My Favorite Hobbies Help Me Cope with My Headache Pain--Wanna Find Out How?

Hobbies are so important, and as I've gotten older, my hobbies have changed often. It seems that I always seem to go back to those hobbies that involve some sort of passion of mine. The more I enjoy doing things, the happier I am, therefore the less stressed I am, and the less migraines I tend to get. Although when I was younger, I believe my migraines were brought on primarily by hormones and other issues of my physical body not being balanced out right, I am pretty positive that my migraines in my thirties are more due to stress and anxiety. Yes, I have a lot of physical body imbalances, and I'm sure I have hormonal issues as well, but I am dealing with daily stresses that I just didn't have years ago. We are adopting a child, I have physical disabilities and chronic pain from joint diseases (aside from the migraines), my husband is up for tenure, I am going through a spiritual journey on top of my physical journey, we have moved 3 times in 8 years, I can no longer work, money is always an issue, my dogs are getting older, my oldest dog is now blind with diabetes and 3 legs, my other dog hates every other dog he encounters, we sold our house in KY so we live in an apartment, we are looking to buy a house when my husband gets tenure, and the lists goes on and on. And many of these issues were never even a thought in my head years ago, or even in my twenties.

A new hobby that I have recently picked up is painting. I began by painting a picture of frogs on a log with a cherry blossom tree above them and a bird on a branch. I got carried away with way too much in the picture actually. So I had a friend of mine help me paint a giant picture for our baby's nursery that we are getting ready for when we finally adopt a baby. I had imagined a giant painting of a tree behind the crib, but since we are in an apartment, I didn't want to paint it directly on the wall. We would have to paint over it when we move out, and we would be unable to take it with us. We found 4 canvases at Big Lots for "way cheap" (I'm all about finding the best deal--if that could be a hobby, it would be top on my list), and we decided to put 4 18" by 24" canvases together to paint the giant tree on. I had found online a "heart tree", so we pulled that picture up on my laptop and painted it freehand on the canvases. I am so proud of us! I have decided now that I can really paint if I put my mind to it. I find it very relaxing, and it really makes me not think about anything but what I'm doing at that moment--PAINTING! The painting turned out beautiful. It is a tree with hearts in place of leaves, and a little child is reaching up and grabbing one of the hearts from the tree. Since then, I have painted an angel under a cherry blossom tree, a new painting of frogs, a turtle, an owl on a branch, and another painting of a frog and a dragonfly. I am having so much fun!

A couple hobbies that I tend to do and come back to again and again are sewing and floral arranging/making wreaths. I have a sewing machine, and have made everything from place mats to doggie's scarves to clothes. I put it away for a few years, and I have recently brought it back out to make curtains for the baby's room. I also like to buy artificial flowers, grape vine wreaths, vases, and the mixture to make the water that turns solid. I have made wreaths for every occasion and holiday, and I make sure to change the wreath on the front door for each season and holiday. I also like to buy beautiful, real-looking flowers and put them in small vases and add rocks or marbles to the bottom, and then finally add the mixture that looks like water but is a solid. I usually just have one single flower in the vase like a red rose. I also like to buy or pick fresh flowers and arrange them in large vases. I love to mix the colors with bright green leaves and watch them bloom! When we had our own house, I did more of all of this stuff mainly because we had a lot more space, and I could set everything up in the basement.

Going with the flower subject, I enjoy gardening. There is something very therapeutic about gardening! Since we do not have a yard anymore because we live in an apartment, I can only take care of my 3 house plants. I would probably enjoy growing my own herb garden which I can do in my kitchen or my sun room. The wonderful aroma of an indoor herb garden would really be a nice addition to our home!

This is taken from our adoption profile. You cannot click on it. There is no link to anywhere. On the adoption website, it takes you to our profile, but it doesn't here. Sorry for the confusion!

I enjoy spending time with my fur kids. I believe that playing with them, touching them, and petting them lowers my stress and anxiety more than any other activity. So any hobby that involves my fur kids will definitely reduce my migraines.

I love music and dance. I was a professional dancer, which I have mentioned before. I used to dance at a performing arts center 3 hours a night when  I was very young. I would become a part of the music and literally feel myself inside the music and the music inside me! Now that is a wonderful hobby to reduce stress and help with migraines, but for many years I was unable to dance because of my joints. I will never be a professional ballerina again because my joints are too badly deteriorated. I have however recently begun to dance in a Nia movement class. I am getting the same feeling where I and the music are one. It really works well to relieve stress. I have also begun belly dancing. It is a little more difficult, but I am focused on the belly dancing and nothing else for that one hour. The exercise is good for me, and I am having fun, which is really important to reduce stress and anxiety and pain!

And my two fairly new hobbies are blogging and my blog talk radio show. I have always written in a journal or a diary. I felt as though it helped to write down emotions, things that were bothering me mentally, and when my pain was really bad. I always would look up inspirational quotes and focus on them for the day. Then our world became so computerized, everything and everyone was online. I began to blog about my spiritual journey first on My Path of Self Discovery, then I started my physical journey blog about my chronic pain, etc. Now I have a Blog Talk Radio show that shares the name of this blog I Already Gave My Right Arm To Be Ambidextrous! I talk about chronic pain and healing. I have many different subtopics that I will address. The show will be every Friday night at 11 pm ET. After my first Blog Talk Radio show, I was asked to be a guest host on Egun and Then Some... They also asked if I will continue to be a guest host on their show weekly with my own chronic pain segment! So I haven't set that up just yet, but I will let everyone know when that will be. You can check out my first show about me, Dana Morningstar, and what the show has to offer.  My next show is about "The Worst Pain Ever!"  The call-in number is: (714) 459-3943. I am basically still journaling like I used to do, but people all over the world are eavesdropping into my brain, my life, my world. It is an amazing thing! I feel better when I talk about what is bothering me. I feel even better when others can comment about things that they are experiencing as well, which journaling alone does not have. Now with the Blog Talk Radio show, people can literally "hear" my story and listen to other people's questions. I have to say that it is really helpful for my pain issues and it is a hobby that can also "literally" be passed on. Anyone can read my blog and listen to my Blog Talk Radio show! My stress and pain is decreased, and I help to decrease others' pain and stress in the process, which really makes me happy!

Basically, in summary, all of my hobbies are therapeutic to me, not just for my migraines, but for my other chronic joint pain conditions. They reduce anxiety and stress, lower my pain, make me happy, cause a distraction, keep my mind focused on the hobby and nothing else at that time, and most likely lower my blood pressure as well. They keep me calm, relaxed, and feeling much, much better!