I was one of fifteen students in a memoir writing "Master Class" being taught by Luis Urrea - a Pulitzer Prize finalist. What a fabulous teacher with such an amazing life story to tell. In fact... At the very beginning, when we were introducing ourselves to the group, we all shared our story and what our memoir focus was. So many unique stories, one more fascinating than the other. 

Many things were expressed during the class which hit home to me. One such thought was that "Writing is one of the healing arts. Writing is shamatic. Those who are creative light a signal flame. Those who are lost see the flame and follow the fire until they get home." It really emphasized why I want to write my memoir, and why I created the SenseHaven.com website. I'm doing this because I know how lost I felt before I even knew there was such a condition called misophonia - and the relief I felt when a stranger on a plane told me about it. It changed my life. I no longer believed I was crazy. If I could help one person feel that same relief, I know this journey will have been worth it!

So yes... I am very grateful I decided to sign up for this conference. It has rekindled my passion about this endeavor and I'm eagerly looking forward to these upcoming days - hopefully inspiring me to finally take this memoir effort to the end.

Holy cow! Has it really been a month since my last post?!? Time is flying so much faster than I realized... (Granted, a couple of weeks ago I went on a business trip and wound up working over 94 HOURS in one week trying to tie up loose ends before leaving on the trip, not to mention the long hours during the site visit too...)

Anyway, I'm very excited that in less than three weeks I'll be going to a writers' conference to hopefully help get my butt in gear and wrap up my misophonia memoir. So much has happened in my life since I first embarked on writing the memoir and I've got my fingers crossed that the conference and master class writing retreat will get my creative juices flowing. It's also the first time I've taken a personal "vacation" in close to four years, so this trip is long overdue!

Misophonia-wise, things haven't been as bad as prior years (mainly since I've been fortunate enough to have the whole office to myself over these past few months). We did hire a new person who will be starting in a week, but she seems really nice so I'm thinking that she might be quite understanding if I do need to address any triggers with her.

Last week I met up with some other misophonia sufferers for the first time in quite a while. It was nice to have that kind of support again, although I was a bit distracted/triggered when a woman sat down at an adjacent table and started to breastfeed. It wasn't the breastfeeding itself that bothered me (she kept the baby covered under a blanket) but it was the rocking and burping and other repetetive motions/verbal sounds that kept triggering me. It was tough because I couldn't look at one of the people in my meeting without seeing these triggers just beyond him. I tried covering my eye with my hand and hair to block the distraction (which the mother probably thought that I was offended by what she was doing - which I wasn't). What was worse was another woman (perhaps the grandmother) sat down and started bouncing and burping the baby too. The triggers were so frustrating, but I did my best to cope.

It's funny... This was one situation where I decided not to address the source of my triggers. I've had other sufferers amazed when I say that sometimes I will approach a stranger if it's really bothering me. (Most of the other sufferers I've met say they'd never ask a stranger to stop). I always clarify that whether I ask a person to stop or not depends on the situation. In the case of the nursing mother, I knew that it was not the right situation to request her sympathy with my discomfort. Unfortunately, it was not an opportunity where I could "flee" either, so I just had to deal with it the best I could...