Sense Haven: A Site Dedicated to Misophonia
  • Home
  • Triggers
  • Resources
    • General Information
    • Scientific Research
    • Non-Scientific Articles
    • Video and Audio Clips
    • Articles Focused on School-Aged Children
    • Other Misophonia Websites/Blogs
  • Coping Tools
  • Support Venues
  • Blog
  • Past Polls
  • Contact

The "Butterfly's Whisper" Blog

Welcome to my blog. I hope by sharing my own misophonia experiences, others who are frustrated with misophonia sensitivities will discover that they're not alone. I also hope that people who may not have misophonia will gain some insight about what it's like to have this condition.

Please feel free to post any comments or use the "Contact Us" page if you have any questions/comments you don't want to post online.

Contact ME

Halloween in Hawaii

10/31/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Happy Halloween, everyone! Right now I'm in Hawaii on my first vacation in nearly five years. I'm not here to lounge on the beach though... I'm at a writers' conference hoping to get my butt in gear to finally finish my memoir - telling my story about misophonia. Let's just say that ever since I arrived on the islands, the universe has been sending me signs which I'm interpreting as the universe saying, "It's about time!"

On Saturday, as I was landing at my layover point in Honolulu, I saw a full rainbow at the rainbow. Today, as I was leaving my first workshop day at the retreat portion of the trip, I saw a rainbow sculpture right in front of the building where our classes were being held. (Somehow I didn't notice it when entering the facility). And what an amazing first day it was!
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.

Picture
0 Comments

Getting ready for writers' conference

10/8/2016

0 Comments

 
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...
0 Comments
    Want to know when a new blog entry is posted, then click the RSS Feed button below to sign up for the "Butterfly's Whisper" update notifications.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    About the Author

    Emlyn Altman has been suffering with misophonia for over 40 years, even though she only found out about the actual medical condition much more recently. As frustrating as the condition has been over the years, her heightened sensitivities across all the senses considerably influenced her talents within the visual fine arts (particularly sculpture), music (singing, piano, and many other instruments), writing, and culinary backgrounds, as well as professional achievements as an architectural lighting designer. Her goal in developing this website is to promote more awareness about misophonia and help other sufferers as well.


    Archives

    October 2021
    January 2019
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

Copyright © 2021 Emlyn G. Altman