Thanks so much for choosing my post as a highlight. Much appreciated. I shall be following your journey with chronic illness with interest. It’s something that has shaped most of my adult life x
My pleasure - I'm really enjoying your writing. It's eye opening looking around properly and seeing how many people - especially women - are dealing with chronic illness with the world just not really being set up to support or even acknowledge it. I'll be glad if I can contribute to other people looking up and noticing this even in some small way. x
1. On chronic disease - the vast majority is caused primarily by longterm stress, overlaid with environmental triggers (poor gut health etc). I've been exploring this topic too thanks to my nervous system being overwound and early signs of an autoimmune disease! There's an amazing amount of info out there on neuro-immunology, and the science & power of mediation and mindfullness - if you haven't already checked it out do. Dr Jo Dispenza's work is amazing.
2. I'd been struggling with old brain demands for productivity during a time when I have committed to rest. Then I happened upon a podcast with Guy Lawrence and RJ Spina where RJ discussed the slave mentality: "Only a slave quantifies its existence through productivity". A very good reminder to rethink how I assess myself...
Cat, thank you for this! Only a slave quantifies its existence through productivity - wow, this is a quote to pin up and look at often eh. I think I am actually pretty good at stopping and not trying to force myself to work when I'm not up to it - but it's the mental chattering that's so much harder to stop. The messages around defining ourselves by what we do, not what we simply are, feel like they're so deeply rooted in my brain, it's hard to weed them out. But recasting it as a slave mentality is a powerful aid for sure...
Will definitely check out Jo Dispenza. Feel like I'm crowdsourcing some great resources I'll have to collate and share at some point. Am learning so much from my reading, from Philippa and from friends & family with different stories of their own - plus starting to think in a deeper way about my own experiences with migraine, asthma & peri-menopause symptoms too (not least on how these link in with my not-always-helpful preoccupations with productivity).
Philippa's book draws really thoughtful and suggestive connections between her disabling condition and broader questions of environment and energy use - the stress on our bodies and on the environment is all connected like you say. Sending positive vibes your way in dealing with the autoimmune stuff and hope you're managing to get the rest you need x
Seeing progress is so hard, isn't it?! It sounds like you have achieved a lot though. If you are not familiar with Cal Newport, he talks a lot on his podcast Deep Questions about the concept of slow productivity. He recently released a book by that name, and, although I am a fan of his, I would say that the book is quite slim on content, so I can't really recommend it (unless you can borrow it). But the concept, that valuable work happens slowly and over decades, is reassuring.
I'm excited to hear that you are looking at making a film about chronic illness and disability. Can I recommend Josie George and her Substack bimblings ( https://bimblings.substack.com/ ) and book A Still Life to you? (Confession: I haven't read A Still Life yet. It is on my (very long!) 'want to read' list...)
Ah thanks Emma! It's all relative - I still struggle with comparing myself to my peers in documentary who I feel like are achieving way more than me - but setting out what you *have* got done is definitely quite affirming I think, as its so easy to lose the bigger picture in amongst the nitty gritty day after day. I do know Cal Newport, I like a lot of his stuff, though I've heard a fair few comments similar to yours about the latest one (basically spinning out some quality blog posts into a whole book length cos he knows his fans will likely buy it anyway 😄) And I do always raise a slight eyebrow at how he manages to protect his big chunks of deep work time - I reckon his wife must be doing quite a lot of the heavy lifting childcare-wise..!
And thanks for the recommendation for Josie's Substack & book - a quick look and I discovered it was available on my library app so have gone right ahead & borrowed it😊.
lol I was definitely that fan who was happy to buy the book, even though it was a bit thin on the ground in terms of new ideas and, errr, deep work. lol
I used to have the same complaint about him, in terms of assuming that his wife must do a lot of heavy-lifting. Obviously we only have his word for it, but from things I've heard him say it sounds like they split childcare and household duties pretty evenly. And he seems to have a good grasp of the extra load that gets put on women emotionally and socially, both at home and at work, so.... maybe he isn't leaning on his wife as much as men from older generations? Maybe... Who knows?! I definitely had that same raised eyebrow when I first started listening to his podcast! lol
Your post was an absolute doozy - I nearly spat out my coffee at Harrison For, Mel Gib & Sylvester Stall 😂 Re progress, I’ve been trying the ‘3 things to do today’ approach for my list. But I still don’t even seem to hit that pretty low base line much of the time. I’ve listened to so many productivity podcasts over the years (often presented by chirpy American ladies who my partner collectively calls ‘the Laura’s’ - not sure why he thinks American women are all called Laura but still..!) and I do remember on one of them someone said you should try a Ta Da list - of all the things you’ve already done - instead of a To Do list. It’s a terrible name obviously but maybe not a bad idea.
The Lauras! I'm sure there is a long list to be made of the snidey names given to the hosts of partner's podcasts. My partner has a mediation one which always makes me go - Oh not Chip Carrotcake again - as his name sounds a bit like this.
Okay I'm going to try a Ta Da list today and see how it goes!
Thanks for the mention Vicki, and for highlighting Disability Pride Month 💛 I’m looking forward to hearing more about your chronic illness project! xx
Thanks Dina - I'm excited to work on it, feels like such an important topic so will be happy if I can make a contribution! 😊 xx
Thanks so much for choosing my post as a highlight. Much appreciated. I shall be following your journey with chronic illness with interest. It’s something that has shaped most of my adult life x
My pleasure - I'm really enjoying your writing. It's eye opening looking around properly and seeing how many people - especially women - are dealing with chronic illness with the world just not really being set up to support or even acknowledge it. I'll be glad if I can contribute to other people looking up and noticing this even in some small way. x
Two quick responses:
1. On chronic disease - the vast majority is caused primarily by longterm stress, overlaid with environmental triggers (poor gut health etc). I've been exploring this topic too thanks to my nervous system being overwound and early signs of an autoimmune disease! There's an amazing amount of info out there on neuro-immunology, and the science & power of mediation and mindfullness - if you haven't already checked it out do. Dr Jo Dispenza's work is amazing.
2. I'd been struggling with old brain demands for productivity during a time when I have committed to rest. Then I happened upon a podcast with Guy Lawrence and RJ Spina where RJ discussed the slave mentality: "Only a slave quantifies its existence through productivity". A very good reminder to rethink how I assess myself...
Cat, thank you for this! Only a slave quantifies its existence through productivity - wow, this is a quote to pin up and look at often eh. I think I am actually pretty good at stopping and not trying to force myself to work when I'm not up to it - but it's the mental chattering that's so much harder to stop. The messages around defining ourselves by what we do, not what we simply are, feel like they're so deeply rooted in my brain, it's hard to weed them out. But recasting it as a slave mentality is a powerful aid for sure...
Will definitely check out Jo Dispenza. Feel like I'm crowdsourcing some great resources I'll have to collate and share at some point. Am learning so much from my reading, from Philippa and from friends & family with different stories of their own - plus starting to think in a deeper way about my own experiences with migraine, asthma & peri-menopause symptoms too (not least on how these link in with my not-always-helpful preoccupations with productivity).
Philippa's book draws really thoughtful and suggestive connections between her disabling condition and broader questions of environment and energy use - the stress on our bodies and on the environment is all connected like you say. Sending positive vibes your way in dealing with the autoimmune stuff and hope you're managing to get the rest you need x
Seeing progress is so hard, isn't it?! It sounds like you have achieved a lot though. If you are not familiar with Cal Newport, he talks a lot on his podcast Deep Questions about the concept of slow productivity. He recently released a book by that name, and, although I am a fan of his, I would say that the book is quite slim on content, so I can't really recommend it (unless you can borrow it). But the concept, that valuable work happens slowly and over decades, is reassuring.
I'm excited to hear that you are looking at making a film about chronic illness and disability. Can I recommend Josie George and her Substack bimblings ( https://bimblings.substack.com/ ) and book A Still Life to you? (Confession: I haven't read A Still Life yet. It is on my (very long!) 'want to read' list...)
Ah thanks Emma! It's all relative - I still struggle with comparing myself to my peers in documentary who I feel like are achieving way more than me - but setting out what you *have* got done is definitely quite affirming I think, as its so easy to lose the bigger picture in amongst the nitty gritty day after day. I do know Cal Newport, I like a lot of his stuff, though I've heard a fair few comments similar to yours about the latest one (basically spinning out some quality blog posts into a whole book length cos he knows his fans will likely buy it anyway 😄) And I do always raise a slight eyebrow at how he manages to protect his big chunks of deep work time - I reckon his wife must be doing quite a lot of the heavy lifting childcare-wise..!
And thanks for the recommendation for Josie's Substack & book - a quick look and I discovered it was available on my library app so have gone right ahead & borrowed it😊.
lol I was definitely that fan who was happy to buy the book, even though it was a bit thin on the ground in terms of new ideas and, errr, deep work. lol
I used to have the same complaint about him, in terms of assuming that his wife must do a lot of heavy-lifting. Obviously we only have his word for it, but from things I've heard him say it sounds like they split childcare and household duties pretty evenly. And he seems to have a good grasp of the extra load that gets put on women emotionally and socially, both at home and at work, so.... maybe he isn't leaning on his wife as much as men from older generations? Maybe... Who knows?! I definitely had that same raised eyebrow when I first started listening to his podcast! lol
Thanks so much for the mention. Glad you liked it.
I'm always thinking about how little progress I make. I'm too scared to even write a list. Maybe I'll try to zoom in more for some close-ups.
Your post was an absolute doozy - I nearly spat out my coffee at Harrison For, Mel Gib & Sylvester Stall 😂 Re progress, I’ve been trying the ‘3 things to do today’ approach for my list. But I still don’t even seem to hit that pretty low base line much of the time. I’ve listened to so many productivity podcasts over the years (often presented by chirpy American ladies who my partner collectively calls ‘the Laura’s’ - not sure why he thinks American women are all called Laura but still..!) and I do remember on one of them someone said you should try a Ta Da list - of all the things you’ve already done - instead of a To Do list. It’s a terrible name obviously but maybe not a bad idea.
The Lauras! I'm sure there is a long list to be made of the snidey names given to the hosts of partner's podcasts. My partner has a mediation one which always makes me go - Oh not Chip Carrotcake again - as his name sounds a bit like this.
Okay I'm going to try a Ta Da list today and see how it goes!
Chip Carrotcake sounds like he'd do good business as a lifestyle guru to all the Lauras 🤣
Yes!!