The 'Sick' Word

On my last post I had a comment that really made me stop and think about how I approach some things...

Hello. I notice that you head your blog "a sick girl" and I wonder if therein lies a good deal of your problems.
I too have many health issues (not only fibromyalgia but other truly debilitating problems) and I don't label myself as 'sick'. Yes I have many problems and life gets hard but they are bodily problems -my mind is healthy. I remain optimistic and have a hopeful and thankful outlook on life. Thankful because however bad I am feeling these are not terminal illnesses - you only need to be in the company of someone worse off than yourself to have your own problems put into perspective.
One thing I would do is change your header - saying you are a sick girl immediately show you to be someone who is dwelling on their illness, even to the extent that you are revelling in it. Sure, life is hard when you have problems but you should look at the bigger picture - you don't have a terminal illness, you get by with less pain than some people have to endure. Try not to be so inward looking and enjoying being sick and I can assure you that people will begin to treat you differently - as a whole person, not someone who classes themselves as 'sick'.
It is easy to fall into the trap of being a 'sick' person, almost to the extent of wallowing in your 'sick' state. I hope this advice will help you and perhaps you could leave a comment in this section about your reaction to these comments.
M-

M-,
Thank you for your comment, I have actually spent much of the weekend mulling it over. I totally understand how you might interpret the word "sick". I try to live a life thankful for what I have, and I don't need to be around someone sicker than myself to realize how worse it could be. But being still a few years away from 30, sick for more than half my life and having a down-turn in health makes a person wholey aware of their health issues. These health issuess and those of both the earth and those on the earth helped spawn the idea of starting this blog. I understand that my focus in writing has not fully come together; but the header is a testament to my daily life. I am sick, I work towards health every day, some days I get there and some days I don't, but regardless I get up the next day (with my bones creaking like an old house) and try all over agian.

I am not reveling in being sick, I am owning something that is part of my life. The people who know me well, my friends and family, don't treat me any less or any different. Except some of my burlier male friends hug me a little gentler than they do my husband, and my friends understand when I have to cancel because I have another infection or have muscle cramps in my legs and can't walk.

Notice that the words "healthy" and "green" also apear in the header. This blog is a daily journey and the reason maybe because of sickness, but the journey is about health. Healthy of the body, the mind, the spirit and the planet.

New Year, New Week, New Post

In years past I have made New Year's Resolutions; they were broad and vague and usually forgotten by the end of January. But this year is different, this year I vow to make no New Year's Resolutions. I vow to take life month by month, week by week and day by day. I have places where I would like to be in a year and in five years. But as life so frequently needs us to be, I will be flexible and reevaluate my time frames and check lists. My hope is that in being a little bit more Organic in how I style my life, my lifestyle will follow suit. And that with some meditation, a little bit of prayer, and a lot of work, I will be able to meet my goals for this year.This was supposed to be ready for the first Monday of the year; but it was still percolating. See, I'm taking this year week by week.

photo credit: Me at the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show, take by R (my loving husband)

The Word

Whether you are a Bible Scholar, Language Buff, Literature Fiend or Religious this site might appeal to you: http://originalbible.com/ . As more than one of the above I am very excited about this project.

There is an ancient Jewish adage regarding translating the Scriptures, “One who translates a verse literally is misrepresenting the text, but one who adds anything of his own is a blasphemer.” This new translation uses transparency, "The basic idea of transparency is that one should be able to “peer through” the English translation, and, to whatever extent possible, see, hear, and even feel, the dynamics of the original text." They hope to better represent the originals use of language, including alliteration, puns and word plays, idioms, rhythms, redundancies, and obscurities, the the reader can better understand some of the nuances for them selves. There is a reason that for centuries both the Catholic and Jewish religious leaders and scholars learned the language of the original texts. I read what has been posted on the site already and it is fare more beautiful than what my Oxford Scholars Bible has in it's pages (and though I do actually own more that one bible, the others were not at hand, I think they were not at hand at the time).

I do look forward to the release of this translation.



photo credit: The Bible 1601 by Allyson Ricketts
and He Inspects the First Sheet of His Bible from Giclee Print