A Reason to Succeed

Yesterday I found myself entertaining doubts. Big nasty poo brown doubts that undermined my mission and motivation. The biggest and most cunning of these doubts sounded so real in my mind that I could literally feel my confidence deflate. Have you heard this one?

'You know you can't actually beat these migraines, you just need to accept that they are a big part of your life and move on'

Go on.... leap into action!

See what I mean? It sounds very reasonable doesn't it? More disturbing than that, it might actually be true. 

Doubts and truisms can slow our progress and sometimes, stop us in our tracks, and in doing so our doubts become our reality. See, you were right all along!

Luckily for us however, life is made by choice. A wonderful sentiment from the equally wonderfully book 'Eat Pray Love'  by Elizabeth Gilbert refers to the necessity of 'participating' in your life. Don't just drift in the easy direction, often easy drifting will lead to a difficult life.

To shore up my choice to take action, I have created a list of life experiences I am no longer willing to tolerate. Next time these doubts try a take down on my motivation I will point at this list, shake my head and say 'Not today loser, not today.'

My 'No more!' list

• Missing social events because of migraines.
• Sacrificing financial freedom for fear of migraine troubles.
• Dealing with other people's disappointment when migraines arise.
• Feeling unwell for days on end in the 'Migraine Hangover' stage.
• Worrying about what people think because I am frequently unwell.
• Worrying how my children will view my effectiveness because I get migraines.
• Being depressed, anxious and unhappy because of cluster migraines.
• Trying to not be offended when people make thoughtless, ignorant and snide comments about migraines.
• Listening to my own judgement on why I get migraines.

I could keep going with this list, but there are enough 'NO MORES' there to stiffen my spine.
Perhaps I also need to work on identifying the corresponding positives to this list of 'No mores'?

I would love to hear your 'No mores' or better still your 'More ofs!" What are your reasons to succeed?

Not Now! Migraine Interference.

I don't know if it is a migraine thing, or just a me thing, but I have a unhelpful belief in 'Murphy's Law'.
Following are some examples, cases in point if you like, of Mr Murphy in action in my life;

Work it girl.... just not too hard

• I have started a new job ..... therefore it is obvious I need to get LOTS of migraines, preferably in my first week, so that my employers know right off the bat how I roll.
• I am doing a four hour trip, alone, with the kids, so now is the perfect time for an aura, right?
• Dinner party, my house? Sure, bring it on migraine genie.
• Just had a great long bike ride, really pushed hard. Feel wonderful, I am going to start on marathons next.... what's that strange smell? Oh, that's right, exercise gives me migraines , I forgot. Lead me to the couch.
• Can't wait to see my friend who has flown in for one day.... on my way out the door, aura. Maybe she wants to come to my house and talk to me in a dark room while I keep my eyes closed?
• I am having my annual performance review, now is the perfect time for a migraine hit, just in case my boss had forgotten all my days off!

Mr Murphy, you are NOT my friend. 

Okay, that's my weekly complain session over. Now its your turn, let me know the most inconvenient migraine you have had.

Under Construction

Warning: life under construction

Have you ever noticed that pulling on loose threads often results in clothes with holes, or that when tidying out a cluttered cupboard, there is a significant period of time where the cupboard (room, house etc.) looks far worse than the original problem. Often this period coincides beautifully with the moment when the energy and motivation that sparked the endeavour begins to wane.
I am finding this cause and effect paradigm rings true now I am pulling on the 'loose threads' of my health and mind. Thinking about one topic for improvement has spiralled into thinking about everything.
I call it six degrees of life separation (patent pending... ha ha).
A case in point, all this talk of work has me thinking. Have I really removed myself from the (outside of the home) workplace as a result of migraine stress overload? If so, does this mean that if I can remove or manage them better I can go back? Do I want to? Have I really let migraines sabotage my career and finances to that extent?
Significant as this topic is, it is only ONE of the subjects to emerge from the depths of my mind, stirred into action by errant deep thoughts. Talk about opening Pandora's box.
Looking at the situation from a positive perspective, I am taking all this frenzied thinking as a sign that my subconscious mind is completely on board with the idea that change is coming.
I'll just have to get used to the idea that I might be living in a mental construction zone while work continues.

Mayday Mayday....

I have a son who is obsessed with lego.... he would spend every waking moment constructing lego machinery if he was allowed. Earlier in the week he spent an afternoon making a squadron of various flying machines, none of them standard but all pretty cool to his mothers eye.

Made for a demolition derby

Of course, as happens with lego in the hands of a little boy, pretty soon these marvellous flying machines had all crashed and burned, been rebuilt, modified and crashed and burned again.
It is a bit unfortunate when you have a day that is analogous to broken lego planes, but I have to say I managed to do my own bit of crashing and burning this week. Bits falling off all over the place!
What could trigger a bit of good old fashioned falling apart...... cue the migraine.
I know I have written a little about the mental side of being a part of the long term migraine afflicted population. The feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and guilt that have slithered into my mind over the years. Perhaps not surprisingly I have found writing about this side of the condition enlightening and empowering, which is why I was taken by surprise when all these feelings ambushed me after one measly migraine. One. Oh dear.
The details of what I was thinking are unimportant, what is important however is the bounce back. Bouncing back because I recognised the migraine mind in action. I heard the odd and nasty things my migraine affected mind was whispering in my ears, and while it was not immediate, I am quietly pleased that awareness helped me to turn that bus around. No more one way tickets to the dump I call negative valley.
Hey, awareness may just be King. Long live the King, and long live those friends and family who support you through these times and give awareness a helping hand. (You know you are:)

Small things.

I have always been a person who takes great pleasure out of the 'small things' in life.
You know, when all the songs on the radio happen to be favourites, the shirt I want to wear is mysteriously already ironed, my car seems to have decided to drive like a top gear dream and all the lights are green.
This morning, my small pleasure was breakfast. Out. In a cafe. Alone. So good!
The even better news was that I discovered 'Primal food' was made for breakfast. Eggs and Ham and a cuppa while reading a magazine.
Maybe this Primal thing won't be so hard after all?

Step 1: What can I eat?

Well, I have had another whole day with my nose buried in all things Primal, excluding perhaps a cave man's armpit.
 It is sooo interesting, who would have thought looking backwards through time would seem to hold so many of the answers to moving forward?
As they say, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and with just a day's worth of information I am fired up to change EVERYTHING!
As they also say, 'Whoa there Tiger, one thing at a time!'
Luckily I decided yesterday to make food my starting point for making the change, so here is a quick overview of what I have discovered about the diet.

1) Lots of things I love to eat... are off the menu! Sigh. A basic list of things to avoid/ exclude is shown below:

• Grains (including wheat, oats, corn, barley etc)
• Legumes
• Dairy
• Refined sugar (uh oh, I am addicted to this one)
• Processed foods
• Salt
• Refined vegetable oils

2) Some things I love to eat..... are still on the menu:

• Grass fed meat
• Fish
• Fruits and vegetables
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Some oils including coconut, macadamia, olive and avocado.

Hmmm, as you have read this is quite the overhaul from the usual western diet. Certainly from my usual diet. But I am determined to break through my long held belief ('I won't be able to stick to that!) and give it a red hot go.

I will let you know my first shopping list and menu on Thursday, until then I have a lot of naughty foods in my cupboard to eat my way through (waste not want not!):)

PS: Here are some links I used to get some of the dietary information over and above 'It starts with food'

The Paleo Diet: What to eat

How to eat according to the Primal Blueprint

Hunting the Cave Man

I am starting the working week by looking into the Paleo diet and lifestyle, in line with my desire to start at the 'bottom of the pyramid', or the basics if you like, in my search for a migraine free life.
I have decided to try 'Paleo' after reading some really compelling success stories from migraineurs who have experienced significant relief from taking on the approach.
If you are interested in reading some of these success stories, I suggest looking at Mark's Daily Apple. Authored by Mark Sisson, one of the 'founding fathers' of the Paleo or 'Primal' lifestyle. Mark's Daily Apple is the 'go to' Blog for people interested in all things Paleo and one of the main resources I am using to investigate going 'Primal'.
In my last post 'The Giza Approach', I noted that I am not a trained expert when it comes to reviewing or analysing medical or lifestyle choices. I do however consider myself the biggest stakeholder in my own life and as such I choose to be active in finding a better way of dealing with my health. (So there!)

Primal Beings loved nature and sunshine

So what is 'Primal Living', and where to start? There are a lot of holistic aspects to living Primal, but the beginning point for me is going to be what I eat. I am hoping this will be the most direct route to migraine and health improvements.
As a certified book worm, I find that knowledge and information delivered to my mind regularly is the fasted way to keep me motivated. With this is mind, I have gone back to school and am studying up on the Paleo diet, referring to Melissa Hartwig's Book 'It Starts with Food' and Mark Sisson's latest, 'The Primal Connection' to help inspire me further.
Tomorrow I will list for you what dietary changes I will need to make to go Paleo. I will also create a new page to track my changes and diarise how I am feeling during the process.
I hope that I will be documenting something positive in my life, but as the wise say, 'nothing changes if you change nothing'. Reckon, results aside, taking action is always worth doing.