My Journey to Becoming a Lifestyle Blogger

It all started when…

I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in August 2018. By October I was undergoing a 6.5 hour procedure to have it removed at Massachusetts General Hospital. After 8 days in the hospital I was headed home to continue my extensive recovery. However, 6 weeks later I succumbed to a condition called hydrocephalus (otherwise known as increased intracranial pressure) and was headed into emergency surgery the night before Thanksgiving to have a shunt placed and the excess fluid drained. The following months were filled with anxiety, sleepless nights, extensive rehab, and many unexpected visits to the doctor’s office and emergency rooms trying to get stable. Thankfully by the New Year we were on the right path, but I struggled with many complications and other setbacks that prevented me from fully recovering. In August 2019 I was diagnosed with a Bilateral Cranial Nerve 4 Palsy with Excyclotorision (likely a result of the increased pressure paralyzing the nerve) and by October 2019 I was undergoing major eye muscle surgery to attempt to correct my year long bout of double vision. Thankfully, that was a success and I am finally on the other side of what was a very long year of trauma.

As I got out more and more and finally made it public what had happened, as expected, people had questions, and they wanted to know more of what I had been through, the signs and symptoms, the surgeries, how I am now, what the future looks like, etc. I have never minded sharing my story and what I have been through, and the more I shared it and talked about it, the more I realized I could help so many other people out there who are like me and don’t follow normal textbook signs and symptoms for illnesses, or just educate people on something that is relatively rare but not uncommon. I’ve also believed it to be my niche in life to help others. I was always the person my friends went to when they needed advice on clothes, make-up, skincare, relationships, general life struggles, and more. I enjoy helping others both in my personal and professional lives and like to share my experiences and what I have learned with my friends and family in hopes that it might help them.

Blogging and Podcasting are two things that I have always wanted to get into because I enjoy writing and being creative. I had a small blog from my high school AP English days that I tried to revive during and after college, but with little success. The roadblock for me was finding something that I was passionate about that would be worth spending my time blogging about it. What I learned over time is that I am passionate about a lot of things, so naturally, I felt that a Lifestyle blog fit the bill for me with an emphasis on covering my personal and very different health journey over the last year.

Here, I will cover everything and anything. The name of my blog was inspired by my lifelong journey dealing with increased intracranial pressure, and the pressures we all face in life. Every day we face different pressures, whether it’s to look and feel our best, have a good job, meet certain goals (whether personal or professional), we are pressured to eat healthy, live an active lifestyle, wear the latest trends, etc. So with everything that life throws at us, I hope to help you navigate it by sharing my own personal experiences and what I learned as a result of that experience. Whether I am talking about travel tips, new recipes, relationship advice, latest fashion finds, vacation destinations, work/life balance, mental health wellness, diet and exercise, finances, or my personal health journey as I recover from the multiple brain surgeries, I will cover it all. My goal with this blog is to hopefully provide you with some nugget of information to help you in your life, or a bit of hope if you too are dealing with a major health issue, that with a little perseverance we can all survive the pressures of life.