Eternity © 2004 Jane Waterman
Invisible illnesses

Watermark

A watermark is an outline of the tide’s advance and retreat. In some ways I feel like I am part of that outline, lying at low ebb, among the beautiful broken detritus of the sea. These last weeks I have been merely functioning: meeting the very real needs of the

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Garden of Time © 2003 Jane Waterman
Creativity

To My Future Self

I’m taking part in WEGO Health’s Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge Day 6 #HAWMC – Write a letter to an older you (tell us what age you’re writing to!). What do you want to ask yourself? What lesson do you want to make sure you remember? I’m writing to my

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Breaking the Waves #1 © 2013 Jane Waterman
Interior life

(Not) Identifying With Being A Sick Person

As strange as it may sound, approaching my 23rd anniversary of being a sick person (I remember it well – the food poisoning, giardia or whatever it was that triggered the whole thing and led to me spending most of my 24th birthday puking),  I think one of my best

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Nothing Like The Sun © 2012 Jane Waterman
Invisible illness advocacy

Once More, with Feeling

Day 30 – Recap National Health Blog Post Month Sitting here in the last hours of November 30, I feel a lot of things. I hope it wouldn’t be too obvious to say that one is an intense feeling of relief. It’s been a real roller coaster, with a couple

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Angel #1 © 2012 Jane Waterman
Invisible illness advocacy

Lucky Thirteen

Day 29 – “If I could accomplish one thing (anything) in 2013 it would be…” I’m prone to all kinds of superstitions about a new year. Many’s the time in late December I would make pronouncements to myself about the coming year, often with at least a couple of drinks

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Hanging Gardens © 2003 Jane Waterman
Healing toolkit

Unexpected Growth Through Invisible Illness

Day 22 – Write about change In a recent post, I talked about invisible illness and the process of subtraction: how illness whittles away at one’s health, work life, family, relationships/connections, and more. However, not all changes related to invisible illness are bad. I’m going to highlight some of the

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After Munch #4 © 2012 Jane Waterman
Invisible illness advocacy

Working (or Not Working) With an Invisible Illness

Day 14 – My own prompt for today: ‘Talk about the issues involved in working (or not working) with an invisible illness. Is it possible to find a life-work balance with a chronic invisible illness?’ Note: These problems aren’t unique to people with invisible illnesses. However, this is my area

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Tranquil Waters #1 © 2012 Jane Waterman
Invisible illnesses

Take a Heroic Rest

Day 3 – An unscheduled post – a rest   I knew that daily blogging would be a challenge, but alas, not for the reasons I thought it would be. I thought finding words to write would be the challenge. That it wasn’t, surprises me, although it shouldn’t as I’ve

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Contraction © 2012 Jane Waterman
Interior life

Dark Matter

Recently, I heard it described that depression is a liar. It deceives us into believing all hope and joy is sucked out of the moment in which we live. I don’t know if it’s a liar so much as a thief, sneaking in on little feet, gradually drawing all the

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Quanta #1 © 2012 Jane Waterman
Creativity

Possibility: 4 am

The first month of my personal 365 day blogging project has passed. In some ways, it’s become a deeper creative exploration. I am enjoying painting with the computer immensely. Last night I’d barely drifted off to sleep when pain woke me up again. At 4 am I started painting some

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