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

Read more...
Depression #2 © 2011 Jane Waterman
Living with invisible illness

Sjogren’s and UltraViolet, or How I Became a Vampire

Day 2 – Write about the weirdest thing about your health. When one’s health ‘goes wonky’, there’s lots of things that could no doubt be called weird. As someone who had trouble getting a diagnosis in the first place, I was used to the words ‘atypical’ and ‘undifferentiated’. Which I

Read more...
The Fall of Winter © 2012 Jane Waterman
Interior life

The Fall of Winter

I seem to have my sleep cycles back to front at the moment, but to be honest, I’m just trying to get through the days. Today was a startling spring day in the Cowichan Valley. I say startling because when I came into the office in mid-morning, the light was

Read more...
Balance © 2012 Jane Waterman
Living with invisible illness

Balance

I sit around making pictures at 2am in the morning because I’m no good with balance. I’m okay with that, sort of. When you work around an autoimmune disease, and work around the stuff that is as deeply entrenched in the mind as the body, I suppose anything feels like

Read more...
Drowned World © 2012 Jane Waterman
Creativity

Drowned World

Today was a tough day… one of those days when the energy is just not there. I had a bad night with little sleep, which didn’t help. Then I got up and did some work in the morning, but headed back to bed after and slept until 3pm. The pain

Read more...
The Fall of Winter © 2012 Jane Waterman
Interior life

The Coming of the Sun

How quickly one forgets! That’s probably a merciful feature built into the human mind – a natural survival instinct – so one forgets how bad it can get. Three days ago spring announced itself in the Cowichan Valley with a clarion call of sunshine at 15 degrees Celsius. Sitting inside

Read more...
Ghost in the Machine © 2002 Jane Waterman
Living with invisible illness

Living With It…

I remember the first time I felt this tired. Not the exact hour, day, or even year, but I remember the quality of it. I was at the sink, preparing vegetables, and I got so tired that I had to sit on a stool, my arms propping me up on

Read more...
Soul Clouds #8 © 2015 Jane Waterman
Mental health challenges

On Suicide – Don’t Give Up

Suicide is an especially difficult topic for me. I have known three people who lost the battle to depression and successfully ended their lives. I use the word “successfully” ironically. As a survivor, I know there is no victory in losing the fight, and to this day I am still

Read more...