When I first started writing about my struggle with vaginal pain, I wrote that it felt like one of my greatest fears was materializing: that I am stuck with this unprovoked pain forever. Seven months later, the pain persists. I am discovering what it feels like to live in tandem with one of my greatest fears. Some days, […]
My life isn’t so much peaks and valleys these days. It’s more prairies and valleys. Since this pain nightmare started in June, I seem to cycle between total despair and a little less despair. When a loved one kindly offers, “I hope you have a good day”, it feels like a monumental disconnect from my reality. Semantics are powerful, and […]
For months, I’ve been ignoring an urge to start writing again because the thing I want to write about is extremely personal, even for me. So I repeatedly reminded myself that in this case, the personal is political. If I can turn this struggle into something of use to other women despairing alone and in silence, then the suffering […]
There’s a smart, funny, and dynamic woman who follows my blog. We knew each other only as loose acquaintances before I launched this blog. But now I deeply know her, because she trusts me with her truths, which she shares by email. One of her secrets is that, unbeknownst to most around her, she struggles tremendously […]
I’ve made it to Day 22 of a grueling food elimination diet to see if allergic foods may be contributing to my health issues. The health yields have been imperceptible to non-existent. But I remain curious enough to keep going. The experience hasn’t been without silver linings, like learning how to cook fish (the only allowable […]
Before launching this blog, I wrestled with how this brazenly personal blog would reflect on me professionally, and what it would mean for my business, Cloud 9 Organize & Redesign. My small business is an intimate one. I spend hours at a time huddled with my clients in crowded closets and basements and bedrooms, touching […]
I’d just arrived in Boston on a turbulent flight, after visiting my family in Pennsylvania, for the holidays. Because of my debilitating motion sickness, this particularly bumpy flight left me shaky, nauseous and feeling like shit. The last thing I wanted to do was get into another moving vehicle to make the trip from airport to […]
When I envision my favorite future, it mirrors one of the happiest elements of my younger years: abundant, always-available connection with people I love. For the first eighteen years of my life, I was surrounded by a big family, an inseparable best friend, a boyfriend of the year, and my ample girl posses. Unfortunately, mid-life […]
Plenty of people who know me, peripherally or professionally, if asked, would predict that I have a vibrant social life. I know about this public misperception because I’ve been told as much, more than a few times. I can understand why it exists. I run my own business that’s been blessed with press and success. […]
Gutsy Beautiful Complicated 