Weekly Inspiration: Books, TV, and Movies to Tickle Your Funny Bone

Hey, chronic illness spoonie friends! Earlier today, I was updating and sharing an older post of mine from 2019, Weekly Inspiration: Laugh!, when I realized it's been a long time since I've written a new Weekly Inspiration post and I could really use some laughs right now. 

After feeling the best I have felt in years during the first six months of this year (not a single crash day!), getting COVID in July, and slowly crawling my way back from that over the next three months, I was doing pretty well by September and back to enjoying some camping trips with my husband. But for the past three weeks, I've had flu-like aches every day, which tells me my immune system is overreacting to something, most likely a flare-up of yeast overgrowth again. I've gone back to a super-strict diet with almost zero carbs to try to get control of it again, but between that and the state of the outside world, I'm feeling pretty discouraged. 

The prescription? Laughter! As I explained in that older post, laughter has very real physical health benefits ... and it just makes you feel good! So check out the hilarious video clips and funny TV, movie, and book recommendations I made in that old post. And here are some more current recommendations for TV shows, movies, and books that will tickle your funny bone and make you LOL.

 

Funny TV Shows

My husband isn't big on straight-up comedies on TV (though my sons and I love to laugh over episodes of Bob's Burgers or The Office), but we both love to watch TV shows that combine a great sense of humor with drama or suspense. Here are some of our favorites, reviewed in the past two years (links to my reviews with trailers), that make us laugh out loud:

The Diplomat - It's the perfect time time to remind you of this outstanding show that has it all because it just returned for its second season on Netflix. It's got loads of suspense and international intrigue, but it's also so hilarious that we often had to pause and go back a bit because we were laughing so hard we missed a few lines! Great writing & acting.

Somebody Somewhere - This HBO Max show is so great that we watched all three seasons in record time. It's laugh-out-loud funny, but with great emotional depth and plenty of heart. Not for the easily offended--nothing is off-limits in this show!

Shrinking - Another wonderful show just back for its second season, on Apple TV. Starring Jason Segel and Harrison Ford as therapists who work in the same office. It's another show that delves into deep issues like grief but with a great sense of humor. It shares some creative DNA with Ted Lasso, and it shows with the same blend of heartwarming drama and laugh-out-loud moments. If you didn't think Harrison Ford was funny, wait till you see him in this role!

Poker Face - This fun, twisty mystery series is built around its main character, played by Natasha Lyonne, so besides suspense, you also get plenty of clever wit. On Peacock - we're still waiting for season 2!

 

Funny Movies

Again, my husband isn't much for straight-up silly comedies (and honestly, neither am I), so our favorite movies that make us laugh always have other elements. Here are some we've enjoyed that were funny:

Hit Man - this 2024 Netflix movies defies categorization: it's kind of a romantic thriller comedy. It's based on a true story of a man who helped the police department by occasionally pretending to be a hit man, so they could arrest whoever hired him. Twisty, suspenseful, action-packed, and funny. Just a lot of fun!

American Fiction - Nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and with one of the highest ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, we loved this movie! It's very funny, but it's also poignant, heartwarming, and thoughtful. Highly recommended.
 

Flora and Son - This heartwarming, funny movie about a mother and son connecting through music is uplifting and delightful. It will leave you smiling.

 

Funny Books

Apparently, I haven't been reading many funny books lately, based on my recent reviews. I love a book with a sense of humor, but my favorites are often books that will make me both laugh and cry ... and that's not really my purpose here. So, I'll include some recent reads but also some from a bit further back that are guaranteed to make you laugh. And definitely check out that old post because it did include some great books.

Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed - In this funny, comforting, informative memoir, the author talks about her experiences reading and teaching literature in both high school and college. I was often nodding along or laughing out loud.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - This heartwarming story is about connections, loss, and family. It has great characters and an excellent sense of humor.

The Verifiers by Jane Pek - This debut novel is a fun, suspenseful mystery with a great sense of humor. And book two, The Rivals, just came out!

 

What TV shows, movies, and books make YOU laugh?

I'd love to hear about them!

Please share your own recommendations in the comments below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

Just for Fun: A Bit of Nostalgia!

My latest video has absolutely nothing to do with chronic illness (which is nice, for a change!).

If you grew up in the 60's, 70's, or 80's, you'll love this nostalgia-filled walk down memory lane, including books, movies, music, cartoons, and more! I answer some questions for the Old School Tag, created by another YouTuber, and I had so much fun with it--plus a bit of show & tell!

You can watch the video on YouTube or I'll also include it here:

I had a blast making this video - I hope you enjoy watching it!

Tell me about YOUR favorite things from childhood!

Please leave a comment below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

News from Our House: Treatment Progress & More

I thought it was time for another update, since it's been almost a month already since my last one! You can look back at that post, News from Our House: Tests, Treatments & Improvement! or, if you prefer, watch the video summary, for more details on my year-long relapse, my quest for answers, and some of the new treatments I'm trying. In brief, I found out that my Lyme disease was badly flared up and not at all under control, as I'd assumed. As a result, a bunch of old viruses were reactivated, and my immune function was pretty bad, with super-low IgM and CD57 (again, details in that earlier post).

Treatment Progress So Far

So, I was a little optimistic at the end of that last update post when I said I was back to my "normal" baseline from before my year-long relapse. I'm definitely feeling much better and able to do a lot more than I have for the previous 11 months, but it's not consistent yet. I am having far more good days than this past year but still some very low-energy, achy days in between, too. Here's what I have tried so far and what's working:

Lyme Treatments:

As I mentioned in that last post, I immediately began to feel better just from increasing my existing Lyme treatments (a combination of A-L Complex (Byron White protocol) and Samento). The Lyme specialist pointed out that I was not actually at the maximum dose of either one (a surprise to me!), so I worked my dose of A-L Complex up from 15 drops twice a day to 20 drops twice a day. And I gradually increased my dose of Samento from 15 drops twice a day to 30 drops twice a day. I began to feel better almost immediately, just from these two small adjustments to what I was already doing! Again, this was a huge surprise to me because I didn't have any of my obvious Lyme symptoms (for me, knee pain and nausea) on the lower doses. I was "just" exhausted, had no energy, and had flu-like aches, all of which I associate more with my ME/CFS. That's another lesson in how interrelated all of this is; the infections behind the scenes are a big part of ME/CFS.

I also started a new Lyme treatment that I'd read about in a Johns Hopkins study, Japanese Knotweed. The study found that this herb--and several others--were more effective than doxycycline and other prescription antibiotics against Lyme in the lab. I started to feel better within about a week of starting it and have been gradually working up my dose. Earlier this week, I was up to 4 capsules in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, and 4 in the evening (working up to 4, 4, and 4) when I began to run out. Oops! I had to reduce my dose the past 36 hours; I'm hoping my new bottle arrives from Amazon before my evening dose! Each time I increase the dose, I experience a Herx reaction (temporary worsening of symptoms that indicates the treatment is working to kill off the pathogens) which usually presents as worsened fatigue, no energy, and sometimes mild aches. That tends to last for 1-3 days, so I wait until I feel good for a couple of days in a row before increasing the dose again. Hence, the ups and downs with good days and bad days!

Immune Treatments

These are not going as well so far! I started with Mega Mucosa, which is an immunoglobulin complex, with some other ingredients (you can read the label at the link). I know I need this because my IgM is so low (which means I'm not making antibodies to new infections). Unfortunately, it upset my stomach, caused diarrhea, and resulted in severe fatigue. I gave up on it after a week and check in with the Lyme specialist. She suggested trying it again but starting with a very low dose and slowly working up, which is excellent advice, but I have put it on the back burner for now.

Once I get my dose of Japanese Knotweed up and steady again, I'm going to try adding (slowly and gradually!) Transfer Factor Multi-Immune (we buy it through our practitioner's office). Eventually, I will also try SBI Protect, but I am putting it off since it is also an immunoglobulin supplement, like Mega Mucosa; I'm hoping if I can first get the infections better controlled, perhaps I won't react so badly to the immunoglobulin treatments.

NOTE that my son and I both already take low-dose naltrexone, daily glutathione nasal spray, and inosine, which all help to normalize the immune system and have improved both of our conditions immensely and improved exercise tolerance. You can read about all three treatments (all inexpensive and easily accessible) here.

Treating Other Infections

As I described in that earlier post, my tests showed a bunch of reactivated viruses. No big surprise to see one or two in anyone with ME/CFS, but that many all reactivated at once is unusual for me! I already take several herbal antivirals daily: olive leaf extract, monolaurin, and emulsified oil of oregano, and I had already increased my dose of olive leaf to 1500 mg twice a day. The Lyme specialist  (who ran the tests) suggested I also add in L-lysine, which is especially good against herpes-family viruses (very common in those with ME/CFS). We've taken this before and still had some, so that's an easy one. I've tried not to change too many things at once, but in between dosage changes of the Japanese Knotweed last week, I added in L-lysine, first one capsule a day and now 1 capsule twice a day (working up to 2 capsules twice a day).

New on the Blog and on YouTube

My big news recently is that I started a YouTube channel about a month ago! This is something I've wanted to do for a while, both in order to connect with more people and to provide an alternative for those with chronic illness who might have trouble reading blog posts but can manage to watch (or even just listen) to a video. The channel is for both of my blogs, so it includes videos about books and reading, as well as videos about living with chronic illness. Sometimes, I will record videos to go with blog posts and other times, the videos will stand on their own. Here are the three chronic illness videos I have posted so far:

• Rachel Horton, blogger and health coach interviews me about ME/CFS, living with chronic illness, and the pandemic - this was a warm, casual conversation between Rachel and I (and the start of a great friendship!), so it feels like listening in on two friends. Feel alone and want to be around people who "get it"? This is the video for you! 
• ME/CFS and Lyme: Tests, Treatments, and Improvement after a Year-Long Crash - this is the video I mentioned that is a summary of my last update post.
• 5 Inspiring Books for Those with Chronic Illness - this one parallels this week's Weekly Inspiration post, all about the books that have most supported, helped, and inspired me in my 19 years with chronic illness.

I am still in the beginning stages here, learning all about YouTube, video editing, and more, so please tell me what kinds of videos you'd like to see!

Here on the blog, it's been a while since I've recapped my posts, so here are my main posts since the beginning of the year, not counting reviews (see below):

Weekly Inspiration: Winter Boosts

My Progress in 2020 and Goals for 2021

Weekly Inspiration: Winter Celebrations

Lyme Disease News: Testing and Treatment

News from Our House: Tests, Treatments & Improvement!

Weekly Inspiration: 5 Inspiring Books for Those with Chronic Illness

 

What We've Been Watching and Reading 

Again, it's been a while since an update, so there's a lot of fun stuff to report on! 

We watched one of our favorite movies in years on New Year's Eve, The Peanut Butter Falcon, which was uplifting, heartwarming, and very funny. Highly recommended by both of us (currently on Hulu and Amazon Prime). You can read my full review and watch the wonderful trailer at that link.

We also watched three other funny movies (all with heart and warmth!): 

• Grandma, starring Lily Tomlin and Julia Garner, so you know it's good!
• Blow the Man Down, a dark comedy about murder and the sinister underbelly in a quiet Maine fishing village. A bit darker but still amusing.
• On the Rocks, starring Bill Murray and Rashida Jones (another top-notch pairing!), a warm and funny drama about marriage and a father-daughter relationship. Lots of fun.

We've seen some great TV this winter, too!

I think our favorite show was Veronica Mars, since we watched the first three seasons, the recent fourth add-on season that takes place 10 years later, and the movie! We enjoyed them all. The series (and movie) stars Kristen Bell as a teen (and later, adult) detective, helping her dad's PI business and trying to solve her best friend's murder. It is definitely dark at times, but if you've seen Kristen Bell in anything, you know she brings a great sense of humor, comedic timing, and snappy dialogue to everything she does. It's well-written, too, with a great supporting cast. Read my full review and watch a trailer of the TV show at the link.

Other TV shows (reviews and trailers at the links) we have been enjoying:

• Home Before Dark is a crime show with a great twist: the detective is a nine-year-old girl! We both loved this intriguing, suspenseful, funny show and can't wait for season two.
• Halt and Catch Fire is another four-season series (now on Netflix) that kept our attention throughout, all about the computer industry from 1983 to 1990, as technology soared from clunky desktop computers with monochrome monitors to laptops to the internet. Great cast and an engaging drama.
• Lakefront Bargain Hunt is our new stress reliever! We don't usually watch HGTV or much reality TV of any kind, but we are loving this show about families looking for their perfect lakefront house at a reasonable price. We can dream ...

As far as books, I always have one in print and one on audio going, so I've read a lot of great ones in the past couple of months!  You can check out my February Book Wrap-Up on YouTube for a brief summary of the seven books I read/listened to that month (with a wide variety of fiction, nonfiction, humor, YA, and a graphic novel). If you enjoy reading, you can also take a look at my monthly summaries on my book blog, Books Read in January and Books Read in February, with links to my reviews.

Some of my recent favorites included Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson, a collection of short stories. I don't often read short stories, but I really enjoyed this collection of unique, clever, strange stories that mixes real-life with elements of fantasy.

For something light and fun, you can't beat The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz, a funny novel (and start of a series) about a dysfunctional family of PIs (even the pre-teen daughter helps out and enjoys recreational surveillance after school!). It's narrated by older daughter, izzy, who's a bit of mess but can't escape her crazy but lovable family.

And most recently, I just finished reading The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, a novel that quickly found its place among my Top 10 Books of All Time. It's the story of the life of Cyril, a man born in Ireland in 1945 who discovers as a teen that he's gay--not a great time or place to be gay! The novel checks in with Cyril every seven years, and though Cyril experiences lots of hardships and tragedies in his life, the novel is also very, very funny. It brought me to tears twice but often had me laughing out loud, too. Any novel that makes me feel that much is top-notch in my book!

I could go on about favorite books forever, but this post is already too long! Just check out my book blog posts and/or videos for more recommendations.

 

How have YOU been? And what have YOU been watching and reading lately? Please share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments below!

Weekly Inspiration: Novel Insights

It's been a while since I've had the time, energy, and resources (electricity, WiFi, computer) to write a Weekly Inspiration post, so I am happy to be back at it on this quiet Sunday morning. I hope everyone sleeps a bit longer ...

It's been even longer since I shared favorite quotes from a book with you, something I very much enjoy, so this morning I turned to my Quote Journal (currently a red Moleskin). Looking back over quotes from books read this winter, I found many from Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, a slim and very entertaining novel translated from Polish. I read it in January for a readalong with the Book Cougars podcast, one of my favorites. This unusual book with the strange title (it's a line from a William Blake poem) was short-listed for the International Booker Prize, long-listed for the National Book Award for Translated Fiction, and won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. It's a quirky, funny, thoughtful novel that deserved all those accolades, and I am glad to have read it. It often made me laugh out loud, I loved the clever way the author said things (and kudos to the English translator, Antonia Lloyd-Jones), and I filled my Quote Journal with examples.

You can read my full review at the link. Briefly, it's about Janina, an older woman in Poland who lives up in the mountains near the Czech border. She has some sort of unnamed chronic illness that sometimes flares up unexpectedly, and she is used to spending a lot of time alone, as her "neighborhood" is mostly summer homes that she cares for during the long, brutal winter. There is a twisty mystery in the book, about a string of murders in her area, but what delighted me most about the book were Janina's astute and often hilarious observations about life. Here are a few examples:

"Once we reach a certain age, it's hard to be reconciled to the fact that people are always going to be impatient with us."

As someone who is both chronically ill and aging, I could see the wisdom in this statement! My own illness is quite invisible to others, but I know that Janina's observation holds true for friends of mine whose disabilities are more obvious (though it might be more accurate to say "ignored" than "impatient" in that case). And I have certainly witnessed the impatience of younger people toward older people. I guess I have that to look forward to!


About her mysterious ailments and the role of doctors and medical testing:

"We have this body of ours, a troublesome piece of luggage, we don't really know anything about it and we need all sorts of Tools to find out about its most natural processes ... The only coarse and primitive Tool gifted us for consolation is pain. The angels, if they really do exist, must be splitting their sides laughing at us. Fancy being given a body and not knowing anything about it. There's no instruction manual."

I'm sure we can all relate that that passage! How many times have we each wished for an instruction manual or some sort of magic to tell us what is happening in our bodies? We learn (hopefully) to listen to the hints, like pain, that something is wrong and we need to care for ourselves, but we rarely understand why these symptoms occur.  I have spent the past 17 years (since I was first diagnosed, a year into my illness) studying and reading the research about ME/CFS (and later, Lyme), and I still have only a basic understanding of the inner workings of my body and how illness affects it. I also love that she calls her body "a troublesome piece of luggage"!


General wisdom for us all:

"Everything will pass.

A wise Man knows this from the start, and has no regrets."

When I was finally diagnosed about a year into my illness, I sent an e-mail to friends and family explaining what my disease was and how it affected me. I received many kind and supportive messages back, but the one that brought me to tears and made me feel better was a simple "This too shall pass," from a close friend and old office-mate. He told me he'd had ME/CFS back in grad school (referred to as the "yuppie flu" back then) and was horribly debilitated for over a year and then recovered. Now, of course, he was one of the lucky ones, and I have not recovered (18 years now), but his words were still comforting and are still true. While the disease is still with me, the intense pain and grief of those early years did pass, and I have been able to find treatments that have improved my condition. I am still chronically ill and limited, but those early days of acute grief and mystery and helplessness have passed. I think this is so important to remember when tragedy, pain, grief, and other challenges hit you.


How we each contribute to creating our own world:

"...sometimes it seems to me we're living in a world that we fabricate for ourselves. We decide what's good and what isn't, we draw maps of meanings for ourselves ... And then we spend our whole lives struggling with what we have invented for ourselves. The problem is that each of us has our own version of it, so people find it hard to understand each other."

This is so true, that we each make our own reality. And it provides some insight into why other people probably can't truly understand our world of chronic illness. This certainly gives me something to think about with respect to the challenges I have with my family understanding my life. I think this is a good way to remind ourselves to be kinder, more tolerant, and less judgemental when faced with other people's realities, too.


This quote I include simply for fun because it made me laugh out loud, as did many sentences and passages in this quirky novel! I also read it aloud to my husband, and he laughed, too, so I hope my older male readers won't take offense.

"It's hard work talking to some people, most often males. I have a Theory about it. With age, many men come down with testosterone autism, the symptoms of which are a gradual decline in social intelligence and capacity for interpersonal communication, as well as a reduced ability to formulate thoughts. The Person beset by this Ailment becomes taciturn and appears to be lost in contemplation. He develops an interest in various Tools and machinery, and he's drawn to the Second World War and the biographies of famous people, mainly politicians and villains."

Well, my husband still reads mostly thrillers, but otherwise, this sounds pretty accurate! He could laugh because he knows I complain about him not talking to me. Although, the pandemic has changed things a bit. Now that he is working from home and not in an office with co-workers, and we are together every day, all day, he can get a bit chatty in between work calls, usually just about the time I am sitting down to do some work or writing! Again, we can laugh about this.


So, I can't resist one final quote from the book that is particularly relevant to pandemic/quarantine life:

"Boris' presence reminded me what it's like to live with someone. And how very awkward it is. How much it diverts you from your own thoughts and distracts you. How another Person starts to irritate you without actually doing anything annoying, but simply by being there. Each morning, when he went off to the forest, I blessed my glorious solitude."

I'll just leave you with that thought!

I highly recommend this very entertaining novel, full of mystery, insight, and humor. Janina is quite a character, as you can tell. You can read my full review on my book blog, and you can find it on Amazon in paperback or audio (to buy from indies or other mail-order, see the bottom of my review).

Enjoy your Sunday and have a good week!

Weekly Inspiration: Lift Up Your Spirits

I haven't had much time for this blog lately; life at my house has been busy, chaotic, stressful, and exhausting! Both adult sons are living at home, one just started his new job this week, we are still struggling to care for my 95-year-old father-in-law who has sharply declined in recent months, and my older son and I had an out-of-state doctor's appointment for him this week (about 5 hours in all for us). Whew. Oh, and this week, I was also trying to take an online course I'd signed up for a while back about running Amazon Ads for my book: I've been working on it all week (in between all the rest), and so far, every single one of the 12 or so ads I've submitted has been rejected. Why? Because using the words "chronic illness" is "unfairly targeting customers based on their personal characteristics"! Yeah, really! Anyway, all the activity and stress finally caught up to me, and I crashed badly on Thursday. Luckily, my crashes now don't last long.

All of that is a long way of saying that I often need a mood boost! Anything that makes me laugh or smile or lifts my spirits can help. This is especially true in these challenging times we are all living in; the constant barrage of news, politics, and conflict can really affect my mental and physical health. Sometimes, I need a break from it all.

So, here, I thought I'd just collect a few of the sources I turn to to lift my spirits. Please share your mood-lifters in the comments or on social media. I'm on Twitter and have a Facebook page for this blog, and I often post uplifting things in both places, so there's your first tip!

Chronic Illness Boosters

There are large, supportive communities for chronic illness on social media. I have a separate Twitter account and Facebook page for this blog, and that has worked out well. Those chronic illness communities are like my "safe spaces"--the places where I can go on social media to (mostly) avoid politics and conflict and instead find kindness and support. So, you can start by "liking" my Facebook page and connecting with me on Twitter, and from there, you will find others who are like-minded. A few particularly positive and uplifting people/accounts to connect with:

ME/CFS Self-Help Guru
(aka Julie)
Julie and I worked together for years for the ProHealth website (she edited their Inspiration Corner page, which I frequently wrote for), and she has very active social media accounts, all focused on optimism, support, positivity, and lifting the spirits. You can follow her on Twitter or like her Facebook page or visit her blog and in all of those places, you can always find joy, comfort, and kindness. She offers free courses and videos, as well as daily posts, all focused on self-care and inspiration. This post of hers was particularly helpful to me this week, and I shared it to my own Facebook page:

Not Just Tired
This is another of my favorite chronic illness people to follow online. She is well-known for her #MyDailyThankYou and #JoyinSummer (or whatever season we happen to be in) posts, and lots of people join in! This creates a whole supportive environment of positivity and kindness that I always find soothing and fun. You can follow her on Twitter, like her Facebook page, or visit her blog (her latest post is actually about those two hashtags above and the positive impact they have had on her life). Then, join in the fun! Post your own gratitudes and joy with the hashtags, and you will find an entire community filled with uplifting posts.

One of my own recent #JoyinSummer posts

To Make You Laugh or Smile

Sometimes you don't need chronic-illness support, you just need something to lift your spirits and take your mind of all the bad stuff going on (or your own symptoms). A few things have caught my eye recently:


The Far Side is Back!
Gary Larson fans rejoice! The renowned cartoonist, famous for his many years of irreverent and hilarious The Far Side comics, is back from retirement! I guess he figured with all that's going on in the world, we needed a good laugh more than ever. He says he is now experimenting with digital cartooning. He kicked off his renewed career with a cartoon called The Taxidermist, which you can see at the link. From the home page of his website, you can laugh your way through plenty of classic Far Side cartoons or check out the section called New Stuff. A great place to visit for your daily laugh or to immerse yourself in silliness for a bit.


Seniors Pose as Classic Album Covers
I just saw this one this morning on the Today show, and it is so cool! A group of seniors in a retirement home in the UK posed as classic rock (and a few contemporary) album covers. They are all just awesome and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Here's a sample below, from a David Bowie album, but you can check out all of these amazing seniors here. This is an especially good lift if you've been feeling old lately!

Hoda's Morning Boost on the Today Show
Each morning, at about 8:05 am (Eastern time), the Today show does a happiness boost after their 5-min overview of the day's news (which is just about all the news I can take these days). I look forward to these daily lifts, which can vary from a reunion that brings happy tears to your eyes to something sweet that makes you smile to something that will leave you laughing out loud and sharing with everyone you know. You don't even have to watch the 5-minute news recap first--you can find a whole page of Boosts on the Today website. As an example, this was one of the boosts that made me laugh like crazy and run downstairs to show my husband (turn up the volume):






Comfort TV and Movies

Sometimes, you just need to totally withdraw from the world, wrap yourself in a blanket, and comfort yourself with some good escapist TV and movies. This means different things to different people. For some, it's trashy reality TV (both of my sons are currently obsessed with Trailer Park Boys). For others, it's rom-coms or favorite old movies. And for others, it might be silly sitcoms. Me? I get my comfort TV from shows about high school students. I don't know why, but I love watching shows about young people, preferably those with a sense of humor mixed in with the drama. Maybe it's because teens' problems are so very different from my own.

I was a huge Glee fan and still turn to it when I need extra-comfort--it's not only got teens, drama, and humor but also awesome singing and dancing to lift your spirits. If you've never watched it before, I highly recommend it (currently available on Netflix). A more recent TV show with similar "feels" is Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist (on NBC website, Peacock, Hulu, and Amazon). It's a silly premise--a young woman can hear other people sing their feelings--but I loved watching it this spring because it's fun, colorful, funny, and filled with music and dancing (my review at the link above).

I was late to the game with Freaks and Geeks, but once I discovered it, I loved it. Unfortunately, it is no longer on Netflix (where I watched it) and is currently unavailable anywhere, due to some music copyright issues, but hopefully they will sort that out soon. For now, it is only available on DVD.

My recent comfort TV choices (and I have needed a lot of comfort TV lately) have been Never Have I Ever (on Netflix), about an Indian-American girl struggling to fit in (loved it!) and my current go-to, Atypical (also Netflix), a really awesome dramedy about an 18-year-old boy with autism and his family. I love this show! I am totally hooked on it. Besides being entertaining, it is an excellent portrayal of life with autism and also how a child with a disability affects the entire family (something we can certainly relate to). It's just really well-done. I am also watching an old favorite of mine, The Bold Type, about 3 best friends in their 20's who work for a fashion magazine in NYC.

What's your go-to for comfort viewing?

And what are your favorite mood lifters?

Weekly Inspiration: 2 Uplifting, Supportive Podcasts

Hi, all! I'm still here! The blog has been so quiet lately, with just a few posts this past month (though some good TV recommendations!), because I have been pretty badly crashed and unable to muster the energy for longer or more frequent posts. I've been worse than usual for months, but it got really bad the last 2-3 weeks. It feels to me like what we call a virally-triggered crash, which has become pretty rare for my son and I in recent years, thanks to immune system treatments. My ME/CFS specialist agreed to test me for a few viruses, including an antibody test for COVID-19 to see if exposure to that triggered this downturn and tests for EBV and HHV-6, two latent infections that most of us have that sometimes get reactivated and need antiviral treatment to calm down again. I should hear back on those test results next week. In the meantime, I've had a few good days at the end of this week, so I am cautiously hopeful (and still taking it very easy). By the way, you can also follow me on Twitter or like my Facebook page for this blog--those both take far less energy, so I can interact and post there even when feeling poorly.

Anyway, today, I am bringing you two podcasts that I recently discovered and have been enjoying/binging! One is focused on ME/CFS, and the other is about the coronavirus pandemic, from the perspective of someone with an immune disorder.

It's Not All About ME
Paddy, in Ireland, hosts this podcast focused on ME/CFS. Here's his own description of the show:

"A guy with ME and a mic. Chat and frequent guests sharing experience of chronic illnesses such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome."

He alternates between interviews with guests--mostly other people who have ME/CFS--and solo podcasts, with an easy-going, relaxed style that is comforting and fun to listen to. He's an excellent interviewer and quickly builds a rapport with the people he's talking to, bringing listeners into the circle. There is a special kind of comfort and support that comes from hearing other people describe your own experiences and realizing you are not alone.

I've listened to three episodes recently (one solo and two interviews) and enjoyed them all. And guess who one of his upcoming guests will be? Me! He's enjoying my new book and has invited me to be interviewed for the show--possibly for multiple episodes. I can't wait to talk to this interesting, intelligent, and engaging man. I couldn't find a separate website for the podcast, but you can find episodes of the podcast both at Soundcloud and on Apple Podcasts.

Staying in with Emily and Kumail
Emily and Kumail are Hollywood writers (and Kumail is also an actor) who live a life that has some similarities to most of us. You already know their story if you've seen the hit movie The Big Sick, which they co-wrote. The movie tells the story about how the couple met and began dating just as Emily became extremely sick and was hospitalized and ended up in a coma. Obviously, they end up together, but it's a different kind of rom-com that deals with chronic illness. So, switching back to the real world...Emily and Kumail are married and living in L.A. (Kumail stars in a new movie, just released this weekend, The Lovebirds--we enjoyed it last night, so watch for a review here soon!), and Emily still has a serious immune disorder. She seems to be mostly symptom-free with monthly infusions, but the coronavirus hit, with strict stay-at-home orders coming early to California. They are being extra-careful because of Emily's condition.

The podcast is the two of them recording from home. They talk very openly and honestly about the challenges of isolation, stress, and fear during this time (which they call The Weirds). They have a regular feature called "What weird thing made you cry this week?" If that sounds depressing, it's just the opposite! They are both very, very funny (he started as a stand-up comic and they both write comedy) and even funnier together. They often go off on crazy tangents that get me laughing out loud so that my husband gives me strange looks! On one show, Emily said the new Charmin commercial with the family of bears gathered around the TV made her cry (I could relate), and they went off on a discussion of why Charmin uses bears to sell toilet paper, whether bears poop while hibernating, and more. They talk about what they're eating during the pandemic (including a regular feature on "what weird things have you been eating while at home?" - sensing a theme here?), and how they're coping. They also have lots of great recommendations for TV and movies to watch (since they're in the industry) and video games they're enjoying. I love every episode for its comfort and kindness ... and also that they always make me laugh hysterically and forget whatever I'm upset about that day. They feel like good friends by now!


This article about Staying In includes links to all the different ways to listen to it.

Hope you enjoy these two podcasts. Watch for my own interviews on It's Not All About ME, probably coming up in a month or two. I'll let you know what they are scheduled.

What podcasts or other media are lifting you up and providing comfort these days?

Weekly Inspiration: Some Good News During the Pandemic

Since the pandemic started, and our lives got even more strange and anxiety-riddled, I have shared several posts to help:

• Coronavirus and ME/CFS - some basics, theories about how those with ME/CFS might react to the virus, and treatments to try now to improve your immune system and later, if you are exposed.
• Info and Resources on COVID-19 and ME/CFS - all the up-to-date details you need, from the top experts in ME/CFS, as the pandemic grows.
• Coping in a Crisis - the emotional support side of all this, including inspiration, dealing with stress, compassion, and even some recommendations for uplifting or funny books, movies, and TV shows.

So, with all of that serious preparation available, today, I'd like to turn to something that is guaranteed to make you laugh, tear up (in a happy way), and smile until your face hurts!

John Krasinski (who famously played Jim on The Office and directed and starred in The Quiet Place) has launched a new, homemade show on YouTube called Some Good News (SGN). It features John "reporting" from home (with a sign made by his daughters) about all the good things that are happening in the world today--people reaching out to others, entertaining themselves and others, kindness, humor, and more. He has four episodes out so far, and they are AMAZING! He often has special guest stars on video chat (including his The Office co-star Steve Carell) and highlights regular people making a difference, doing wonderful things, and making us laugh.

Here's episode 1:



And you can not miss Episode 2 - I promise you, it is really special and will leave you grinning from ear to ear (especially if you are a Hamilton fan)!



We haven't watched episode 4 yet, but I see that it includes a virtual prom for high schoolers missing out this spring - should be a good one!

And if you are more in the mood for just plain funny silliness, then check out the Family Lockdown Boogie, which is hilarious! (and really well-made) (I asked our son if we would be making a family dance video soon--I'm guessing from the look on his face, the answer is no!) But this family is having a blast:



What have you found during this crisis that has helped to lift your spirits, make you laugh, or left you smiling?

Everyone stay safe and healthy ... and keep smiling!

(P.S. For more uplifting shares and social interaction, follow me on Twitter or "like" my Facebook page--there are kind, supportive communities of fellow patients in both places).

Weekly Inspiration: Listen to Podcasts

This morning, I was half-listening to Good Morning, America (Sunday Today was pre-empted by the golf tournament) while I did my yoga stretches, and I heard a piece on stress. The interviewee mentioned a podcast called Ten Percent Happier, so I was intrigued and looked it up. It's a podcast all about meditating, which features different kinds of meditation, as well as interviews with various celebrities (including the Dalai Lama!). It looks pretty good, so I will probably give it a try. This led to my deciding to devote today's Weekly Inspiration to podcasts.

I love listening to podcasts and split my audio time between a wide variety of podcasts and audiobooks, while doing things around the house, driving, walking, even brushing my teeth! I am probably a bit too plugged in, but if you haven't yet discovered podcasts, they're a great way to find inspiration and improve your life (or just entertain yourself). Here are a few of my favorites:

Inspiration & Improvement

Happier with Gretchen Rubin - this light, fun podcast comes from the acclaimed self-help author of The Happiness Project, Better Than Before, The Four Tendencies, and other books. She and her sister, Elizabeth (see below) chat about how to make your life happier. Their show is upbeat and insightful and includes regular features like Happiness Hacks and Listener Questions, as well as interesting and engaging discussions between the two sisters and with guests. I've been listening to this one for years and really enjoy it.

Happier in Hollywood is a spin-off podcast that Gretchen's sister, Liz Craft, hosts with her writing partner and best friend, Sarah Fain. The two of them are successful TV writers living in the L.A. area, so while their episodes are also focused on happiness, it is with a Hollywood spin. You don't have to live or work in Hollywood to enjoy the show, though. It does have more of a work focus to it, but the pair also discuss happiness at home, personal fulfillment, and mental and physical health.

The Slow Home Podcast is a newer one for me, just discovered this winter, but I am enjoying it already. The hosts are a husband and wife who live in Australia, and their tagline is "Slow living for a fast world." They talk about ways to slow down your life (something we all know about!), focus in on your self and your family and whatever is most important to you, and tune out all the noise in the fast-paced world we live in. I like that they are very open and honest about what brought them to this point, including extreme stress, unhappiness, and serious depression. Their episodes are also quiet and soothing to listen to.


The Rich Roll Podcast is one that I don't listen to regularly, but I have enjoyed a few of his episodes. I guess he is someone famous - used to be a professional athlete? - but I was unfamiliar with him. His focus is on wellness, spirituality, and other inspirational and improvement topics, and his episodes are lengthy interviews (or conversations, as he says) with various people, some celebrities and some lesser-known, on a wide variety of topics. I've enjoyed the episodes I've listened to, and they are always thoughtful and thought-provoking.

By the Book is a cross between inspiration, self-improvement, and entertainment that I enjoy. The hosts are two friends, Jolenta Greenburg and Kristen Meinzer. In each episode, they choose a different self-help book, live by it for two weeks, and report back. Along the way, they break down the elements of the book for listeners and recap their own experiences, as well as provide an epilogue on what (if anything) from the book stuck. They have covered everything from The Five Love Languages to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. The two women are super-honest and open, leading to some fascinating insights and conversations. The podcast is also very entertaining and enjoyable to listen to.

Balanced Bites Podcast is all about healthy eating. Its two co-hosts, Diana and Liz, are both nutrition experts. They are not focused on diets or weight loss but on eating well for a healthy life, something that those of us with chronic illness certainly need. I've only listened to a few episodes, but they seem to focus somewhat on Paleo and Keto type diets, but they also talk about topics like emotional eating and a wide range of health problems, like thyroid conditions and how food affects cortisol levels - again, all stuff that's relevant to us. Hmmm...it looks like they may have stopped creating new episodes in May (since the most recent one is called "The Last Episode"!), but they have a huge archive of interesting and informative episodes.

Books Podcasts

 
If you read my blog regularly, you know that I love to read, so some of my top favorite podcasts are about books and reading. Here are my current top 3 for those that love books: 

• Book Cougars - "two middle-aged women on the hunt for a good read." Co-hosts Chris and Emily are friends of mine, and I love listening to their fun podcast. They recount what they've been reading, literary adventures (like local author signings), and more. Sometimes, it's just the two of them - good friends talking about books - and sometimes they have guests on the podcast or interview authors.
• What Should I Read Next? - hosted by Anne Bogel, who writes the book blog, The Modern Mrs. Darcy. On each episode, she has a guest - usually a regular reader like you or me, sometimes someone well-known - who tells her three books they love and one book they hate, then Anne chooses some books that they might enjoy reading next. Fun, interesting, and guaranteed to give you some great ideas for your next book to read!
• But That's Another Story is hosted by the fabulous Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club and Books for Living. This is a quieter, more reflective book podcast that is great for those who are sensitive to noise or have shorter attention spans. Episodes are usually shorter, featuring a celebrity talking about a book that changed his or her life, and Will's voice is soothing. He's a great guy, and I love listening to this fascinating podcast.

 

Just for Fun

I listen to some podcasts just for fun and entertainment. Here are three of my favorites:

• Pop Culture Happy Hour - two episodes a week from a group of NPR pop culture experts on the latest and best in TV, movies, books, and music - a great source for new things to watch, read, or listen to! This is one of my favorite podcasts, and I listen to the episodes each week while I refill medicine boxes for my son and I.
• Ask Me Another - a hilarious and quirky quiz/puzzle/game show. It's pure entertainment, with celebrity guests, plus regular contestants all competing in strange, sometimes musical, and always funny contests. Lots of laughs and lots of fun - my family laughs at me for yelling out answers while I'm listening in my earbuds (though they enjoy listening with me in the car).
• Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is an old favorite in our house and my family's first choice for car rides! It's a quiz show based on the weekly news, with a focus on the hilarious, bizarre, and strange. Host Peter Sagal leads a panel of three comedians in exploring the week's weirdest news and interviews a celebrity guest each week. It's timely, fun to play along with, and very funny.

You may have noticed that I don't listen to any podcasts that are focused on chronic illness or specifically ME/CFS. I have a few episodes here and there downloaded that I haven't gotten to yet.

So, I would love to hear about YOUR favorite podcasts! Whether on illness and health, inspiration, or just for fun, please leave me a comment and tell me which podcasts you enjoy listening to!

Weekly Inspiration: Laugh!

Nothing is more joyful than a great, big, uncontrollable belly laugh, the kind that leaves you breathless. Laughter not only brings joy but also a host of actual physical and emotional health benefits. Laughter:

• Reduces levels of stress hormones (something that those with ME/CFS have a lot of trouble with)
• Triggers the release of endorphins, which cause a cascade of positive physical effects in the body and brain
• Reduces your blood pressure, if it's high
• Improves the immune system and boosts T-cells (something we definitely need!)
• Improves mood and acts as a natural anti-depressant
• Improves cardiac health and works your abs! (now there's a work-out we can do)
• Reduces anxiety
• Improves breathing

In short, laughter not only feels good; it is also good for us.

This laughter-filled TED Talk by Sophie Scott, Why We Laugh, explores the underpinnings of laughter - why we do it, different types of laughs, responses in our brains, and how laughter is contagious:

I think she is right about laughing more and harder when you're with others because some of my biggest and best bouts of laughter come when I am with my family and we are telling a story we've all heard 100 times - we will all get laughing so hard that tears are streaming down our faces!

My son and I have often used "laughter therapy" throughout the long years of our chronic illnesses. When he was younger and home from school for weeks (or months) at a time, we'd watch old TV shows on TV Land. Many of them made us laugh, but our favorite was I Love Lucy - it could get us belly laughing on our worst days! This was one of our all-time favorite scenes, from an episode when Ricky thinks he's losing his hair, so Lucy gives him a series of "treatments":



ha ha ha - gets me every time! Old scenes from the Carol Burnett show - especially those featuring Tim Conway - have the same effect on me. Look up the dentist skit or Carol Burnett Show bloopers, which are mostly the cast members cracking each other up - Sophie Scott is right - laughter is contagious! Oh, never mind - I have to include one more clip:



For more funny (and more current) TV shows, check out my list of TV Reviews and scroll down to comedies.

With movies, our go-to for our worst days is Planes, Trains and Automobiles, starring John Candy and Steve Martin. We can pretty much quote the entire movie from start to finish but it still keeps us laughing out loud, sometimes so that we can hardly catch our breath! Every scene in this movie makes us laugh, but this one is a favorite:



We quote that scene to each other all the time between the four of us! For more funny movies, check out my list of Movie Reviews and scroll down to comedies.

I also love books that make me laugh, even if they are also sad in parts. Some of my favorite laugh-out-loud novels include (reviews - with no spoilers! - at the links):

• Be Frank with Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
• Us by David Nicholls
• The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick (all of Quick's novels are both moving and funny)
• The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart

And, of course, as Sophie Scott points out in her TED talk above, nothing beats a good laugh fest with friends or family!

What makes YOU laugh? What are your favorite go-to sources for laughter when you need a pick-me-up?

 

SuperBetter Game

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I am looking forward to some quiet, alone time and trying to get back into some of my usual routines now that this difficult summer is coming to an end.

One thing I like to do just for myself when I wake up earlier than the rest of the family on a Saturday or Sunday is to watch a TED talk. I look for something inspiring or interesting or funny. I have a hard time taking time out of being productive to just take care of myself, and watching one of these talks always perks me up and inspires me (here is one of my past favorite TED talks that I wrote about here).

The TED talk I found this morning surprised me. It seemed to be about video games - which I really don't play, other than a little Words with Friends with my family - but I was intrigued that it was in a playlist of "TED's quirkiest talks that pulled in millions of views." Well, it turns out that this talk is actually directly applicable to those of us living with chronic illness!

When the speaker suffered a serious concussion with year-long severe effects, she developed a game for herself to try to pull herself out of depression and stop the suicidal thoughts she was having. Eventually, that game became SuperBetter, a real game that is now available online or as an app.

It's MUCH better when she explains it herself - it is a short talk and is very entertaining (and fascinating), so take a look for yourself:



Basically, her game takes a fun approach to improving your physical, mental, emotional, and social resilience, and she has LOTS of scientific studies to back up the theories here. And the tasks to complete are super-easy, even for someone who is bedridden. I already feel better!

If you are intrigued like I am, check out her game SuperBetter.

Hope you have a great weekend! Take some time out for yourself.