grandchildren as they have done to me.
I want to share some of my favourites with you, maybe they might have a similar effect. Also, due to late night reading, some brilliant links and ideas.
Now this blog seems long but it is shorter than my other ones- maybe take time to read this blog and fully digest the quotations. I was ruthless and edited so many quotations out but I couldn't cut any more... Apologies!
Firstly, to put a smile on your face, here is a link to why women with endo are more attractive... thats right ladies, like we need telling: http://endometriosis.org/news/research/attractiveness-of-women-with-endometriosis/
Oh- and why most women with endo tend to be skinny: http://www.hormonesmatter.com/endometriosis-is-more-common-in-skinny-women-an-oped-follow-up/
The Endo Diet which I followed for a year and helped, however now I follow the FOBMAPs diet I realise the onions and veg I was eating did't help... http://www.endo-resolved.com/diet.html
Fobmaps Diet- This has made a REAL difference to my pain and energy levels, it is hard to get in motion but once you have worked out your meals is above and beyond worth it. Because I often eat on the go, I have a stock of 'Alice Friendly' food in my freezer which is plastic boxes of portions of food from batches when I cook. Here is the diet- http://www.lowfodmap.com/fodmaps-explained/ Here is what you can eat- http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/
Visanne- I tried this for a year upon my professor looking for alternatives for GNrH- it is the first drug ever made specifically for Endometriosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dienogest
GNrH is the only thing that medically worked for me but is only a temporary treatment. Boo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonadotropin-releasing_hormone_antagonist
If there is anything you would like to ask me further, please email me: alice.smith@marriottfarm.co.uk
I am looking for a new TENs Machine, does anyone have a recommendation?
Grateful for life:
I shall start with the quotation that was the catalyst to making me feel lucky and value life, and gives me goose bumps pretty much every time I read it:
"No matter how good or how bad you have it, make up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere is desperately fighting for theirs."
"Bad things happen; How I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilised by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have- Life itself."
"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes."
"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths and into the light." Thats you and me.
"Life is too short not to make the best and the most of everything that comes our way everyday." Sasha Azevedo
"Great spirits have always faced opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein
"The only disability in life is a bad attitude." HELLS to the YEAH.
"Love yourself enough to leave that toxic situation. Know in your heart that you deserve better." Be it friendship, lover, job or state of mind.
"Take Pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none." This is so so so true.
"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you have decided to look beyond the imperfections." This applies to people too.
"Life is not what it is suppose to be. It is what it is. The way you cope with it is what defines us as people. We all face similar battles."
"There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called 'yesterday', and the other is called 'tomorrow'. So today is the right day to love, believe, do, and mostly; live." Beautiful.
"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing; but to turn it into glory. Endure."
"Smiling is the best way to face any problem, to crush every fear, and to hide every pain." Need I say more?
"Often people that criticize your life are usually the same people that don't know the price you paid and the strength of character it took to be where you are today." Do not do it for recognition or credit- do it for yourself.
"Life is too ironic to fully understand. It takes sadness to know happiness. Noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence."
"Every time you smile, find positives or humour in a difficult situation, you win."
"As you breathe right now, another person is taking heir last. So stop complaining and learn to be happy with what you have."
"Don't pray for lighter burdens, but for stronger backs." Praying can be symbolic.
"The best way out is through." Robert Frost
"I am an optomist. There does not seem much point being much else" Winston Churchill and "If you're going through hell, keep going." You can see how he kept the countries spirits up.
"Whether I fail or succeed shall be no persons undoing but my own. I am the force. I can clear any obsical before me or I can become it's victim. My choice, my responsibility. I win or I lose. Only I hold the key to my own fulfilment."
"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, its always your choice."
"I don't believe you have to be better than everyone else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be." Ken Venturi
"Luckily you are stronger than your habits; you can change them. If you don't like something, change it." Seven habits of highly effective people.
"Even if you fall on your face, you are still moving forward." Excellent, because I am so clumsy. I love this one, its a cute non cliché way of saying you're always learning blablabla...
"I'm not telling you its going to be easy. I'm telling you its going to be worth it." This one is a good revision/ work out moto.
"A good head and a good heart are a formidable combination" Nelson Mandela.
"Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself the most comforting words of all: This too will pass." And it does.
"Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else: you are the one who got burnt." Buddha.
"Don't allow your wounds to turn you into a person you are not."
"Be grateful for small things, big things, and everything I between. Count your blessings not your problems" Mandy Hale.
"Take a deep breath, it is a bad day, not a bad life."
"Why be unhappy about something if it can be remedied? And where is the point of being unhappy if it cannot be remedied?" Could anything be less productive and pointless than worrying? I first saw this quote next to the library at the Dalai Lama's school for orphans and Tibetan refugees. Its a really lovely and interesting thought that makes a lot of sense when you think about it. "Worrying doesn't take away tomorrow's troubles. It takes away today's peace".
"There are two primary choices in life: To accept the conditions which we are in, or accept responsibility to change them." Denis Wastley
Friend Quotations:
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
― Marcel Proust
"Spend your time on those who love you unconditionally. Don't waste it on those that love you when the conditions are right for them."
When your are ill a lot, sometimes you snap, and you aren't as much fun as you normally are. People show their true colours when you are ill, if they dont want to take the good with the bad then they are not real friends. And to Quote Will smith "If you're absent during my struggle, don't expect to be present during my success."
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
― John F. Kennedy
"Letting people ruin your mood is like saying 'here are the controls to my life, change my mood anytime you like because I am obviously not in control of my own life!"
Cheesey ones:
"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over; it became a butterfly."
"Without the dark, we wouldn't be able to see the stars."
'To avoid criticism;
Say Nothing,
Do nothing,
Be nothing." Instead TALK ABOUT PERIODS!
"What you share with the world is what will become your legacy."
"When life puts you in a tough situation, don't say 'Why Me?!' Say 'Try Me!".
"Remember: every person you meet is fighting something, knows something you don't and possesses a talent you don't have."
"If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way." Endo tends to inhibit sweeping victories, but it doesn't stop lots of small achievements.
"People who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world, usually do." Apple Inc. HEY YOU, you can help, spread the word on endo, or something you care about, or something that bothers you.
"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year today..." This is so true, before I get stressed out about things, I rationally ask myself whether this will matter to me in a month. If not, then it doesn't really matter now.
"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember: armatures built the ark. Professionals built the titanic."
"The conventional view serves to protect us from the taskly job of thinking" Oh you are so right John Galbraith.
"Everything you want is on the other side of fear." This applies to all sorts of things... love, careers, what you are capable to achieving even with endo.
"Do something today that the future you will thank you for." Invest in yourself.
"Life becomes easier when you accept and apology you never got." Whether it is from a friend, ex or just from life itself, you are the only loser in this situation if you are angry. Don't let it be this way. Unfortunatley life is unfair and we do not always get an apology we disurve. Thats liiiiiiiiiife, thats what people saaaaayyyy.....
"Our lives begin to end the moment we become silent about the things that matter" Martain Luther King
The lock screen on my phone and iPad:
"Far better is it to dare might things, to vein glorious triumphs even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat" Theodore Roosverlt- id rather a life of extremes than to be content.
"We live in Englaind, sometimes we have to make our own sunshine."
I love this quote because well, I am British and it is slagging off the weather. Whats not to like? But also because it is an empowering quotation- actively encouraging you to make your own happiness, opposed to it finding you. And maybe finally, if the sun were a person it would be my best friend. Alice Hearts the Sun. Yep.
One of my most favorite quotations of all:
"The more you read, the more you know.
The more you know, the smarter you grow,
The smarter you grow, the stronger your voice,
When speaking your mind, or making your choice."
Now the context behind this quotation matters- but it all depends on how much you know about Tibet.
I hope maybe this has inspired some stream of thought, If you have any that you love and live by, please let me know! alice.smith@marriottfarm.co.uk
I give my blog the best of my heart and the best from my brain, this is a slice of fragile part of me and I only hope it comforts, challenges or elicits a smile,
That's all for now,
Your favorite mad chicken lady,
Al XXXX
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