about Healing: When the Momma’s happy, everyone is happy
It’s been over a year since my last post. I can choose to feel guilty or celebrate the closing of an era.
I’ve been spending the last year physically and mentally healing. I stripped my slate down to literally the bare necessities. I labeled it “The Year of Non-Commitment” and I followed through with it. It sounds boring but it has been one of the busiest and hardest and best years of my life. My plate stayed full despite my pruning. Migraines and backaches controlled my days. Relationships were strained. And “stuff” kept oozing from the tiniest of crevices. I can’t even imagine how insane I would been had I not already eliminated my duties towards my career, the ASDa board, volunteering, and of course, my blog.
My journey of healing included: weaning myself off prescriptions and over-the-counter meds, detoxing my body and overhauling my diet, participating in a small group study, putting a finishline on a 9-year grief cycle, and investing my new found energy into a self-study and an anger management course, which has in turn freed up a lot of energy for me to do other stuff…fun stuff…like a vacation…without kids…or husbands.
So far in my journey, I’ve been “small group hopping” for 1.5 years. The length of time it has taken me to heal is probably indicative of my inconsistency of attending my groups. But the time I have spent in my groups has been invaluable. First, in teaching me a new appreciation of independently reading the Bible, I’ve been able to reconcile a lot of concepts and doubts and confusion I held in my mind regarding my personal spirituality. Second, in being among friendly people, the social butterfly in me was finally able to emerge from her cocoon. Third, perspective, perspective, perspective. Ever hear the one about If we all put our issues in a big pile and then got to choose an issue from that pile, we all would pick up our own issues? My issues aren’t necessarily better or worse than the next person’s but they are mine – all mine. And while I might covet another parent’s ability to sign their child up for a team sport, I certainly do not covet the responsibilities both time-wise and financially they incur because of that freedom. And fourth, in allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, I not only receive the prayerful support I desperately need from friends, but also can provide that same prayerful support to them as well.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
Now then… I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the scope of my mourning. But I had grossly overlooked the most obvious situation that was overdue for bereavement. Through a family tragedy, I was able to discover I was stuck in the very early denial stage of grieving my miscarriage – The Eldest, I might call him. No one knew about the pregnancy. No one. Not even that we were even trying to start a family finally after 7 years of marital bliss. After the loss, no one still was aware of the existence. The Hub and I mourned in silence with a “Why bother?” attitude. We rescued The Skipper Dog to cheer us up (and boy did he!). Six months later I was pregnant with The Elder. In my head, I thought that I had completed that grief cycle, accepting that God’s timing is impeccable and resolving that if the pregnancy had gone to term, The Elder would not have been born when he was, and his birthday has played a MAJOR role in many of the divine blessings we have received in early intervention. But in actuality what I had done was deny the little being my love. Alongside a dear loved one, I was able to feel her pain so strongly because I realized it was my pain, too. Her graceful and raw way she openly grieved was a window into my subconscious. I’m so proud of her and grateful at how well she is handling her experience. She helped me give The Eldest an identity, ask for forgiveness, and to say good-bye. I can’t thank her enough.
Above all, I’m most proud of my physical healing. I think without it, my mental (nor spiritual) healing could have been resurrected (no pun intended). I contemplate everything I put in my mouth (except for the occasional foot). I’ve successfully weaned myself off all medications. I’ve been independent for 2.5 months! Not even an allergy pill! I use food for medicine or fast for a day when I need it, but mostly try to just stay healthy so I don’t need medicine to begin with. My dietary changes have not only improved my health, but also my budget. First because I conducted a short-term fast (7 days). Water is butt cheap. When I broke the fast, my body decided what I could or could not eat. (Sadly, I still must live a gluten-free lifestyle, which does offset budgetary gains of the new diet.) I have eliminated red meat and pork and only eat fowl in moderation (kids’ leftovers usually). Second, I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. Super cheap – even organic is cheap in comparison to my former diet. I don’t do well with processed corn, like in tortilla chips, but have no trouble with popcorn or kernel corn. There’s something else I can’t handle but I haven’t pinpointed what it is. (I keep eating dairy (my indulgence) and I’m in denial that it affects me negatively in any way shape or form. How could something so yummy be harmful?) Third, I discovered I have an affinity for gardening. Unfortunately I’m a terrible gardener. My green thumb is the novice shade of green. I’m sure it has a lot to do with my attention span and tactile defensiveness rather than ability. But to compromise between love and talent, I’ve started sprouting. I’m pretty darn good at it. And I can eat alfalfa all the live long day. I also grow my own wheatgrass – chock full of antioxidants, my medicine. Much cheaper than the 90-day prescription deals. And fourth, I realized that I really do like to cook. Cooking is so much less expensive than eating out or pre-packaged foods. I can guarantee it will be gluten-free, and with the proper systems now in place, it hasn’t taken up all my time like I imagined it would. After all of these years of letting The Hub hang his flag in the kitchen, I claimed my ground and surprisingly have pleased all members of the family (even visiting relatives). I totally recognize that my attention span would not be in favor for a catering job, but something about cooking for my family makes me feel whole.
Now that the fog has lifted, I’m so much happier and so is my family (I hope so at least). I lost a ghastly amount of weight during the 7-day fast, but have just about recovered completely to my original weight MINUS all the swelling and most of the cysts/fibroids that were forming in my body. That means less headaches, less trips to the chiropractor, better circulation, clearer thinking and more energy. Even when I looked my campiest, I was feeling dramatically better than I had in at least 3 years.
[lightbulb moment:] THIS is why I blog. In the process of summarizing the stuff in my head to avoid rambling on and on and boring the reader to death, a theme just emerges from the pages. (I wish I could brag of writer’s foresight and mad executive function skillz, but alas, I cannot.) When I type on the fly about just the basic facts (plus a commentary or two as I always have parallel thoughts going on. Squirrel!), I’m able to see myself so much better. Awareness is enlightening and frightening at the same time. So this is the lesson I’ve been taught today via this post: It’s been said that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. I’d like to add a twist to that - if you’re not loving, you’re dying. Personal growth is the result of learning to love where I was not willing to love before.
“Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? … If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he’ll eat you last. (October 27, 1964)”
~ Ronald Reagan
I’ve still got a long row to hoe before I can harvest the title “Healed,” but it is so nice to take a big crop of perspective and be able to enjoy the journey – living and loving life today, weeds and all.
about Perspective (Part 2): What does High-Functioning really mean?
What does “Low-Functioning” mean? Likewise, what about “Severe”, “Moderate”, and “Mild”?
I can see how a physical characteristic or wound can be labeled severe, moderate, or mild. I can see an talent, ability or a disability can be described as high or low.
But what do these term mean when used in the context of Autism. Below is just an excerpt of the definition of function. How do we know that we are all using the same one? Are we offending people and not aware of it? Are we assuming these are the names of “official” diagnoses because they are popularly used by the general public?
func·tion [fuhngk-shuhn]
–noun
- the kind of action or activity proper to a person, thing, or institution; the purpose for which something is designed or exists; role.
- any ceremonious public or social gathering or occasion.
- a factor related to or dependent upon other factors: Price is a function of supply and demand.
- Sociology. the contribution made by a sociocultural phenomenon to an ongoing social system.
-verb (used without object)
- to perform a specified action or activity; work; operate: The computer isn’t functioning now. He rarely functions before noon.
- to have or exercise a function; serve: In earlier English the present tense often functioned as a future. This orange crate can function as a chair.
I must admit that in the past, it used to make me extremely irate whenever someone would describe The Elder (or The Hub) as “mild” or “high-functioning.” I even had a mom (who happened to also have a son with autism) tell me shortly after we received The Elder’s dx, “Oh…well that’s the good kind.” These labels offended me because it made me feel like I didn’t have a right to be affected by it or that the impact wasn’t too far from normal. I felt totally blown-off and invalidated. Maybe you can relate if your loved one has HFA or AS? My family (and others on this side of the spectrum) has many high- and low-functioning skills with their diagnoses. Many of which are invisible or intangible because they are mental/emotional/sensory processing skills. Yet because they can read, talk, walk, even run a marathon, etc – the tangible traits – no one knows just how much they struggle every single day to merely get through a day that involves any kind of interaction with another person…even with just their spouse.
On the flipside, it would formerly make me equally perturbed to hear a person labeled as “low-functioning.” Perhaps this person cannot talk, make eye contact, or only expresses him/herself through gestures and stimming and meltdowns. By definitions #1 and #1 (lol) above, these functions are indeed lacking. However, because of current testing procedures and standards this person may be categorize as mentally retarded or psychotic. It fills me with wonderment to imagine just how brilliant one can be if only we had an effective communication tool, as in the case of Sue Rubin.
Severe, moderate, and mild are much more accurate in my opinion, yet I still do not personally 1 like using those terms because “mild” insinuates that a person’s situation is easier than if it were “moderate” or “severe.” That is different for each person. “Severe” would make my heart sink whenever I heard it, and although it is the most accurate descriptor for many people on the spectrum, it was just plain too depressing for me to say.
So I adopted new terminology for my new life-long journey to keep me in my happy place. This way, I wouldn’t get mad at people, I wouldn’t offend anyone (I hope), and I wouldn’t make myself sad over vocabulary words. Over time and nowadays, I accept that people will always use those terms, so I just needed to get used to it and get over it! And even though it still doesn’t make me do the happy dance, I’ve used the terms on occasion, but not without also using air-quotes (with the accompanying intonations) or appending my preferred jargon.
Find Out Alternative Ways to Describe your Loved One with Autism
Instead of: I prefer to say: 1 autistic, has autism, aspergers, pdd-nos, etc on the spectrum, has ASD, has an autism spectrum disorder 2 low-functioning/high-functioning, mild/moderate/severe non-verbal, verbal, on the left-side or right-side of the spectrum, mild/medium/spicy3autism as a general description/explanation for a specific challenge
- Her autism makes her sensitive to noises.
- Because of his autism, he cannot participate in gymnastics.
specific dysfunctions, eg. delayed motor skills, sensory issues, being male,being [insert age here], etc 4
- Her auditory defensiveness makes her sensitive to noises.
- Because of his gross motor skills, he cannot participate in gymnastics (yet).
This is the visual I picture when I used the terms “left side” or “right side.” I really like this image because I’m a statistics nerd Rosenn’s diagram not only depicts a horizontal spectrum of diagnoses, but also a “spectrum” for each point on on the diagnoses spectrum illustrating the range within each diagnosis. Note that the wedge is not a population count. In other words, it doesn’t mean that the right side is more common than the left. It merely means that those on the left side most likely have similar characteristics of autism from person to person. In contrast, those on the right side may have completely different characteristics from individual to individual. So, if there was a comprehensive list of indications of autism, those on the left may have all or most of them checked, whereas those on the right side would have a smaller percentage of the items checked with the likelihood that any two persons’ checked items are not the same.
Clear as mud?
“If you’ve met one child with autism, you’ve met one child with autism.”
–variant of a common phrase in the autism community
1 This is strictly my preferences and not a judgment on those who use the terms in the left column. Yes, I do use the those terms on occasion, but I also prefer to have a clean house…
2 Stay tuned for an upcoming article in this series on the terms autism, aspergers, spectrum disorder.
3 Please do not be offended by my warped sense of humor.
4 A hybrid alternate: referring to the dysfunction as a characteristic of autism.
