Drop the mask, and go say hi to a stranger....

    After starting this blog 23 days ago, has it really been only 23 days, It became apparent to me that if I wanted to develop a site, I'd have to change one of my defects of charachter.

     What I'd have to do is reach out to people beyond my comfort circle, introduce myself, and begin developing relationships.  This worked best when I said to myself:  screw-it, here I am, this is what I do, this is what I believe, here's my goal, WILL YOU HELP ME?

     I try for total honesty, and although I probably still embelish too much, begin "Hi you don't know me..." letters with my story.  I go first; then ask someone their story. I share my fears, really fess-up, and hope that enough credibility and trust builds a bridge from me to another person who I didn't know 28 days ago.

     Guess what, IT REALLY WORKS.  In a very short period  I've reached a point where most of these relationships begin to turn into friendships. 

     Readers have contacted me sharing sad, funny, poignant anecdotes and stories.  Stuff I'd like to share, but they're not mine to diseminate.  Please, if you've got something to say, and want to do it anonymously,  take a shot!  I'll publish your story on my site. Drop me an email: you may find, as I and a number of my new friends who I've reached out to, that pouring it out is cathartic.  The pain doesn't go away, but I feel like a have a job; I feel purposeful.  A void I didn't even know existed, is filling.

     I owe special thanks to a few people:

• Chronic Babe, who surprises me daily a new good deed.  Please hit her site, read her stuff, she's got a great attitude and is funny. Drop her a comment, and get to know her. You can find links to her site peppering this site. but for simplicity go to:  www.chronicbabe.com .  She's a hottie ( her words. but I drop a ballot for her being a hottie).  She also doen't know that she's a "wicked pissah" Bostonian for good peeps.
• Gimpy Mumpy, whose sense of humor is transendant.  Feeling a liile lowish hit Gimpy.  Please be respectful of Gimpy's privacy. There isn't a wasted page on this site.  Gimpy Mumpy (?) is also on my must reads. Another friendly person, who like the Babe, jumps at the opportunity to do a good deed.  Please go to: http://mumpy.typepad.com/gimpy_mumpy/ Gimpy Mumpy is also wicked pissah!
• If I were mentioning individual readers of Chronic Pain Lifesyle, I'd have to mention Jack, who did a particularly good deed by mistake. Jack bumped into a web-site thinking that the photographs that decorate my site so beautifully, were my photo's. They aren't. A little detective work and I found the artist whose work, "...captures the pain and struggles we all feel and experience..."  Dorothy Gantenbein is the artist.  When I first began browsing her site, I was stunned. Her work is breath-taking.  I note later and she not only agreed to allow me to use her published library of photo essays. but shared with me that she's also experienced a lifetime of pain due to severe asthma.  Dorothy is a reaaly nice lady, and seems to welcome feed-back on her work.  I see in her portfolio's, which are still lives of nature, not only great beauty but also an explosive quality, almost as if she hit the shutter one moment before a cataclymic event.  Her black and white treatments of water, and her work with flowers is challenging to the viewer.  How she's able to capture in her work this built-in kinesis is amazing. Do yourself a big favor by browsing her essays. Dorothy dosn't yet sell her photo's. I expect that will change too soon. Enjoy now!:  http://www.dorothyphoto.com/dorothy_photo/,

Many people have gone unmentioned.  Please accept my apology.  You can also expect that I'll have many more down days.  The alexcin of my cure for the blues is not Miles, but spotting the good that has been done for me in this life.  My sincere thanks to Chronic Babe, Gimpy Mumpy, and Dorothy Gantenbein; I look forward to thanking everyone else as time goes by.

Comments

[Gimpy Mumpy]

Thank you so much! I too feel the same way. I feel that connecting with other people who can relate to what we have experienced, and continue to face each day, can be vitally important for those of us with chronic conditions. It is amazing how many wonderful people are blogging these days!
Cheers :)

[poolmad]

Hi everyone my name is poolmad. This has nothing to do with water, although I do enjoy a good splash! No, verily I am cursed with the unfortunate addiction of enjoying, nay! not enjoying, accursed with a passion for the game of pool. I dabbled with it in my youth, the same way that I dabbled with recreational drugs like Acid Man! Don't forget the marijuana and the "speed". Baby I was "hot", desired by women of all ages and all colours. I was worshipped! I had cars, money and fame. I was going to be the next "King" of "Rock n Roll" baby! I was a star. THEN sadly I would wake up.
Okay, so what, you should have such a dream. I enjoyed it.
Anyway back to pool. I play 8 ball. I am in two teams, one is on Tuesday, the other on Wednesday. The league has now finished for the season and I am glad to say that we now reached the premier league on Wed and we went up another league on Tuesday also. We ended up with three trophies. League winners cup. Team cup and League runners-up. Not bad for a season, is it? So what am I doing on this site? You ask yourself. Well I shall tell you. I have AA. I play whilst on "Fentanyl" and "Morphine" and although I see three balls at times, I have learnt to take the middle one.Lol.
Sadly, by Thurday my back is screaming out. Sometimes I recover by Friday but sometimes I don't recover for a week or more. So why do I do it? It gives me pleasure. I take on healthy people on equal terms and I beat them. Pain or not, it is just another string to my bow.
I must confess that last year, before I was given "Fentanyl" I was just about ready to call it quits and retire but since I have been given effective pain killers my life has taken a positive turn-around. So why have I given you all this useless information.?
Two reasons really!
(1) despite pain, "Go for it".
(2) If you can't just "Go for it" are you receiving adequate pain-relief.
For over ten years, following failed back surgery, I endured indescribable pain. I had almost stopped seeing my GP. I would just go along and pick up my prescription for "Temgesic" pain
anti-depressant of the day, I took so many different ones, "Diazepam" for the uncontrollable leg shakes and "Simvador" and "Aspirin" for the ticker.
Then last September I was diagnosed as having AA. Immediately my GP. couldn't do enough for me. Everything suddenly changed, come to think of it, I should have asked him to throw in a crate of J.D. Oh well you can't get too greedy can you? Lol.
Love and best wishes, poolmad.