Month: September 2023

What I’ve been Up To Since Covid

2 Comments
Dublin, Ireland

Time really does go by way too fast, and it seems like yesterday that the pandemic, so to speak.

The pandemic was definitely a time for reflection, seclusion, and avoidance to crowds, so it’s obvious a lot has changed, including my lifestyle. So here’s a list of activities I’ve been up to.

1. Journaling

With all the trauma going on with COVID and me being diagnosed with epilepsy. Journaling has been very healing in the whole process of my chapter so far. Writing has always been my first love, and it’s who I am, but I haven’t journaled since I was a teenager…so it was a new territory for me when I started. This the therapy I never knew that I needed. It’s also helped me become a better writer.

2. Jogging

This is nothing new, but in times where health has been at the forefront for everyone, I needed to maintain my jogs along other workouts like yoga, pilates, and lifting weights. But of course, running and jogging are a must for me.

3. Traveling

Chateaux de Versailles

As soon as the lockdown was lifted, I needed to travel. Last year was the year to look….first was Ireland, then France, and this year was Trinidad and Tobago. No condition would stop me. Who knows where else.

4. Reading/Audiobooks

If I love writing, then it’s evident for me to keep reading. Something new that I’ve been doing is listening to audiobooks. This is so addictive and it’s also a good tool for me to hone my writing. I listen to them while on my runs, on the transportation to work and cleaning around the house.

5. Buying A House

Yes, three years ago… during COVID at the age of 30….I bought my first house! It was both nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time.

6. Stopped Drinking

Belfast, Ireland
Non Alcoholic Guiness in Dublin, Ireland

I’ve never had a problem with alcohol, but a lot has changed in terms of my health, which is a fraction as to why I’ve stopped. Plus, I’ve always had the goal that by the time I hit 30, I’d quit alcohol… so it was meant to be. It’s quite interesting to see other people’s reactions to this. I’m never looking back.

7. Turning Vegan

For years, I was a vegetarian, so this was just the next step. I have no regrets at all, and I love where I’m at. It can be a struggle when I travel, especially when you’re not in an English speaking country, but I do what I can. This is also another aspect of myself where people react quite strongly. I don’t know if it’s my not drinking anymore or my veganism that causes such a strong reaction from people. Who cares.

For The Love of Sleep

Leave a comment
**I wrote this earlier this year at work to create awareness and share my experience with this condition. **

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be afraid of falling asleep until I woke up in an ambulance truck. That’s when the nightmare began.

Before waking up, all that I could remember was the night that I had a hard time falling asleep, nothing uncommon, twisting, turning, with the feeling of frustration; another day will come, and I’ll soon fall asleep. As I woke, everything was eerie and dreamy; all that I saw was black, hearing people mutter in the background… I felt nothing. I didn’t even know who I was at that moment. The dream was slowly getting more and more existent as time went by. The side of my tongue was sore, and I felt a bruise on my lower lip with bite marks.

I was told that I had a seizure…I couldn’t register because I was exhausted… as if I went through a week of insomnia. Next, I had a CT scan, spoke with a doctor, and went home.

According to my doctor, I was told that it was common to have one seizure…no brain tumor at sight, so that was reassuring. The one seizure is for free.

I was more aware when I had my second seizure…prior to that I woke up that morning, fell asleep, then I woke up in the stretcher heading into the vehicle…once again, off to the hospital…once again .

Getting diagnosed with epilepsy at 30, gave me so many doubts; I asked all the questions that needed to be asked, did the research…the seizures that I was getting were nocturnal, which happens in your sleep. I found out that there were 40 different types: mine were called Tonic clonic, which is the most popular type. So many tests were done. When I got the prescription after my second seizure, I didn’t take it.

The third time wiped me out cold; this one lasted longer to the point of it being life-threatening. Seeing the trauma written all over my mom’s face as she witnessed this one made me not only frightened, I needed to take the medication.

Most deaths by seizures occur while sleeping.

When I talk about the real life nightmare, I’m not just talking about the seizure itself but the anxiety that it’s given me, robbed the independence that I had before; it’s enough to fall into a black hole. My memory is nonexistent. Not being in control of my own body is disheartening, but I can still live a full life. Looking back… the signs were there, there were seizures that occurred in the past, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, thinking that I was daydreaming, but it felt like a strange pause for a split second, then coming back to life, that’s what’s called absence seizures.

No matter how early the alarm wakes me up, it’s a sign that I’m here. Another day to see the sun: another day to change the trajectory of my condition.


I’m Back!

Leave a comment

I know that it’s been quite some time since I’ve last posted a story….as a matter of fact it’s been over three years just before the lockdown.

Besides COVID, there’s been so many changes for me, some for the good and some that were life threatening. I plan on sharing my experience with this particular period in my life because while we were all trying to get by with COVID, I had quite the scare myself…and it wasn’t related to the virus.

In all honesty I’ve been trying to find a way to come back to the blogging world, but I just didn’t know how I’d go about my first post in what seems to be so long ago.

As posted before in the past, writing is my first love, it’s more than a hobby. I truly believe that if you’re someone that writes on the side…either by getting income or not…you’re a writer. I will continue to go within the depths of just that.

There’s been a lot of soul searching for me. Entering into my thirties have been thrilling to say the least, but the ongoing experiences have been lessons for me to endure.

It’s scared to jump back in when there’s no direction as to where to start. But isn’t that what life’s supposed to be about?

I’m ready for whatever.