Skip to main content

Pausing for Menopause .... and an amazing book

In a rather surprising turn of events, my hysterectomy did not solve all of my problems.  I'm being sarcastic. I never expected it to solve everything, but I have been struggling with the challenges that came with menopause.
First off, I've had a migraine almost every day.  The migraines are new and different migraines from my previous two migraines.  The pain isn't as much, but the nausea, dizziness and blurred vision are awful.  Yes, blurred vision.  I haven't been able to read or study like I want to.  There is also a very strange perfume-like metallic taste in my mouth.  Apparently, that is a rare symptom of menopause. Not the kind that people chat too much about.  Truth is, many of my menopause symptoms have had me thinking I was dying or that something horrible was wrong.  I didn't know that these light migraines were migraines; they are so different than the migraines I have had all my life.  The exhaustion and metallic taste are strange and extreme. 

This week, I was able to do some fun time reading.

I read an ARC of Psychology of Zelda from Net Galley.  It was an amazing read.  If, by some chance, you are ever studying for your NCE and want to take a break from studying without detracting from learning about theories, a Psychology of Pop Culture book is just the right choice.  This is the third Psychology of Pop Culture book that I've read.  I adore all of them, but this one has to be my favorite.  Now, there is quite a lot of Jungian theory included in the book, so if that doesn't interest you at all, you should skip this one. However, I know of no one in history more devoted to the Jungian Archetypes than the writers and creators of Zelda (other than Jung himself). 
My absolute favorite part was look at Majora's Mask through the Five Stages of grief.  I must mention, that happens to be my absolute least favorite Zelda game in it's over 30 year history.  Yet, the piece makes it seem as if playing Majora's Mask will help me in my own grief journey, so I'll greatly consider playing it again in the future. 
Every piece in the book manages to grab on to theory and illustrate it amazingly while walking the reader through the stages of Zelda that will bring the story about.   It is quite delectable. I encourage everyone with the vaguest interest in Zelda, psychology or both to read it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mother's Day

I've disappeared for a few weeks (again).  It's because I was dealing with the real world consequences of being chronically ill and chronically poor. These are two things I link together so tightly I almost didn't put "and" in that sentence. I was being kept at a friend's house for a little over a week because I live alone and they were afraid I was going to die.  No one actually says that,  but the simple reality is that no one is saying, "Geeze you are kinda sick and gonna totes get better so please sleep on my couch." There were other reasons too; the simple life goes on when you're sick, birthdays and funerals. I haven't had hours at work which I'm thankful for because I couldn't conceivably go to work. I had a regular-person doctor's visit which turned into several "lets check if you have cancer" visits.  I don't. Yay for that. I removed one medication and added another. I'm having one medication taken aw

Free Hugs

I don't think I can express how important support is when making a change.  All things are easier when you have support.  One of my awesome thing about building up support is that you can choose any way you want to do it.  You can blog for support (Hey Y'all!), use community sights like Lift , SparkPeople , Weight Talk community, use twitter, facebook, or go to the people around you.  In person support does add certain benefits you can't get online, but it's all about steps. I'm testing out a lot of these different communities.  I want to find the right fit for my needs, and the best way I know to do that is to try out some different things.  Right now, I'm in love with pinterest and with the International Geek Girl Pen Pal club .  One of the best things about becoming an Iggle is that you get support in a dozen different ways with everything you want to do.  My letter writing as a hobby is becoming a real thing. (I'm hoping to keep growing my creativity

Sitting down

I've started this blog entry four times this week. First, I was going to tell you about being shiny with my goals. I was all about tracking and support. Those tools are really helpful and I was doing quite well. I had the post all typed out, then I got fired.  In the rest of the week, things got a little off track. There are days this week where I didn't track my progress. I didn't eat according to the plan each day. I didn't complete my full workout each day.  There was even a day where I didn't take my medications.  Knowing that getting off my medications for a day usually leads to migraines, why would I do that?  Why would I ever skip my exercises when my knees hurt less if I do them?  Why wouldn't I move around every hour knowing that I'm at risk for blood clots and strokes? Why would I eat a tub of french fries to make me feel better? As I got stuck this week, I kept asking myself those whys.  It seems like a labyrinth I'll never escape someti