Showing posts with label gluten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gluten. Show all posts

Friday, February 25, 2011

Mind over Matter (LM blog)

I think some people might wonder why I'm a bit of a health nut, why physical exercise and diet seems to be such a big deal to me, why I'm always looking for the new solution to a healthier me...it's times like these. 

Times like these when my body just quits. It's had enough. It doesn't want to move. Every joint and muscle hurts and walking, running, doing things seems like too much of an effort. If it were just that, I wouldn't be too concerned. I would just rest and wait it out. After all, I had a long week. Folk Alliance veterans will tell you it takes time to recover. But, I've been through this before and I know when my system decides to shut down, there's no reasoning with it. It gets to work on my mind  and starts telling me that it's not worth the trouble. If I persist, it insists, "What the hell are doing? You're not going anywhere." 

And right about then is when I get angry. 

Ask anyone who knows me. I have issues with the word "no". Tell me I can't do something and you've pushed the wrong button. So, it's the worst betrayal in the world to hear myself say, "I give up". But, I do. I give up fighting it. I give up crying over it. I give up. I'm telling my body right here and now, I trust you. I trust you to find your balance, heal and recover because I need you for something more important than a number on a scale or a certain dress size. 

This past year, after years and years of searching for reasons why, I found some answers. An autoimmune disorder. My body fighting itself. Exactly. What I've always done in spirit depicted in physical form....viola! There it is.  And I welcomed the diagnosis because this was something I could do something about. Eat the right things (bye-bye gluten), exercise, rest and take my meds. Yay! This I can do! Then, boom, another diagnosis. This time about something I can do absolutely nothing about. An acoustic neuroma. Just have to live with it. Accept "no" and that I can't do anything because there's nothing to do. Not now, anyway. And, be grateful that I'm really in the best case scenario as such things are concerned. Still, I wish it were gone.

Either way, it's still a matter of how I feel. And, right now, I'm a little unsettled. Over the last few months, I've witnessed people I admire in the music industry express their distaste for it, their animosity, their hopelessness in continuing the "fight" to make it. It unsettles me because I see these people as successful. They are doing what they want for a living and actually making a living doing it. I mean, they aren't financially dependent on anything but their music and, if that's a problem, I think I wouldn't mind having it. Which makes me think that there are probably plenty of people out there who wish they had my problems instead of their own. I get to make music. It doesn't feed me. It doesn't support my family. It just makes me happy and I hope it makes someone else happy too because it's times like this, when I'm tired and in physical pain, that I could see it as a fight too. And, fighting is something I can't do anymore. Besides, I have to believe that in some ways, because I get to do this, I've already made it. I've made it as far as the past me wanted to be and I'll take it as far as the future me really wants to go.

 

Cartoon pic of me gives the appearance of alertness. Yay!

 

 

 

 

Posted via email from Laura Marie Blogs

Monday, January 10, 2011

What the heck happened?

Sometimes things happen and sometimes things happen all at once. The beginning of 2011 has been eventful and I haven't really been sharing a lot of it because most of it is intensely personal and I needed a chance to get my head and heart in the right place before talking/writing about it. In truth, I've been waiting for things to subside but it seems like some things plan on being around a while so, I'm going to have to just get on with gettin' on. In answer to some of your questions:

 

I traveled to the midwest to spend time with family for the holidays. My husband is from Nebraska and that is where we spent Christmas and did not return until New Year's Eve. I usually get back to performing mid-January so, lack of shows does not mean I'm not performing. In fact, I have a show this week :)

 

Laura Marie @ Candlelight Coffeehouse

8pm, 3011 N. St. Mary's Street - SA, Tx.

More shows will be in announced in February including a trip to Memphis for the Folk Alliance conference with the GoGirls and shows with my friend and fellow songwriter, Vanessa Lively, along the way. 

Tah-dah!!! The only change in my regular performance schedule is that I'll only be performing at Candlelight once a month as opposed to twice and it will be on the second Wed. of the month. This means I'll be booking more weekend shows and likely spending more time performing outside of San Antonio. This also accommodates a new teaching schedule as I've accepted a position teaching voice and guitar for performance at Bulverde Academy of Music. Wow. That's a big one for me but I love that my students are interested in doing the same thing I do. It's actually thrilling to mentor someone in this way. 

Also, you may have noticed that I've announced a songwriting clinic with Chris Taylor at the Musicology LLC. I'm very excited about this and we may be doing more of them so be on the lookout. I love working with Chris and I love working with my friend Julian Escobedo who is both owner and bass instructor. We've known each other since kinder and he's accomplished a lot since then. Check out his bio. :)

Teaching is not something I planned on doing again but these were both opportunities that not only worked with my performance schedule, they offered me an experience to grow in areas that I've been wanting to develop. Yay, me! 

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On a personal note. Pete and I lost members on each side of our family over the last month. We each lost an uncle and our concerns have been for our family members.This has been another reason I've been kind of out of touch and I think it's self explanatory. I wrote a song for one of the memorial services and will be posting it to my mailing list this week. If you are not signed up, you can do so by hitting the link below and will also receive a free download of Love You Like Me.

Some friends and followers already know that I was ill for a while and that the symptoms have been attributed to an "autoimmune disorder". My diet has changed quite drastically. Again. I have now been gluten free for about 3 months and have seen a huge decrease in symptoms which is great. I am no longer vegetarian but, being a vegetarian DID NOT make me ill.  I was on a path to discover how I could help my body through diet. It turns out that meat wasn't a huge factor and, now that I know protein deficiency did not play a role, I'm giving my body time to adjust and heal before making any further changes. 

Lastly, this is a call for your love and support. For the last month I've had a significant loss of hearing in my right ear accompanied by a loud ringing. This is not due to loud music and it's also been confirmed that it is not due to fluid in my ear. It's a nerve thing. The cause is unknown at this point and, really, the only thing I care about is that it gets resolved and that my hearing returns. 

The doc says, "30% completely recover, 30% partially recover and 30% don't recover at all. " Thems the odds. So, I ask for your good energy, prayers, vibes, meditations. Whatever ya got! Send them my way. The next month or so, according to at least one doc, will be telling and I'm shooting for "full recovery". :)

 

click here

Much love, Laura Marie

P.S.

Stay tuned for commentaries on violence, body image and such and so forth...

 

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Posted via email from Laura Marie Blogs