I would like to state for the record that I hate change. This does not make me special. This makes me utterly human and for once I like being grouped with the masses because constantly having to transform and adapt is exhausting.
It’s a new season and my body hates it. The routines I had in place through the end of the summer are now no longer feasible and I’m grumpy. I hadn’t realized there was a name for this, but for folks with chronic illnesses, October Slide is a real thing. October Slide is a phenomenon where the change in seasons, specifically the change from summer to fall, causes folks with chronic illnesses to have flare ups.1
It’s a chicken and the egg situation for me - was I always impacted this way and I just didn’t notice? For most of my life, I wrote off my EDS as things normal bodies do,2 so I never noticed whether I’ve been sliding as the month of October progressed. When I was younger and still had a deviated septum, I counted seasons by when I got sinus infections. Now, I count the number of days in a row I’ve had headaches.
As such, given that my job and most of what I enjoy doing involves screens and staring at things, I’ve had to adjust my writing and reading routines. Ahead, a brief list of what I’m doing to survive October Slide and adapt my routines for optimal writing purposes.
Get more light
I live in New England; I have to take Vitamin D year round regardless of summer weather. Once, I went to a palm reader because both of my palms are different and that’s weird and I was curious ok? And she responded by telling me I needed a happy light. I cackled that someone could just look at my palms and know that, and then I went out and bought a happy light.
While we’re not quite in happy light territory yet, I have been carting around my little emotional support lamp. She is small and lithe and light and has 3 different light settings and is much better than overhead lighting. So I am trying to be outside for at least an hour daily and when inside I bring this little lamp next to me to keep everything lit and to reduce eye strain. Speaking of eye strain…
Make a plan to avoid screens
We all have too many screens in our lives. And while I am going to get a referral to a neurologist when I go see my doctor in November, for now I am dealing with fairly frequent headaches. You know what makes fairly frequent headaches worse? Screens. You know what I have to look at every day for my job? Screens.
When I know I will have a particularly full meeting day, I make sure that I’ve got a physical book to read, or something non-screen-related to do after hours. It requires a little bit of planning so that I can still meet all of my reading and writing goals, but God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers etc etc etc.Do non-writing writing
Remember how I said everything is writing? Part of my plan to both recharge and get writing work done involves walking. In nature. Without any headphones or other distractions. I am so brave.
The Artist’s Way (ugh yes I have become one of those people, sorry) talks about how you need to disconnect from all sorts of inputs to let your subconscious process. Well, I went on a 75 minute walk today and spent that time building out the backstory for one of my characters and the plot for another, which is honestly great and now I know things and is any of this part of the novel I’m working on currently? No but it’s in book 2 so that’s a win regardless.
Go to sleep on time
And eat plants, and whatever else you need to do to stay (your version of) healthy. Despite the ongoing headaches, my body does feel marginally better when I get 8 hours of sleep and eat lots of veggies and pull back on the processed foods. It’s deeply upsetting, because I would like nothing more to subsist off of cake, but alas. Headaches don’t like excess sugar.Give yourself grace when you have to change your plans. Again.
You know what never made anyone feel better about anything? Yelling, talking down, or belittling yourself when something isn’t going as planned. If it did, we’d all be millionaires by now. Whether you have a chronic illness or not, accepting that things happen and we have to adapt is a natural part of life. I may go down kicking and screaming into this realization, but the reality is that I’m not functioning at high capacity right now, so instead of fighting it, I’m just going to accept that this is a particular season in my life (pun intended) and adjust where I can.
Also: I am not a medical professional. These are tips that have been working for me, but please consult an actual doctor if you’re having problems. Lord knows my own doctor is probably going to tell me to do things differently come November.
No New Books™️ Challenge
I am still holding strong!!! I might have to buy a book on behalf of a friend, but that’s not going to count even though I counted that as breaking my streak earlier in the year. Why is it different this time? Because I said so and I make the rules.
Streak to Beat: 50 days (January 1st - February 19th)
Last streak: 25 days (August 20th - September 14th)
Current streak: 27 days (September 18th - Present)
Mug Moment of the Week
Once upon a time I went to London for work. A decade ago, when I was still living and working in LA, my job paid for me to go to London and Paris to train some clients in French. Originally, the CEO wanted me to leave LA on a Saturday night, arrive in Paris on a Sunday morning, and then train people on Monday morning and I said no, absolutely not. I do not sleep on planes, so that was a recipe for disaster. So, in the end they had to pay for me to work out of our London office for a week, and then I went to Paris. I collected lots of mugs while I was there, including this one. It is shiny and neat and was sitting in a box for too long and now it has seen the sun.
https://www.eds.clinic/articles/the-october-slide-managing-symptom-flare-ups-in-the-fall
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Does leaving a comment here count as non-writing writing? Hahah