Never give up. Never surrender.
July 2, 2019
I think my love for science fiction comes from a need for solutions over the seemingly impossible worst case scenario. The dark side of the Force. The Kobayashi Maru.
I thought I had overcome the effects of Lupus on my career then Lyme reared its hideous head and knocked me out. I’ve overcome lots in my life and triumphed leaving the difficulties so far behind that these experiences no longer had a hold on me. I realized I had a reputation for hard work, honesty, grace under pressure, success, people skills, creativity and vision. That had become my story, the hard lessons won by persistence. Yet a bacterial assault proved to be too much for a good 4 or 5 years. I kept thinking that the diagnosis would mean the end of Lyme but it became an all encompassing battle for a life, my life.
You don’t realize how much the medical community doesn’t know til you get sick with something with no definitive cure or treatment along with Dr.s who have no knowledge or experience in treating any the issues that come with Lyme disease. Why, even celebrities with the best health care money can buy are not immune from the devastation of the disease. It affects every aspect of your life and the people around you. Everybody sees what looks like an able bodied human with no obvious sign of illness so how could I be so sick? To be plain, it sucked.
But the self employed and photographers are observers, researchers and problem solvers. I realized that only I could advocate and fight for my own recovery. I decided to use all the creative skills I had honed successfully in creating and running my businesses to overcome the worst case scenario.
The worst thing about Lyme was the loss of my cognitive ability as well as the ability to read. It was like English was another language altogether. My thoughts became feelings and the isolation from being unable to communicate or understand my life around me left me drowning. In desperation I listened to podcasts where the short format was easier to understand. I tried a protocol for Bulletproof coffee or butter coffee advocated by a biohacker named Dave Asprey. It was a lifeline, one thing that gave me back enough of my mental facilities to be able to use my skills to research and put into place a battle plan against the disease that have ravaged my mind.
The majority of people mock the alternatives to traditional medical care but traditional medical care has been unkind to me. Dealing with traditional medical care has felt like dealing with a large unfeeling, profit and power hungry enemy. But there were no evil Emperors, Generals or Aliens other than the ones living in my brain and body. The biohackers, renegade professors and doctors became my band of warriors fighting alongside me, supplying me with what I needed to overcome the enemy. Sometimes the weapons I used were not powerful enough, sometimes they didn’t work at all but in the end the research and problem solving skills of trying one thing at a time, documenting the effects of the protocol and trusting in those renegade Dr.s that were willing to use the tools at their disposal to create an effective battle plan with what I had learned worked for my body to overcome the alien force.
I am in remission now. It’s a new day. I found the protocol made me feel young as when the world was new.
Health. Hope. Time. Life.
No miracle cure. Food alone is not medicine, sometimes medicine is medicine and is just more of what we already have, in the ideal amounts for health. Just a good understanding of how my body fights for itself and how I can support the ideal circumstances for health. It was problem solving and new ideas that created a recovery and opportunities for more.
This blogpost reflects the hope of more. I am restarting my business knowing I can offer clients the best I can be. A beautiful view of the best they have to offer in my photography whether it’s their face, their lifestyle, their products, their service, their pets, their family, their very soul with style and a message. That we can always be our best selves even during difficult times. That there is always hope. That every moment of life and joy is worth celebrating. That there are others who understand and can relate to how we see the world - our tribe.
Science fiction is often just our real life stories with new characters in another place and time. So join me for a new and improved view of real life right here, right now.
Virginia Smith
The Modern Vintage Photographer
Learn more about the online renegades that changed my health and life here: