Have you seen Inside a Vertigo Attack? I never expected the kinds of comments I’m getting. That’s because there aren’t too many first-person accounts of what it’s like to live with vertigo. My dizziness is called oscillopsia, because I have no vestibulo-ocular reflex on my right side. That means when my head goes up and […]
Seven Things You Can Do To Help Manage Your Vertigo Read More »
I was sitting on the wall, chatting with Eddie, a colleague, at the Gaylord mega hotel in Nashville. I’m at the Agile 2013 conference. I recognized the female gardener as she walked by and greeted her. She asked if the Eddie, the gentleman sitting next to me was my son. I was nonplussed, surprised, and
How Old Are You on the Inside? Read More »
I travel a lot so I stay in many hotels. When I make a reservation, I ask for either a stall shower or a shower with a grab bar, or a roll-in shower. Since I’m not disabled, I like to leave the roll-in shower for the guests who actually are disabled. But I do need
Why Do Hotels Not Eat Their Own Dog Food? Read More »
You’ve heard the old joke, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news,” right? Well, that actually happened to me. Back in 2009, when I had my first vertigo attack, I complained to my doctor of fullness in my ears. I’d seen an internist in my doctor’s office, and sure enough, I did have
What a Doctor Should Not Say to a Patient on a Friday Afternoon Read More »
I saw my regular doctor recently, who is concerned about my quantity of vertigo meds. I’m on the max, to manage my oscillopsia. Even with all the meds, I’m just barely managing the oscllopsia. She asked me to see if I could start tapering off, now that my vertigo has been quiescent since April. Like
One of the problems with vertigo is that there is no safe place for me, except for sitting down. I flew to and from Denver last week. I don’t mind flying–flying is easy. It’s the getting on the plane that’s difficult. Walking down the jetway is difficult. Declines are difficult—I don’t know where down is.
End of One Illusion: No Safe Place Read More »
There’s a sad story making the rounds today. Samantha Brick wrote an article in the Daily Mail called ‘There are downsides to looking this pretty’: Why women hate me for being beautiful. In it, she claims perks from men such as flowers and free drinks, and discrimination from female bosses. She also says: So now
Self-Esteem Can’t Arise From Your External Beauty Either Read More »
At AYE this week, I led a session about adapting to change in your life. One of the participants was considering reminiscing about the way his life used to be. I was horrified. I didn’t say that. What I said was this, “That would be bittersweet for me. I have too many memories of what
Using the Past to Create a New Future Read More »
Part of mental toughness is also having emotional resilience. It’s a different piece. Here’s how I like to explain it. Imagine you were a corporate travel agent back in the 1970s, 1980s, or even the 1990s. You were great at your job. You found the best fares. Your customers loved you. You did a great
Emotional Resilience: Just the Beginning Read More »
You need to have faith that you can make it through whatever is going on in your life. But you can’t afford to be blindly optimistic. (My original title for this post was “Blind optimism kills” and I thought that might be a little extreme.) Admiral Stockdale actually said this the best about his survival
Faith Tempered With Reality, Not Optimism Read More »