- May 30, 2018

Operating this vessel 👻

Although I felt so proud of myself for everything I did this past weekend (like keeping up with all of my able bodied friends as we walked around the lakefront for hours and sat on the ground then in solid yet unsupportive restaurant chairs etc) reality would quickly sink in each night and very heavily on the Monday after. I am still far beyond exhausted

I was able to deal with the subtle aches and pains throughout the day but went to sleep with extreme tremors Saturday night, (most likely a combination of over exertion with my nerve and muscle damage) hardly slept (due to both the late nights and pain) and obviously haven't been doing yoga either (to conserve energy, strength and spoons for social outings) 🙈 So, Monday morning, I slept in until six and then about an hour and a half later forced myself to lay back down and try to get some more rest. I was thankfully able to do so, but since I pushed past my sleep limit (I can only lay down for so long on account of my back pain and am always up so early because of it) my body decided to let me know it wasn't happy. I had been pushing the limits of my vessel and wasn't rewarding it with proper rest and diet (still always plant based but currently very processed, for example lots of veggie nugs hehe) and it wanted me to know that it wasn't acceptable. So I woke up with a large pulled muscle in my back. I'm probably one of the few people who can injure themselves in their sleep, but I'm just grateful that I view it as advice rather than a punishment! 😌

Now, I'd like to clarify that I am still proud of myself, but more so for what I'm able to endure, rather than for being a healthy and “normal functioning” person, but the reason why I'm dissecting this experience so much is because it's such a great reminder for myself to not always push for and expect a "cure" or permanent "fix" as there really isn't one! The best cure and most permanent fix is good health.

This applies to chronic pain as well as illnesses and even includes mental health too When Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” he was being entirely sincere and wasn't exaggerating, what we consume and put into our bodies is the surest way to make us either ill or well.

Eating "foods" that are more chemical than consumable or can barely be processed by our vessels will surely make us sick.

I have never ever ever felt as amazing as I do when I'm eating plant based whole foods.

Obviously it will help with chronic illnesses but it also makes a massive difference with chronic pain as well (and can even help with improving your mental health too).

When eating a minimum of processed foods and no animal by products (like butter or chocolate) I hardly have any flare ups or bad days and when I do they're so mild and manageable compared to how they used to be!

Processed foods, fats, sugars, alcohol, caffeine, etc. all cause inflammation and make our pain so much more severe. We're already hurting and uncomfortable, why make it worse?

Another thing is movement and exercise — more specifically yoga!

Practicing yoga regularly, if not daily, allows me to move about with so much more ease. It provides me the strength, stability and balance to stand for more than ten minutes before experiencing some sort of pain or discomfort. It makes the bad days bearable and the good days even better. It improves and maintains my flexibility which is lost so quickly with scoliosis.

For example if I were stop for a few days, I wouldn't be able to reach my toes anymore or even straighten my leg fully. I would have a lot of trouble just outstretching my arms or reaching over my head.

My theory with scoliosis is that it's a mainly muscular disorder which can reshape your bone structure, but is not an issue with your skeletal system. If you treat the cause, the effect will be muted. But if you consider it skeletal, then there is nothing to be done about it.

If you acknowledge that it's not, you'll know (as I do from experience) that scoliosis can be healed as well as reversed using holistic methods and that surgery is not only the worst option but also a false bandage of a "fix" which contains many limitations and risks.

*please keep in mind that this is just my unprofessional opinion*

We can help and heal ourselves (with the advice from medical professionals, as I am not one and do not know your ailments and can only speak and advise from my own experiences)

We can help ourselves by taking care of ourselves and we can heal ourselves (for the most part) in the same way

🌿💛✨