As women and humans, we are asked to put out lots of fires in our lifetime. I loved this smiling, fun photo I found on Pinterest so much that I changed my original idea and wanted to share it with you.
Struggles and challenging task are as much a part of life as all the fun and easy parts. Yet many of us overthink the more difficult tasks, and that anxiety only makes it that much harder to do the hard thing.
Some of us put off doing what we need to do, some of us never do it and some of us get physically and emotionally sick. It doesn’t have to be that hard, you need to stop playing out all the “what could go wrong and negative scenarios” in your mind. That is really exhausting, and a stall tactic.
If you are an overthinker, a great replacement is as simple as thinking about 1 or 2 great outcomes and do the thing. Don’t be tempted to add more great outcomes, you don’t need mental clutter. I met a decluttering expert at a women’s business networking event this week and she confirmed how much of her work is similar to psychotherapy when we chatted.
Getting back to the photo, I see a woman positively putting out the fire. She has accepted what she can and cannot do in the situation. Maybe the fight had been long and instead of collapsing under exhaustion, she thought sitting down on the hose she would allow her to continue putting out the fire. I don’t know anything about the fire, there was no second photo of the hoses target. I only see a firefighter confidently taming the flames.
xo,
Tracy
PS: the following is what I was originally planning to write about.
Taming My Own Flame Journey
My original subject was about extinguishing one of my own health fires recently. Since January 2024, a fire has been burning in my mouth. I started getting influencers like Tamsen Fadel and others on all my social feeds talking about Burning Mouth Syndrome and how that is a rarely talked about menopause symptom. Each women said there is no known cause, and articles I read confirmed that and added that doctors prescribe psych meds to calm you and minimize the symptoms.
I did not like those answers and started discussing this with my acupuncture team. The treatment plan was to eliminate heat inducing foods, and Chinese herbs. I diligently followed the plain and had some relief. Nothing worked 100%. I was frustrated to still have the burning with a very limited diet.
One day, I had a strong taste of garlic in my mouth. I instantly realized I had a garlic allergy. My diet was very limited except for herb seasonings and salad dressings. A label check revealed garlic in both. Garlic was immediately eliminated, and I am 99.5% back to normal.
This statement I found summarizes perfectly what happened to me with my garlic allergy. Whenever I ate garlic, my body’s immune system mistakenly identified garlic as a harmful invader and produced antibodies in an attempt to fight it off. Every food I ate caused my body to release a toxin in my saliva which coated my mouth and teeth. Sometimes it was very thick and I knew that substance was causing the burning.
Nearly two months after I eliminated garlic, I have a barely any burning left. Days have gone by and there has been no dryness or burning. Two months ago, I was lucky if I had 30 minutes without pain and other symptoms. The dryness in my mouth made speaking publicly difficult.
If you are experiencing symptoms, you should always consult your doctor and dentist. They know your history. My dentist listed more than 10 conditions associated with Burning Mouth Syndrome when I mentioned my condition during a recent checkup. I suggest taking a very close look at your diet, medications and supplements. Elimination is something that has worked many times before in my health journey, and there are many hidden ingredients in everything we consume. I am not a medical expert. But I am not one to give up when there are no answers.
One day I may be able to enjoy garlic. It is a challenge when eating out. I always check the ingredients and ask when dining out. Food reactions are common now and most restaurants are happy to make adjustments for you. For now, when there is garlic in my food, my symptoms flare up.
Thank you Tamsen Fadel for being the first journalist/influencer to mention Burning Mouth Syndrome. You gave my condition a name, and I was able to take the steps needed to put out the flames in mouth.
The Lovely Spotted Flamingo 