Tag: success

Hiking with Fibro

~ fibro-academic ~ Leave a comment

On Saturday, I went hiking, and I survived. It was a nice morning hike of about 4.5 miles.

I’ve always loved hiking and the outdoors, but finding time and energy to venture there definitely takes a back seat to finishing all necessary graduate school activities, making sure everything is taken care of for work, and of course the unrelenting Arizona heat when you DO end up having some free time in the summer. And that’s before you have to factor in the limitations imposed by fibromyalgia.
Despite worrying that I would not be able to finish the hike or that the exercise would trigger a flare, it was a wonderful experience, helped by the following:
  • Travel as light as you can. My wonderful boyfriend Marc suggested we take only one bag with water and snacks for the both of us, and it made a big difference not to have to carry extra weight. Especially when going uphill.
  • Get a good night’s rest prior. Make the odds in your favor by having a quiet evening and an early night before heading out to hike. Since having a good night’s sleep is hit or miss with fibromyalgia, consider rescheduling your hike if it’s a day where you just couldn’t get enough sleep.
  • Take as many breaks as you need. I was worried that Marc would get frustrated if I stopped too often, but taking breaks to catch my breath and gently stretched allowed me to go further than I thought I would be able to.
  • Listen to your body. If after catching your breath you feel you are starting to get worn out, turn back! Pushing through an upcoming bout of fibro-related tiredness is one of the best way to trigger a flare. Although, that said…
  • There is some pain you’ll just have to push through. This may be an unpopular piece of advice but hear me out. There is some underlying fibro pain that just is going to be there regardless. When we started hiking my knees started aching within half a mile, and for some reason my wrists (???) started aching too. However they were the kind of dull, fibro-just-hates-me pains, so I decided to push through and enjoy my hike anyway. And I did.
  • Enjoy the achievement. 4.5 miles is not that long for me compared to what I used to be able to do, but I managed it; I told fibro to go eff itself and had a wonderful time with Marc, enjoying the beauty of the Arizona desert. And it felt GOOD.
  • Take the rest of the day off. I had grand plans of doing grad school work in the afternoon but my brain just wasn’t into it. Running errands (groceries) for the week was almost more than I could handle. It’s best to think of hiking as something that will take your whole day or even your whole weekend, that way, you don’t end up panicking because you’ve fallen behind for school or work.

  • I want to go for another hike soon, and perhaps go longer. This particular hike was a little challenging because there was quite a bit of climbing up and down and scrambling over rocks, but it makes the achievement even better! With fibromyalgia, it’s important to make all the little victories count.

    Reclaiming a lost year: words of wisdom from my committee member

    ~ fibro-academic ~ Leave a comment
    • Grad school is HARD. For years, you are constantly asked to prove to the people around you that you are worth being there. Give yourself some credit to be doing this difficult thing even with a chronic illness.
    • Being forced to take an alternative route to achieve the same research could lead discovering new methods or at least refining existing ones. There is a place for you in academia.
    • Find your support group. Find people who can share wisdom and who can use yours. It’s even better if they’re not just grad school friends. It’s good to take a step back and see the bigger picture away from academia.

    These were the biggest takeaways from a wonderful committee member following a meeting. Story below the cut.

    Continue reading “Reclaiming a lost year: words of wisdom from my committee member” →

    Catching up by making the most of insomnia

    ~ fibro-academic ~ 1 Comment
    20181029_055642.jpg
    My desk. I may be slightly unicorn obsessed.

    This was my desk at 5:45 a.m. I’ve been up since 3 a.m. You can add “insomnia” to the list of side effects I started yesterday.

    However, I only feel regular-sleep-deprived tired instead of fibro-fog tired, so I am using the opportunity to catch up on work I did not do this weekend with the help of my Chibi Star Trek cup filled with delicious Mauritian tea.

    It’s not an ideal state of mind to delve into citizenship theory, but it’s better than nothing. I’ve learned to take the moments of clarity where I can find them.

    One thing a day: an interview and then nothing

    ~ fibro-academic ~ Leave a comment

    On the morning of Wednesday October 24th, I had a meeting for an internship at a museum. I had contacted the person responsible, exchanged some emails as to what sort of internship I wanted, and was told that they were excited to meet with me to talk about a mutually beneficial arrangement.

    So far so good, except this week has been particularly difficult in terms of fibro fog *.

    The previous night, I had to cancel a date with Marc because I was so overwhelmingly fatigued that I could barely form sentences. I had gone to sleep early, had a fitful night, woke up with a splitting headache, and faced the prospect of an interview for a position I was genuinely excited about.

    That’s one of the (many) frustrating things about fibromyalgia. It robs you of the ability to fully get excited about something, to deeply delve in what you are passionate about. 

    Continue reading “One thing a day: an interview and then nothing” →