During my workout with Erik this morning, I had troubles with the obstacles. My vertigo varies from minute to minute. My first obstacle set was great. My second set was not so hot. He was using his drill sergeant approach with me, “Come on, Johanna. Just step over it. It hasn’t changed from 12 minutes […]
What Are You Practicing? Read More »
I worked out with Erik yesterday, on something we’ve recently added back into my training: stepping back and forth over obstacles, called hurdles in fitness jargon. These obstacles are the same as the 6″ Step Hurdle we used to use when I worked on general balance before my hemorrhage. Before the hemorrhage, I’d worked up
A Standing Ovation Read More »
I spent the most recent four weeks on what I’m calling the “Northern Hemisphere Conference Tour“: four conferences, back to back. Agile Vancouver, AYE, Øredev, and Agile Testing Days. (It seemed like a good great idea at the time :-) It was. I had a blast, and I could not have done it without support.
Assisted Living: Succeeding With Help From Friends 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 »
I’ve been battling a 10-20% forward lean with my vertigo. I’m standing much straighter these days, and it’s all because of my hip flexors. I’ve been straightening them. Your hip flexors are small muscles on the front of your hips. If you sit too much, they contract, and you don’t stand up straight. If you,
Standing Straight with Oosh and Ah Read More »
When I tell people I ballroom dance and that I have vertigo, they are surprised. When Mark is with me, they look at him to see if I’m lying. I’m not lying. We adapt almost everything. Here are two examples. In waltz, there is a gorgeous step, called 3/8ths turns. The gentleman leads a left
As I work through the training for my vertigo, I keep remembering what my vestibular therapist said last week. Her words were, “This requires mental toughness. It’s like running a marathon 20 minutes, twice a day.” When I use the BrainPort to retrain my brain (using techniques of neuroplasticity) to change how my brain adapts
I’m in Toronto today, experimenting with a new vertigo treatment, called the Brainport. It’s teaching my tongue to learn where I am in space, to relearn my proprioception. Why am I in Canada? Because the FDA hasn’t approved it for use in the US. And, I suspect that the FDA non-approval has a lot to
Courage for A New Option 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 »
When I was in 10th grade, I struggled with my foreign language, French. We were translating The Sword of Roland, “L’Epee D’Roland.” I am pretty sure that when I spoke in class, it sounded like “Leh pee (!) deh roa-land.” The correct pronunciation would be “Leh peh deh roh-land.” My teacher that year told me
Learning Something New Read More »