I said last week that I'd be working on Branding. I've finally settled on this logo, having decided to dispense with The MacsX and start using the label I was born with. I've placed my name in the middle of a Paisley Pattern as Paisley is where I am and it is a town with a great creative history, threads and Paisley Pattern playing one of the major parts. I wrapped the embroidery hoop in London Bus Ribbon from The London Line by Helz Cuppleditch - the London bus having, played a major part in my creative story so far.
So, on the making table this week I have the Ribbon Jewellery Links I showed off a few weeks back. And I have lots of embroidery patterns to put together for my new book. Some might say 'busy, busy, busy' but I'm really having fun, fun, fun - long may it continue.
A 'little' late to the party, I'm off over to Handmade Harbour to check out all the other lovely creative goings on this week.
There
are few phrases more frustrating than “I can understand how frustrating this may seem”. Feel the double whammy of the slap in the
face when closely followed by “these tests have come back negative so we can
rule out serious illness a, b, and c”.
In the meantime life has been on hold for the best (or worst) part of a year
or more as it would seem every life threatening illness has been
eliminated. And still the pain and suffering continues. I don't say this to look for sympathy I say it to emphasise the futility of dealing with physical conditions with a psychological base.
Given a name for our condition 'pseudo seizures', but no guide to treatment, I finally done what I had avoided for so long - I googled it.
Is
it just me, or is there an overwhelming need to put a label on things? Rather than actually dealing with symptoms and
getting on with some healing, labelling seems to be key. One of the pieces I read focused mainly
on naming the condition and whether or not names were suitable.
Personally I believe that 'Pseudo Seizures' is a misnomer as there is nothing 'pseudo' (artificial or false) about these episodes.
One thing that rang alarm bells throughout my look around the net was the length of time it seemed to take to figure out what the underlying symptoms really were - yet this does not seem to be a complete unknown.
It is a sad reflection of modern life that more and more people suffer these 'invisible' conditions and they seem to be hitting them younger and younger. Not wanting to seem like an old twat but I think the pic I seen recently on facebook sums up the whole information overload.
I believe that the more we talk about the 'invisible', unexplained and misunderstood workings of the human mind the more we will come to understand it and perhaps be able to focus on treatment rather than labels.
Apologies if this seemed like a bit of a ramble. Sometimes it helps to put a whole load of 'stuff' out there to find some clarity. Hopefully in tuning in on the coming Tuesdays things will become clearer and life simpler.
It may be Monday but it's still the weekend - yay for Bank Holidays - so I'm putting my Sunday BS together a little late and not starting this week till tomorrow - having a kind of limbo day.
The week just gone
The week started with my son visiting A&E and a frustrating day spent with the NHS. If one more person tells me they can "understand my frustration" I swear I will scream. Yet by the end of the week I am feeling calm, rested and present.
I've spent the best (or worst) part of a year checked out - as an onlooker, watching life go on around me and not even touching the sides. So, what's changed in 7 days?
The lovely ladies in my Storytelling for Change group just understood that this was 'not a good week' and so there was a break from any added responsibility. In my day job I have become more connected, I feel like I've at last started turning up again, like an invisible line has been drawn under things past and now it just is what it is - no underlying agendas.
And with regard to my son's (and my) health I guess the change has been in attitude. We've been so busy looking for a label, believing that there could be no 'cure' before that was found. Why would I find that more frustrating than most? Because I don't really go for labels, I believe in taking in the whole picture. I have spent so much time dismantling the pigeon holes in my life that the mere action of creating another box was just so 'wrong'. So, to move ahead boxes, labels and shoulds have all been thrown out the window. The focus is on being present - living the way we want to live now. Sometimes the answer is right in front of you, all around you - sometimes, if not always, the first thing to do is look at what we have.
And in keeping with using what I have - I think I've done enough research to move on as Seth Godin put it "All the information in the world isn't helping you make more stuff. You have enough. You should stop."
The whole 'using what you've got' thing is part and parcel of the message behind the birth of this blog and The MacsX - so time to get back to the message and go with it. And what's going to make this time different to all the other stop starts that have gone in the past. Belief. Belief that it just 'is'.
The week’s discoveries/rediscoveries:
Lissa Rankin's Ted Talk
My first 'Ted Talk ' - and there are so many more to see.
