The latest. by Vanessa Fiola

A month or two after I started Psych-K balancing (an activity which brings both hemispheres of the cerebral cortex into a state of communication with one another, thus supporting subconscious changes), it occurred to me that I hadn’t had a panic attack or anxiety spiral since I started.

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Day 28 by Vanessa Fiola

**The next 2 days I'll be posting 500 words a day here as part of a creative writing challenge. Join the FB group.”

I stayed home sick from work today. This morning I woke up with a sore throat and assumed that was the whole of it. I tried to reiki my throat, but patience and trust had other ideas. This is the first time since reiki training that I’ve doubted its efficacy. When you get certified they tell you don't ever doubt its efficacy.

Anyway, I took my first conference call from home and then tried to drive into work. A little less than halfway there I turned around. I couldn't do it. My whole body ached and my eyes burned, though I didn't have a fever.

I spent my entire 20s without calling in sick. I have prided myself on this mostly true fact. But then once you have a child and also work in a petri dish of a room, you basically have to re-evaluate the things that you hang your hat on.

I crawled back into bed and asked Ryan for my special drink. (Not vodka.)

A long time ago while I was living in Austin, one of my acupuncturist friends told me that the way to cure bodily malaise is to follow these three tips:

  1. Take an Epsom salt bath as hot as you can stand it.
  2. Drink lemon and ginger water. I have since upped this game. Now it's lemon/ginger/turmeric/black pepper/manuka honey water. I literally had more faith in this tea than I do my own reiki abilities this morning. More on that later.
  3. Bundle up in layers and get into bed.

It's too early to tell* if Margaret was right again this time, though history is on her side. Jaye suggested I reiki myself this morning. I did try to do my throat. For me, a relative neophyte in this art, as much as I wanted to reiki my whole body I couldn't muster the energy or presence. I could only think of sleep. I wonder how practiced practitioners handle this?
Siri is "typing" this for me because I assumed it would take less energy. The jury is still out on that one because you have to say words like “open parentheses” or “end quote.”

In the middle of the day, I slept for two and a half hours, which is a total luxury. I ended up waking up feeling the same as I felt when I went to sleep, which is how I knew I am legitimately sick and not just feeling the compounded effects of 28 days of nominal sleep.
You know what I worry about after this challenge is over? That I've now created a pattern of going to bed really late and reading the internet for 5 hours a day. It's hard to believe it's been 4 weeks already.
 

*I "wrote" this while in the bath at 8pm and then fell asleep. Now, at midnight, I am feeling considerably better.