Tag: Tammy Gunn

Do You Sleep Procrastinate? I Can’t Remember….

Do You Sleep Procrastinate? I Can’t Remember….

My best ideas come in the middle of the night. A 3 AM wake up and my mind is full of great ideas that will solve world problems.  Okay, maybe not those kinds of great ideas but things like how to market a book to the masses, what to write about that will have people laughing and support those dealing with so much.  Then I think to myself during this 3 AM wakeup “I will remember all of this in the morning and go right to work!”

Only thing is once my eyes open, I have used the bathroom and come downstairs, I have completely forgotten what that magical thing was that I was going to write about and know that I should have gotten out of bed at 3 AM to write about it but that just seems absurd at the time.  I always convince myself that I need more sleep and should go back to bed and deal with it later.  Only thing is when later comes, I cannot remember what it was I was thinking about.

I have sleep procrastination. Is that a thing? I think it might be.

I refuse to get out of bed because that would be “crazy” to do at that hour but then I am totally lost and accomplish nothing the next day but sitting there trying to meditate and remember what it was that was going to have me get a Nobel prize for what I thought of in the middle of the night.

I think maybe I am related to the likings of Deepak Chopra or Ghandhi… Okay, maybe I am not related to those two…okay, maybe not “maybe”….I am not.  By morning I am once again just a prairie girl living out her life under the big city lights of Toronto.   But I really do think my amazing thoughts in the middle of the night could possibly solve world problems or at the very least, have you, the reader, smiling and laughing and ready to take on your day knowing that you are not alone.

Please tell me I am not alone in this? 

On top of the sleep procrastination I have (that is my term now, no one steal it!), I have brain fog.  Brain fog IS a REAL THING! It is caused, in my case, originally by chemotherapy and now by Tamoxifen.  I share about this in the book, but I also feel the importance to share about it here.  So I don’t forget!

Brain fog is not only caused by medications.  As our hormones begin to change after forty (and in some cases before) brain fog can become more prevalent.  The term ‘Brain Fog’ is characterized by a persons confusion, forgetfulness, and a lack of focus and mental clarity.  When my brain fog is really bad somedays, I imagine there is a little dark rain cloud hovering over my head like you may have seen in cartoons where the character is really sad.  Only my little cloud is blocking any genuine clear thought patterns.

I have found that physical activity helps move that little cloud! Exercising in some way, even for 30 minutes can make a world of difference.  Maybe a 30 minute walk in nature or cranking the radio and dancing in your living room.  Maybe hopping on a yoga mat and stretching out your body.  Really anything to get yourself moving can also get that little rain cloud opening up so the sun can shine in!  There are also vitamins you can take that possibly your body is lacking that is causing it.  For that, I recommend you see a Naturopathic doctor and work with them to discover what is right for you!

If you experience brain fog, know that you are not alone. I completely understand and there is support out there for you.   If you experience sleep procrastination, know that  you and I are the most BRILLIANT people at 3 AM and it is just too much for the world to handle, so go back to sleep.  We will be awesome just for being awesome and we will allow others to win the Nobel prizes.

Music Can Make Everything Better!

Music Can Make Everything Better!

Music makes everything better!

Let’s start somewhere near the beginning…not the beginning of time. I wasn’t there for that. Were you?  If you were, well you look pretty darn good for your age!

No, I am talking about the “youngster” years.  I don’t remember much about them now except for things like my Fisher Price record player and my cabbage patch kids record.  Or my Smurfs 8 track….or my La Bamba cassette tape that probably started my whole love of Latin music that I most definitely sang to but have no clue what I was singing!

Music has always played a crucial role in my life and can instantly teleport me back to a time and place of good, bad, funny and sad memories.

Does music do this for you too?

Like a specific song comes on in the grocery store and suddenly you are standing outside at a bonfire party and about to have your first real kiss! November Rain by Guns & Roses if you were wondering….I know you were! Wink Wink…

At a young age, maybe 4 or 5, my mom put me in dance classes at the Barb Hunt school of dance.  I embraced learning new music and about all different styles of dance from around the world. Music and dance helped me to see a world beyond a classroom and books. Music is the lyrical version of an epic story played out and interpreted with movement.

I also grew up in a family that has always loved music and many different genres. I remember as a kid polka nights with my parents, brothers and grandparents.  I believe it was a local radio station at the time that would play polka music on Friday nights, and we would all dance and in between songs the adults would play crib.  It was awesome! I loved it! Okay, I don’t remember if my brothers actually danced to polka…I may be stretching the truth a little bit here.

As an adult now, if I hear polka music I am transported back to standing on my dad’s feet as he effortlessly twirled me around the dance floor (also know as the living room).  I love this memory!

Another memory gets activated when I hear the song Here I Go Again by Whitesnake.  I can’t help  but think of the time I was in a Newfie bar in Brampton and jumped off a speaker playing my air guitar and singing at the top of my lungs and then the next days feeling like I broke my knees but it was all worth it in the moment….If you were in that bar all those many years ago and wondering whatever ever happened to “that girl”, well now you know…it was ME!

No autographs please! Well, if you pick up my book, I will sign it for you!

Okay, probably nobody remembers that but me….either way, that song brings on some fun memories with friends and I still want to sing it at the top of my lungs!

To this day, music has played a huge part in everything I do and how I be out here in the world. Music and movement supported me all the way through my breast cancer diagnosis.

When I was going through breast cancer, I had a “pick me up playlist” that would help clear my mind and get me smiling again almost instantly!

Here is the Top 20 to that list in no particular order:

  1. Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves
  2. Have a Little Faith by John Hyatt
  3. Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland
  4. Skinny Legs by Mark Lalama
  5. La Bamba by Ritchie Valens
  6. Wheat kings by The Tragically Hip
  7. Farley by Adam Sandler
  8. Valerie by Amy Whinehouse
  9. Raise Your Glass by P!nk
  10. Point of View by Julia D’Angelo
  11. Call Me Al by Paul Simon
  12. Something to Talk About by Bonnie Raitt
  13. This is My Passion by Ehrling
  14. Best Friend by Sofi Tukker, NERVO, The Knocks, ALISA UENO
  15. Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker
  16. Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Nooossaa!
  17. I feel Good by Pitbull, Anthony Watts, DJ White Shadow
  18. Broken & Beautiful by Kelly Clarkson
  19. I Believe That We Will Win by Pitbull
  20. Me Too by Meghan Trainor

I know! You are shocked that Here I Go Again didn’t make this playlist! I think it did but no point adding it here…you know already! Now when I hear any of these songs it reminds of all I had to go through and how I kept believing it would all work out.

Even before any illness I have always shared the value in music.  Music helps to reduce anxiety, lower the pain in the body, improve sleep, mood, and memory clarity.

Whether it be popping on a favorite song for 5 minutes a day and getting up to move or working with music playing in the background which I can NEVER do or I won’t sit still and no work will get done… however you embrace music and lyrics in your life can be a very positive and soul nourishing experience!

Music can move us beyond the imaginary boundaries we put up around ourselves. It is the window into one’s soul. Okay, that got a little deep there…. But it is true! Music can make whatever it is we are dealing with seem easier to handle even if just for a moment and that to me, makes it all worth it!

What was a song from your childhood that the moment you hear it you are instantly back in that time? What is the memory associated with that song?

This is going to get juicy, I can feel it already!  Come on! Share YOUR list!

TAG! YOU’RE IT!

Liked this post? Show some love and leave a comment (and/or YOUR playlist below)

 

Dancing Through Diagnosis: Navigating Breast Cancer, the good, bad, and surprisingly funny

Dancing Through Diagnosis: Navigating Breast Cancer, the good, bad, and surprisingly funny

Well, here we are!  About to embark on another journey together. I hope you have put your seatbelts on tight because this ride has lots of twists and turns and you don’t want to fall out of your seat!

Let’s start here…Let me ask you, do you keep a journal?  Do you talk to yourself?  I think I talk to myself a lot more than I talk to people. And it is not all good talk either.  In fact, I am clear the biggest asshole in my life to me is me.  Can you relate?

I mean seriously, think about it for a minute.  Humans are one of the most interesting creatures on this planet.  Most of us are programmed from early in life that anything upsetting or tragic is bad or wrong.  Anything that brings us great joy in life must be good and right.  So, when we disappoint ourselves in any way we call ourselves all sorts of names to ourselves.  And not the good names like “You are amazing! You are badass!” Oh no, it sounds more like “You loser!  What a doorknob you are!”

I have spent many years and many journals (if you want to call the pile of unorganized books that I write in journals) talking to and being nasty with myself, only to discover that all the nastiness I spilled across the page and in between my ears about me was and is inaccurate.

It took a cancer diagnosis to wake me up from the internal negative slumber I had been in.  I had always heard, thoughts become things.  Sure, but I was thinking more like if I said them out loud then we would have a problem.  It didn’t occur to me that if I was constantly whispering them to myself that they would manifest into anything!

I think we as humans, are always our hardest critic.  We judge ourselves or maybe you are the blamer type and judge others but not yourself.  You blame everyone and everything in your life for how your life is turning out.  Please don’t blame me (although I know you will) but I can tell you now that your life is yours and you get to say how it goes no matter what may present itself.

I knew when I was diagnosed with cancer that even though my asshole brain was trying to tell me that I messed up my life and now I was going to die as the ultimate punishment, I had a choice.

I began talking to myself out loud more than in between my ears. I began telling myself that I was bigger than the circumstances before me. I began to scream the “YOU ARE AMAZING!! YOU ARE BADASS!!” and began the work to silence any other comments that did not serve me.

The truth is, up to this cancer diagnosis, I have lived a full and awesome life. I am the one that caused it. I don’t settle for things. I go after them. I set my mind to something and watch out! I may be super disorganized most of the time but somehow, I can pull it all together and write a freaking book. I will take that as a win!

I knew if I was going to have to face a life altering diagnosis that I was going to have it make a difference for myself and for others.  I knew that my life has always been meant to give back to others.  Up until now, I just hadn’t seen the biggest picture of them all.

So, you lucky readers! I am going get really intimate with you and lay it all out on the table.  Growing up, things I have done I am proud of, things I have done I am not so proud of but share what I learned from it.. The good, bad and surprisingly funny parts of this thing called life!  See, I truly believe everything in life comes with a silver lining if you are willing to go on the quest to discover it. 

Life, to me, isn’t about making sure everyone thinks you’re perfect.  Life is about showing our imperfections and allowing others to see themselves inside of those imperfections.  Let’s be real with one another.  No judgement. Just a whole lot of truth or dare!

Are you ready?  (as I bite my nails and get naked! Ooh lala!)

Let’s go!