The Hardest Lesson in Designing Anything

Yesterday, a good friend of mine was due to arrive at my studio to pick up 8 pairs of earrings she ordered for a bridal shower she was traveling to for her future daughter-in-law.

It was a last minute order, and I was in a rush to get them out the door.

An hour before she was due to arrive, I discovered a major design flaw in three pairs of the same earring design, and it all centered around a hinge that was attached with a jump ring.

Hinges are a signature component I use in a lot of my designs.

But it wasn't working consistently, and all three pairs were not hanging right because of the way I had attached the hinge.

I spent 15 minutes of precious time trying to adjust for the discrepancy. As I looked at the clock, I began to panic.

I couldn't fix the design as it was, so I made the decision to take out the hinge and reassemble what I had left.

The design was instantly cohesive and worked like it was supposed to.

And it looked better.

Sometimes what I think is essential is actually the thing that needs to be thrown out.

Once the hinge was history, the design could breathe and function properly.

Not everything we add to something is necessary. I have a tendency to cling to a part of the design that took a lot of effort or time to come up with.

But if it isn't serving the design as a whole, throw it out .

Clarity always wins.

Random fact about me: I don't eat the last bite on my plate or drink the last drink in my cup or bottle.

Connective Tissue Workout

I stand when I'm working, so I'm on my feet at least 8 hours per day. I've noticed lately that I'm sore in the morning, and my neck and shoulders are not bouncing back into form after a long day of standing and stooping as I make jewelry.

I found a great connective tissue workout that I've been doing in the morning within 30 minutes of waking up, and it's making a huge difference.

The only time I've ever been bothered by my fascia is when I used to run, and on occasion would get the dreaded Plantar Fasciitis. It would take MONTHS to fully heal!

That sort of pain was beginning to plague me daily in other places than my feet, and this gentle series of connective tissue stretches has been a game changer for me.

Today's WordPress writing prompt was, "What do you think gets better with age?", and I immediately thought, "What gets worse with age?".

Flexibility and stamina get worse for many, but the more I learn about connective tissue and how to keep it loose and supple, I have a lot of hope that I won't succumb to a lack of flexibility, and the way it turns your body to stone.

Here's the link to the video I'm referencing!

https://youtu.be/FbWgGgRLp94?si=CWs2PJeOJFBfU8jN

The Gifts of Psoriasis

“A healthy person has a thousand dreams, a sick person only has one,” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

When I heard Secretary Kennedy say this, I realized that it instantly summed up the last 5 years of my life. When you are unhealthy, you don't have the time to dream about anything else other than getting back to a state of health.

Other than limping my business along, I have had no other dreams to pursue other than understanding and getting to the root cause of the psoriasis I've experienced in a severe form since my parents became ill and died.

One of the reasons I'm writing daily is to unpack for myself the mental, spiritual, and physical issues that led me to me having this experience.

Physically, for me, it started in a less severe way 27 years ago right after I had my gallbladder removed due to a large stone. I was 30, and was told that it must come out.

I believed the physician, didn't question her and out it came. Within a couple of weeks, I started experiencing a rash around my neck and armpits that wouldn't go away.

These rashes would stay for a long time, then just mysteriously disappear. I saw a couple of dermatologists about it, and they just prescribed steroid creams, but no real answers to why it was happening.

The gift was that I started to realize that most medical experts were good at diagnosing so that they could prescribe pharmaceuticals, but weren't interested in getting to the bottom of the problem. I didn't really get any diagnosis, because I had never heard it described as inverse psoriasis until a few years ago.

When I broke out in a full body rash 5 years ago, I went to a new dermatologist and it was definitively diagnosed. Now I had a name. And he wanted to immediately put me on injections. Something within yelled NO and I've been on quite the journey since I turned away from that line of treatment.

I instead chose to go my own way. I'm the one experiencing it from the inside out, and I knew intuitively that it was somehow connected to my emotions and what was going on with my gut.

The gift here was that in my early 50's, I drastically changed my diet, lost about 45 pounds and other than the flares, I'm healthier now than I've ever been as an adult.

Another gift is my sense of vanity about my appearance is greatly reduced. One of the things that I was known for was 'my beautiful skin'. This was a difficult gift to accept. I won't lie about that. I also had great hair. During the first couple of flairs, I lost over half my hair and my scalp was a mess. I was about to seriously investigate getting a wig, but my diet started turning things around.

I have long hair now because I can. Psoriasis has taught me that things can change in an instant and enjoy what you have now.

The next gift is self-discipline. I wasn't known previously for self-discipline, which is why I was almost 50 pounds overweight. But to date, I've not had any cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, seed oils, wheat/gluten, alcohol, or nightshades for 5 years.

Eating out is challenging. I usually only go out to Asian restaurants and eat sushi on lunch dates. I cook everything from scratch, and consume very limited processed foods. A processed food would be a rice noodle, or an IQ bar. I also drink Almond Malk occasionally, but there's only three ingredients in it. That's it.

The other form of self-discipline I've developed is exercise regularity along with using my imagination in a positive way. Every morning during a flare, I get in the shower, even though it can be excruciating, and I run my hands along my skin, imagining no bumps or plaques. I keep myself in high spirits with an understanding of the long game I'm playing as it pertains to self-awareness and trust in myself.

I've been working with a functional nutritionist for the last 7 months and up until a few weeks ago, I was clear. Then, all of a sudden, I wasn't.

This was crushing. But the next gift psoriasis has given me is knowing a setback is an opportunity to learn something new about this affliction, digest the information and make some changes based on something objective.

I am pretty confident that the root of my particular manifestation of this disease is an inability to properly digest fat since I don't have a gallbladder. Without a gallbladder, my body makes do with whatever trickle of bile my liver produces.

I have to think about my fat intake, digestive enzymes, sunflower lecithin, beneficial bacteria, Strep, and a host of other things that are downstream from having an organ removed.

I won't get into the details here, as there are too many for a daily post, but this health detour has shaped me in ways that I would never have expected.

This is my place to begin to unpack living with a chronic condition that is the gift that keeps on giving, and understand for myself 'why me'.

Random fact about me: The one tool I don't have that I really want is a metal detector.

The Company of Women

My studio is located in a pottery studio, with pottery classes ongoing through out the week.

I've taken two classes now, and I am beginning to develop wonderful friendships with the instructors and students.

I can't emphasize enough how nourishing it is to be around a bunch of creative women that are mostly retired and a little younger than my mother would be had she lived.

I didn't realize how much I've missed the company of older women over the last 10 years, but especially the last four since my mom passed in 2021.

When we moved to Roanoke, I was busy with my father and spent a lot of time with him, due to health issues he was facing. He needed a lot of my attention.

I wasn't able to make good connections with many women, and I've really missed it.

Some of the women I'm around now have recently become widowed. It's been an education for me to understand how drastically their lives have changed since losing their husbands.

One woman had to leave the farm she lived on for the last 11 years. Another is still in so much grief that she relates every conversation back to her husband.

One thing that sticks with me is how accommodating and generous the women in this group are to each other, especially those that have suffered such immense loss.

They all have had hard experiences and know that the way through is often connecting your mind, heart and hands to a task that anchors you into the present moment.

That's where you begin to get your sea legs, so that you can weather any storm that you inevitably must face if you make it to old age.

Random fact about me: I love to fish. Bank or boat...makes no difference. A day spent with a line in the water is my idea of heaven.

Inner or Outer Authority: Which One Do You Listen To?

We're taught from a young age to respect authority.

Mentors, experts, people who "know better" because they have either experience or education.

But there is so much information about there now due to Ai and the internet, how do you know what is authentically correct for you?

I stopped navigating by outer authority 10 years ago. Now, I look for information that is out there, but if it doesn't sit right with me over a little time, I move on until something feels right.

Your inner voice, when clear, is the most powerful decision maker you have. I believe I'm tapping into an intelligence or perspective that can see the bigger picture more than I can.

Every time I've listened to it, I've had a great result.

Even if the outcome isn't what I initially wanted, it ends up being better than my expectation to begin with when I reflect upon the cycle my decision started.

I see a real danger now in blindly believing the 'experts'.

If you are an expert, and I'm looking for information, I'm going to question you probably more than I would a novice.

At least a novice knows what they don't know.

I find many experts have forgotten the basics, especially when it comes to admitting they don't know something.

Or even worse, they remember, but it's more money in their back pocket or the next step on their professional rung if they conveniently 'forget' those basics.

How do you honor your inner authority when it's yelling at you to ignore the experts?

Or do you?

Today's random fact about me: My favorite videos are paralyzed dogs getting fitted for their doggie wheelchairs. Epic joy!