Join me as I share a raw, personal account of a recent flare-up and the chronic battle with this invisible disease. I tackle the societal stigma surrounding periods and why it's crucial to break these taboos. Plus, you'll get invaluable insights from our past episode featuring patient advocate Laura, who sheds light on the struggles and triumphs in raising awareness about endometriosis.
But that's not all. I pivot to the concept of gratitude, a perspective that has been reshaped by motherhood. As summer chaos ensues and the house becomes a mess, I find peace in the small things. Whether it's an old dryer or the daily grind of meal prep, having a grateful mindset can transform the mundane into something meaningful. Tune in to learn how this simple shift can impact your life.
Takeaways
Endometriosis is a painful and often undiagnosed disease that affects many women, causing a range of physical and mental health issues.
There is a lack of information and support for those with endometriosis, leading to delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment.
Gratitude and appreciation for the privileges we have can help shift our perspective and bring more positivity into our lives.
Being mindful of the challenges others face can help us find empathy and understanding in our own struggles.
Join me as I share a raw, personal account of a recent flare-up and the chronic battle with this invisible disease. I tackle the societal stigma surrounding periods and why it's crucial to break these taboos. Plus, you'll get invaluable insights from our past episode featuring patient advocate Laura, who sheds light on the struggles and triumphs in raising awareness about endometriosis.
But that's not all. I pivot to the concept of gratitude, a perspective that has been reshaped by motherhood. As summer chaos ensues and the house becomes a mess, I find peace in the small things. Whether it's an old dryer or the daily grind of meal prep, having a grateful mindset can transform the mundane into something meaningful. Tune in to learn how this simple shift can impact your life.
Takeaways
Endometriosis is a painful and often undiagnosed disease that affects many women, causing a range of physical and mental health issues.
There is a lack of information and support for those with endometriosis, leading to delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment.
Gratitude and appreciation for the privileges we have can help shift our perspective and bring more positivity into our lives.
Being mindful of the challenges others face can help us find empathy and understanding in our own struggles.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to another episode of Still Rose's podcast. This podcast was created for women, by women. What you don't know is that this is take two, take one this morning. For some reason, every once in a while my laptop will change the settings or something to that effect. So yesterday it was like my camera setting was off and then I couldn't. The camera was locked, and it doesn't matter because I don't do footage, but either way it was annoying because I do like to see, like myself on camera when I talk. It helps a little bit, I think, for me. This morning my mic was off, so I started recording our episode today and I had to stop because, thankfully, I actually noticed it, because otherwise I wouldn't really upset. So anyway, this is actually take two of this morning's episode.
Speaker 1:
So what I wanted to share too, because it kind of brings me full circle with the topics that I wanted to bring up today. For those of you who've been listening for a while, you do know that, um, I have endometriosis and um, we've gone through like the disease and what that means and what, what the full story is. Um, for those of you who haven't been listening, we do have an endometriosis episode. Um, it aired in March. I'm going to link it in this episode so you can hear the full story. Um, at the time I met with a patient advocate, laura. She's amazing. She's really trying to make waves and set up a better future for people with endometriosis, because the disease itself goes undiagnosed for so long that it causes a lot of issues for women, including infertility and just I mean, pain, the mental health state like it runs the gamut. There's loads of information out there. Oh, excuse me, let me correct that. There is not loads of information out there. There are only some websites that actually have actual, legitimate information, which is why this disease goes undiagnosed for so long. In any case, I'm going to link that episode so you can listen to that, because there's a lot of good information in there.
Speaker 1:
But what I'm focusing in on is that yesterday I had a bit of a and a bit by a bit. I mean I had a flare up and I haven't had one in a really long time. So when you have endometriosis, your cycles are incredibly painful and, amongst a variety of other symptoms, but pain is one of the most prevalent. I have a pretty high tolerance and I usually, as most women do, cope and power through when there's episodes like that. However, I was unprepared yesterday, so I normally, when I have my cycle, have to take Lidol or pain relievers every two hours when I have it, because if I don't, the pain becomes excruciating. And so, for the most part, I'm just trying to numb for the entire time that I have my cycle. Most part I'm just trying to numb for the entire time that I have my cycle.
Speaker 1:
For all intents and purposes, as I get older, I'm trying to cut back the amount of medicine that I take because it is affecting my stomach which food for thought for all of you, you know, younger than 40, it does happen eventually, like your body starts to just not, it starts to reject stuff. So I'm trying to be mindful of that and I thought to myself well, this medicine is this last like four hours. We took the kids out and I didn't. I usually carry it with me, so that way, once I start to sense that it's the medicine is wearing off, I can take it immediately and I don't have any any gaps. So what ended up happening is I didn't take it with me, I thought I could just deal with it and I ended up having one of the worst episodes I have had in years.
Speaker 1:
Like years I take medicine, like I'm trying really hard not to further damage my stomach and I got I was making dinner and I was trying to get everything out and you know I I know it sounds a little dumb like just, jenny, grab a handful of something, eat it and take your medicine. Like you have to get that medicine in. I was in mom mode, slash wife mode, and was like I need to get food cooked because everyone was griping and starving and crying and like you know, and I myself was getting grouchy and so it just it was just one of those like snowball moments. I ended up in the middle of my kitchen, like tears coming down my face, as I'm like grilling chicken. Like just because I was in such severe pain to the point where my kids like stopped me. They're like, mommy, just stop. Like just sit down, it's okay. Like it's okay, we can eat cereal. Like that's literally what they told me We'll eat cereal, you don't have to cook. So I took medicine. As soon as I take the medicine, within like 30 or 40 minutes, everything starts to dissipate and I was okay the rest of the evening. But that intensity in that moment made me think of all of you because, for what it's worth, in that moment I felt connected to every single other endometriosis patient.
Speaker 1:
It's a very painful personal journey that a lot of women go on because they're undiagnosed and because it happens, because the pain, because it's associated with your period, there is a certain level of shame that comes with it for some, but there's also like a whole layer of secrecy out there for women who experienced any adverse symptoms during their period. Yeah, because period is supposedly like a dirty word. It's your period. We bring life into this world, ladies, we're the only beings on this planet that serve as a portal from someplace else that brings life here. Period is not a dirty word, it's just not. And for some reason we're like conditioned I mean, I know why, because of the patriarchy, but like don't get me started so we're conditioned to believe it's a secret and we need to keep it a secret. We can't let anyone know about it, like we can't let anyone know that we have our periods. It's not a dirty word, ladies, we all have it, and we have it because we're bringing life into this world.
Speaker 1:
So it had gotten me thinking, you know, while I was going through that. Of course, everybody like I started thinking of everyone, but then I started thinking about my daughters. Now, endometriosis If you have like heavy bleeding, irregular periods, painful periods, excruciating cramps, um pain in your backside which, by the way, if you've ever experienced excruciating pain in your backside, that doesn't mean you're dying it could be a symptom of endometriosis. There's a lot of stuff that happens that women just don't talk about, myself included. I remember getting excruciating pain in my butt when I was about 11. I had no idea what it was and in my head I was like I'm not saying anything about this because I'm not having anyone go in there. So there's a lot of that in there.
Speaker 1:
So, anyway, it had me to start to think about my daughters, because endometriosis is a hereditary disease and my mind immediately goes to I don't want them to go through this pain. I don't want them to have these issues. Endometriosis causes infertility. So I started getting worked up about it. But then I remembered something quite crucial. I happen to know about this disease and, instead of telling them to just deal with it and take aspirin, I actually know what will help them. I know what will save their uterus. I know what will save them years of questioning, like what's going on with my body, and I am the type of person that will go right in with them to the doctor and let them know, like this is what's going on. You need to treat them appropriately. That's the benefit here is that I have this experience, that I can now help my kids and help anybody else who's experiencing this symptom or who you know has a child that's experiencing it, and maybe you don't realize that you have it too, which, on that note, by the way new feature for the podcast you should be able to direct message me through the actual wherever you're listening, there should be a link that says contact and I think that, like I tested it, like I got it, but if you message me there, like I'll be able to get in touch with you. So if you have questions about this, please like message me.
Speaker 1:
But anyway, it got me thinking about them and being prepared for them and how being a mom has made me look at things differently and through a lens of I want to make sure my children are prepared and I want to make sure that they're they have everything not material things, but mentally prepared for life before they leave the nest and you know when they decide to leave the nest, because I'm sure as heck not going to push them out anytime early. So it got me. I started thinking through what I want to share with all of you and then, of course, you've all been hearing me talk about how nervous I am having everybody home for summer break, because we know it's day two for me, know it's day two for me. So I started looking through Pinterest, which is like my fave spot to go to because unproblematic, not a lot of ridiculous things on there. I can just kind of scroll through some nice topics and food recipes and call it a night. Just in case anybody doesn't know this about me, I am rather unproblematic. I like to just be easygoing, because you know why.
Speaker 1:
Why be stressed out all the time? Well, I came across this quote and it it's some. It's like food for thought because, especially since now that everybody's home, the house is going to be messier, instead of sending them to school and having them buy lunch, I actually am going to have to have lunch ready for everybody every single day Breakfast, lunch and dinner three meals. I'm going to have to get on that bandwagon at this point. So this quote reads what a privilege it is to clean a house made dirty by healthy children playing, to wash dishes, because we were able to eat three meals today and to do piles of laundry, because we all have clean clothes to wear every day. Now let's let that sink in for a second and really think about that, because we actually circle back to that kind of thinking, that way of thinking, quite a bit.
Speaker 1:
Here in this house we always my husband and I always are very mindful to remind each other to be grateful because we came from such small, such a small setting. We came from an apartment that was so small for us. We were busting at the seams, the building wasn't in good shape. I mean, appearance wise was glossy, but the building itself was infested and it was just gross, like it just wasn't a good living environment for my family for any family really, in my opinion. We were fortunate enough to be able to buy a home and move, and so now when we're here in our home and we get frustrated about certain things aspects of the house I hate our refrigerator. With a fiery passion, I wasn't able to buy a brand new refrigerator when we moved in. I hate our refrigerator. I say it all the time. I hate it. And I talked to the refrigerator itself and I say I hate you so much, but I have a refrigerator. You know like there's people that only have a small like box. You know, like they don't have everything. My kids destroyed the living room the other day. Building a fort destroyed it. Then they left it like that, but they actually do have a living room to play in.
Speaker 1:
We had such a small setting when we were in our apartment totally different. You know their bedrooms themselves. They have these full, beautiful closets and I always keep them really nicely. The girls go in there, pick out their own clothes. I get mad that they throw everything everywhere, but at the same time I'm like but they have this space to grow into. You know there's so much to it.
Speaker 1:
I was pissed off about our dryer, that our dryer is eating some of my spaghetti straps and the girl's spaghetti straps. So I got, I got us a fresh clothes for the summer and again, another thing to be grateful for, because I couldn't do that before it was eating our spaghetti straps. The dryer, and my husband just reminded me. Well, do you remember having to lug all the laundry down to the basement? And you know, deal with other people taking your clothes out of the washer and dryer because they want to put their clothes in, because you didn't wash it fast enough, and then if you left it down there for too long, like the bugs will get into it and this and that. And he reminded me about how terrible it is was before and I was like all right, I can deal with the fact that our dryer is old at this house for now, until I can replace it and eat my spaghetti straps, because it's not in a basement, it's not a scary gross basement, it's in my home. So there's so much more to be grateful for that happens in our daily lives that we really just never think about.
Speaker 1:
So I'm challenging you here today on this episode. Don't the thing no, let me. Let me rephrase that Not don't, immediately today, when you get pissed off about something oh my God, air conditioning in my car doesn't work. You have a car. How many people do you drive past at the bus stop waiting for the bus because they don't have a car? They have to wait outside. They have to leave their house two hours early, sometimes for work, because they don't have a car. Oh my God, you know the.
Speaker 1:
I have to go out there and I have to vacuum our pool. You have a pool. You have a pool, yeah, and it entails work, but you have one. Oh my gosh, there's mosquitoes in the backyard. The backyard is overrun with mosquitoes. You have a backyard. Do you see where I'm going with this? Like, oh my God, I'm so sick and tired of having to cook food for everybody. That's my, that's actually my complaint. I'm just going to share that. Oh my God, I'm so sick and tired of having to cook food for everybody. I have a family there. There's all these different levels of there. There's all these different levels of like complaints that we have that you can counter with a. Well, I can be grateful because I have this.
Speaker 1:
I tried to record outside this morning and my mic wasn't working, which I shared, and there was also bugs and flies and a giant spider like hanging out right in front of me, so I had to come back inside and I was a little bit annoyed and I was like hanging out right in front of me. So I had to come back inside and I was a little bit annoyed and I was like oh God, it's ridiculous, but I laugh at myself because I'm like, well, yeah, sure it's a little annoying and convenient because I had to come back inside and figure out what was going on with my mic, but I have a yard to sit in that I went out to this morning Never had that. When my kids were little, we were in an apartment and the backyard was shared with people who had dogs and didn't clean up after them. You hear what I'm getting at Like I'm probably going to lose my, my, my shit today. I'm going to lose it today because I'm working from home, my whole family's home today.
Speaker 1:
Kids are home on summer break. My, my, my husband's here to quote unquote, watch them. And I say quote unquote cause you all know what I mean, I know, you know what I mean. I don't have to explain it. I'm definitely gonna lose it because I have to concentrate, I have to be in meetings. I work from home. That's a massive privilege, massive, especially since, like, a lot of folks are going back to hybrid.
Speaker 1:
People are being forced back into their offices at this point because there's like companies don't want to have people remote, which I really don't understand why. And I'm going to digress for a minute because myself and my colleagues and almost every single person I know that works from home really works very hard. Even if they take a break during the daytime for like random stuff, like they hop back on at night, like myself included. Like if I lose an hour during the day because of whatever, I make sure that I make that time up and I make sure work doesn't suffer. So I'm a little surprised that people are being forced back into the offices.
Speaker 1:
But nevertheless, just saying so, for everything you do today, I do take, I do challenge you and I'm going to do the same thing and I'm interested in hearing from you guys on, like, if it worked and if it helped to change your thinking. Everything you go through today and every time you get frustrated, I want you to take a minute, let it, let it sink in. What are you complaining about and what's the polar opposite, and let me know if it's changed your day. Do it over the next couple of days. I'm very interested in hearing if anyone tries this out as an experiment and how it might potentially change and shift how you are as a person, because you're focusing on yeah, I'm pissed off, but you know what I used to have nothing.
Speaker 1:
I'm pissed off that I have to, like, clean up after all my kids or I'm pissed off that my kids made this huge mess. Your kids are healthy and running around. That's what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to make a mess, which somebody is going to have to remind me about that later, because it's going to happen All right. So on that note, I'm going to let everybody go. Summer series is meant to be shorts and I'm going a little long on this one. I hope you all have a great day and I will see you on the next one. Take care.