Shakespeare and I

Neither one of us has written much lately.

I have been struggling this past week.  I had a couple of weeks where I was calm and working my program with no issues.  But the stress of a particular circumstance that I can't do anything about but am not allowed to even talk about is getting to me.  Enough so that I have, once again, broken out with Shingles.

I have been getting Shingles - more accurately, I have been getting A Shingle on my back - since I was 28 years old.  That was 33 years ago.  At first, I thought it was a spider bite on my back.  But after getting them a few times I thought it was probably not likely that a spider was biting me in exactly the same place on my back each time.  I was in at the doctor for an unrelated issue one time while in full outbreak and showed it to him.  That is how I knew I had Shingles.  It is not all that bad - for me, it is like having a big mosquito bite on my back.  My back aches for a few days before the skin starts to itch and then the sore comes.  Most years, since I have been taking care of my folks, I will get them 6 or 7 times per year.  This is my first one this year, which is really something considering all the junk that has happened this year.

Anyway, I am itchy.  I am cranky.  And you know what doesn't help?  Overeating.  Trust me, I have tried it.  Didn't help.  But I have found some things that, even though they are supposedly healthy and do not contain sugar, I cannot eat in moderation.  Now I know.  Even when they are on sale, they are a bad buy for me.

Today is a new day.  A whole new day full of promise.  And chock full of the opportunities for new crises.  But I will handle them, even though today I am not at my best.  What a relief it is, though, knowing that there is something simple, like 5&1, to come "home" to.  A no-brainer eating plan that will get my body back to top fighting form in a few days, if only I let it.  I am so grateful that I found this.  And that I have found this community.  Without this community, my interactions would be comprised almost exclusively of the company of my Dad, an old man whose dementia progresses every day.  I love him, but I need to talk to other people on occasion who have more going on in their life than America's Funniest Home Videos and Lawrence Welk. Bless his heart.