The Migraine Saga

My husband loves a good rain storm. He's from Arizona, from desert where trees have green bark and the skies come in multi-hued tones. But there's no weather except for the monsoon season, which lasts about a month in July and August. Otherwise, the weather forecaster on the local news has a pretty sweet gig.

For me, though, weather means instant disaster. Changes in pressure result in massive migraines. This has been me on and off for the past several days.

I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just stating the facts.

Here's the problem: all I wanted to do on Monday was write, but I couldn't move. For half the day I didn't even want to open my eyes. I was so close to being done with my latest revision of Fighting Fate that the sweet flavor mingled on my tongue with the bitterness of personal defeat.

Yup, there's no good, rational reason for it, but I felt defeated. Defeated by my own head, the same location from which all the great ideas for my fiction stem (or "where all the great ideas of my fiction stem from"—you be the judge).

On the bright side, I was 98% pain-free on Tuesday. Admittedly, I write my posts early, and it's actually Tuesday night as I write this, so I have no idea how my Wednesday will shape up. If you leave comments and you don't hear back from me at all, the odds aren't in my favor.

I'm tried of taking my medication for the migraines and am now searching for alternatives. I'm getting a Reiki treatment, I'm looking into acupuncture. Really, I'll take anything that doesn't involve putting more chemicals in my body. I'm not anti-med, but the Triptans I take drug me out so that, even when the pain is gone, I'm not functional. I resemble a drooling zombie, except that I still have refreshingly pink flesh and don't want to eat brains. I just want to smack the crap out of MINE.

So, oh blogity friends, any advice? I'm so far investigating Reiki, acupuncture, and renewing my commitment to yoga and meditation. But, seriously, anyone know of any home remedies?

Discipline

Over the last few (insert time span of your choice here; it's probably accurate), I've been having a crisis.  No, not a the-world-is-going-to-end! crisis, but more of a who-am-I-what-am-I-doing-here crisis.  I waffle about school, about what I want to do when I grow up, about what color to paint my toenails—everything.  Recently, I've been finding some answers, and feel like my life is moving back onto a paved road (I've never been one to enjoy off-roading).

Oddly enough, this all comes at the same time as I've been reading the Pray part of EPL.  No, this is not a book club post, in case you're worried. :)  Maybe just an extension of yesterday's—tangentially.  Anyway, reading about Liz's life at the ashram was thought provoking.  It made me want to discipline my life more, to find balance—mind/body/spirit—where there isn't any, and to better cultivate my spiritual side, which has been sadly neglected recently.  Yeah, yeah, the physical side has, too...

I'm not good at disciplining myself.  I've never kept a regular exercise routine going (by myself) for more than a couple of months.  I don't have good study habits.  My good eating habits can be attributed to my husband.  And I promise you, you do not want to see my house!

Now, I realize there's only so much I can do, but I can attempt to institute some discipline into my blogger-laden life.  Here are a few of my ideas on where to start.

• Get up a half-hour earlier and do yoga before class.
• Limit the amount of time I spend on blogger (I'll still be around, though, I promise!)
• Do they job I would get paid for doing if I did it (ah, the joy of freelancing...)
• Read something (that I didn't write) for at least one hour per day
• Don't forsake the trees I brought home with printed versions of the first five chapters of my novel!  (I thank them for their sacrifice for the good of YA fantasy)

This is a lot.  I'm going to try instituting one thing at a time.  Starting today, I'm incorporating the reading for at least one hour.  I've been reading, but sporadically and sometimes only for fifteen minutes (before I pass out!).  Saturday and Sunday are dedicated to that freelance book I'm editing.  Monday morning starts the yoga.  I've done yoga before but, like everything else, it was irregular at best.

The last addition to my list:

• Visit the Tibetan monastery on Sundays for their open prayer meetings.

That is the plan for Sunday morning.  Saturday morning=farmers market.  Sunday morning=Buddhist prayer/lesson.  I'm excited.

How do you discipline yourself (or not)?  Do you have a routine that you must stick to?  In the crazy world of jobs and children and spouses and friends and mothers and the whirlpool of chaos, how do you find time to read and write?  There must be disciple in that, right?