Last night I took a nighttime walk in a snowstorm.   It was beautiful and quiet and reminded me of how good it feels to be outside and breathe deeply… that winter has its own special feel and that I need to enjoy winter outdoors.

There is  a subspecialty of medicine called psychodermatology which looks at the connection between emotion and skin.  Psychodermatologic disorders can fall into 3 categories according to Harvard… 

Psychophysiological: These problem have a physiological basis but can be exacerbated by stress or other emotional factories

Secondary psychiatric: a skin disorder can produce feelings of shame or humiliation,etc. 

Primay psychiatric: some skin difficulties are a symptom of a psychiatric disorder. 

Psychodermatology looks at both how emotion can affect the skin and  how the condition of the skin can affect emotion.   One of the emotions being researched is stress. Researchers have found that some types of stress can interfere with the immune system and that chronic negative stress may disrupt the permeability barrier of the skin. This is thought to be a factor in many skin diseases. A detailed description of pscyhoimmunulogy can be found here: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/psychodermatology-when-mind-and-skin-interact. 

 Anyone who has read  a self help book or knows anything about life coaching, has heard about the power of our mind and how interconnected mind and body are.  For some, this is easy to buy into. For others, not so much.  I am somewhere in between.  A few  years ago, I started  working on my thoughts and my mindset.  It has changed a lot about what I can do and how I show up. I never made the connection of mindset and health.  But now  I am reading a book Mind over Medicine by Lissa Rankin MD.  I am only a few chapters in but it has gotten me thinking.

It  is so much easier to get anywhere when you know where you are going.  The more specific directions are to your destination, the easier it will be to get there. Same with your health or your life. If  you spend time thinking about where you want to be or what you want to do, you will create a roadmap on how to get there. Someone once told me to make decisions based on the person you WANT TO BE not the person you are now. That small change in thinking can have big results in life. I want to be a person who is active so I am going to do yoga or stretch every day so my hamstring and hip don’t ache.  I want be a person who connected to my long distance friends.  That version of me will send a text when a funny memory pops into her mind or randomly call to say hi. 

If you are not where you want to be health wise,  I challenge you to think about this. If  you have  a  chronic condition that  takes a lot of your time or are recovering from an illness, injury or if you just aren’t feeling great… think about your thoughts. Does your brain allow you to be healthy… see yourself as healthy?  Use the powerful tool of your thoughts to move you toward the person you want to be!💕

 Skin care and lymphedema go hand in hand. It is one of the 4 pillars of complete decongestive therapy (CDT). Hopefully if you have been to formal therapy for lymphedema, you have been told the importance of things like keeping your skin clean and well moisturized, look for cuts or cracks in your skin and treat them seriously.

There is  a subspecialty of medicine called psychodermatology which looks at the connection between emotion and skin.  Psychodermatologic disorders can fall into 3 categories according to Harvard… 

Psychophysiological: These problem have a physiological basis but can be exacerbated by stress or other emotional factories

Secondary psychiatric: a skin disorder can produce feelings of shame or humiliation,etc. 

Primay psychiatric: some skin difficulties are a symptom of a psychiatric disorder. 

Psychodermatology looks at both how emotion can affect the skin and  how the condition of the skin can affect emotion.   One of the emotions being researched is stress. Researchers have found that some types of stress can interfere with the immune system and that chronic negative stress may disrupt the permeability barrier of the skin. This is thought to be a factor in many skin diseases. A detailed description of pscyhoimmunulogy can be found here: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/psychodermatology-when-mind-and-skin-interact. 

 It was January of 2019. Sitting with my journal and a whole lot  of ideas in my head, I stared at a blank page. who or where did I want to be  next year this time. I sat , scrolling instagram…seeing people’s posts about their  big goals. Everyone had clarity and when I read there big dreams, I felt so confident  that they would achieve their goals and I felt so certain I would again fail….

Why is that?  Why do we so  enthusiastically know what we want one day but so  quickly give up on it or just forget about it all together?

I did a deep dive  into forming habits and new  year resolutions. Here are some ideas  that I tried last year…and many of them worked.

Make goals rather than  resolutions: I Love goals: I write goals for a living. In occupational therapy school, we learned  to write goals that are measurable and attainable… You start out with a large, long term goal and then  break that down into smaller short term goals. In my own life, I started out with an idea of who and what  I wanted to be in the future and then made smaller goals that would get me closer to who I wanted to ge in 10 years. For me,  goals were motivating, resolutions not  so much.

Visualize what  it looks like to  achieve your goal: This year, I wanted to RUN a race. I  have done many races but always walked a  little bit. I wanted to run the whole race. I  visualized this the entire race. I watched myself running across the finish  line. I felt happy because I pushed through every time I wanted to walk just a few steps. Saw myself as strong  and determined. And I did it. I did not stop. Visualization helped so much. 

Write your  goals down regularly:  This was  a game changer  for me! I wrote my 24 goals down  multiple times a week. They were always right there  in front of my mind and I was always looking for ways to make progress. One  of my goals for 2019 was to see a concert so when I heard Madonna was coming to Chicago, I  jumped at the chance. A flurry of text with my girls and we had tickets. Come October, we were there!  Had that goal not been at the forefront of  my mind, those Madonna  tickets may have  just been a passing thought.  

Find  some fun  in the goals: Come up  with ideas to make at least part of your goals fun.  Regular exercise or using your compression regularly may not fun but maybe  if it can be combined with watching a good show or buying a fun sleeve to wear every  once in a while it may be. Also,  if you are making  multiple  goals, it  helped  me to  have some of them as just fun…like seeing Madonna or visiting  a friend. 

 Remember that achieving a goal takes resources  I don’t think it is possible to show up for everyone you love and train  for the marathon and grow professionally and redo your basement. I learned  this in 2019. In November, I ran short on both time and money to travel  to connect with a few people and to see the nutcracker in NYC. This year I will adjust my goals knowing this.  The point is, accomplishing things takes time or energy or money.. You will be sacrificing something to achieve your goal. Know that  going into it. 

 “Don’t  let perfect get  in the way of progress” ~  Gretchen  Rubin       I love this quote.  Perfect is not possible most of the time. Doing something toward your goal is better than doing nothing.  Drinking one more glass of water a day, one more drawer  decluttered, or one more yoga class a month. Aim for progress!!

When doing a google search on the meaning of my name, I found “Sandra” means “defender of men”.  That fits me. I get energy from helping others along their journey, especially when they are in times of stress. I alway have … even when I was little.

Being an occupational therapist has been a good fit for me. It is an obvious helping profession. But health care has gotten bogged down by regulations and mandates from insurance companies.   I felt compelled to remove myself from that burden. I had so many examples of someone’s recovery being dictated by an insurance company. 

I wanted a place for people to come when insurance coverage was not an option for them… for  whatever the reason. I took a risk and began Lymphatic Wellness Clinic. It has not been the experience I thought it would be. My doors  have not been flooded with people., phone ringing off the hook. But it has been the best self discovery journey of my life. It has made me dig deep inside myself, be ok with failure,  hold on loosely to my dreams. It has humbled me, scared me and inspired me. 

I am still at the beginning of this journey.  I believe there is a place for this kind of clinic in the wellness space today. A place that provides high quality treatment and education for on lymphatic heath and also a place that is a resource and support for therapists looking for something more or extra for their clients whether that be time, information or treatment.