Opera workshop

Posted on July 18, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Breathing, illnesses, Life, Mental health, Operatic voice, Parkinsons, physical health, Project, Singing1 Comment

Yesterday I went to an opera workshop as part of the project I’m in. My breathing can be bad because of my illnesses so I take any opportunity I can to keep my throat and lungs clear.

I’ve known for years that I’ve got an operatic voice somewhere inside me. Yesterday it escaped! We sang part of Nessun Dormo, which is actually about a man trying to get married to a Princess but she keeps killing off her suitors. She has to guess his name but he’s not sharing. I think she is called “Turendot”.

I managed to get a really high vibrato. I surprised myself because I got there late and hadn’t warmed my voice up. I’m amazed and going to do another workshop on a one to one basis but I’m not well, My Parkinsons keeps flaring up, I have various other illnesses. But I’m pushing myself, probably too much. I don’t want to just sit in front of the TV. I want to live as well as I can for as long as I can.

Parkinsons

Posted on April 12, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Balance, Depression, Fear, Health, Mental health, Parkinsons disease, Shaking, Thinking9 Comments

Rather than writing a long post about this I’m just sharing this. I do think a lot about the disease and perhaps need to try and overcome my fears. X

Trying to work at art…

Posted on March 19, 2025March 19, 2025 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art group, company, Crochet, Drawing, Knitting, Mental health, Paintings, Sketching, Writing1 Comment

There is a new community project nearby and I went up yesterday to have a chat and try and feel a bit more engaged with people. Various things are happening including knitting and crochet, crafts, painting, and writing. It got me out of the house and helped save money on heating. While I was there I did a sketch of a couple of the attendees.

They called me their resident artist which I thought was rather sweet, although there are lots of other people creating artwork there, so it’d not really an accolade I should accept. But it is giving me the opportunity to maintain my skills. I don’t shake as much when I concentrate.

Today was different, I went to my group meeting for my mental health, it’s another craft group, but after I’d had a bit of breakfast I felt really icky, I ended up coming home early, mostly feeling overwhelmed and tired now. But I must try and continue with art, it’s really the only thing that keeps me going.

Use a gratitude book

Posted on March 15, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1878, Grateful, gratitude book, Health, Memory, Mental health, Positive, Sketching, Thought, TimeLeave a comment

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

Each day I try and write three things. Simple things I’m grateful for.

Not wondrous things, but little ones.

Traffic lights staying on green, getting to an appointment on time, a phone call from a relative, an unexpected laugh with a friend. Maybe seeing the first tadpole or daffodil of the year.

Just list 3 things, with today’s date, maybe add a little sketch of what’s happened. Each positive gratitude trains your brain to feel less negative. I’ve dome it for a couple of years now. It helps X

Tired

Posted on May 20, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Choirs, choral music, demanding, diminished, Driving, Life, Memory, Mental health, physical health, Singing, TiredLeave a comment

I’ve been to two choir sessions today, both are slighty different groups. So we learn different songs although the warm up is usually the same. I love singing different songs and it lifts me when I am feeling down.

I go to choir because I’ve been going for between 15 and 20 years. It’s my rock I can cling onto in a raging river of life. If I didn’t go I would be seriously lost. It helps my mental health and I believe it’s also good for my physical health but it’s getting harder and harder to keep going. I need to rest between songs and I get tired quicker. Also I have to drive to get to the groups and I have to be careful that I am safe to drive. I can think about all the journeys I used to make but I can no longer do them. That diminished possibility hurts me.

I dont

Posted on May 18, 2024 Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Cats, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1942, Friends, Home, Life, Mental health, Outside, work life balance2 Comments

How do you balance work and home life?

I’m too young to get my pension but I’m not working either. My health is not good, and I’m having various tests. So what do I do? I’m trying to keep occupied by doing creative things and trying to get some exercise. It’s weird because I’m not used to being like this, I was always strong physically and mentally but I feel diminished. Time is taking its toll on me.

Sorry, this is too serious, but the prompt is tempting me to reveal more about myself. Lots of things have happened in the last five months that have pulled me in different directions but mainly downward. I try to find a balance between not work and home, but activity and non activity. Sometimes it takes me a couple of days to feel right again. Most of the time I clamp myself tight like a barnacle inside my house, not looking for daylight. It takes me time to pluck up courage to go out. I can think about travelling, but I don’t. I think of all the things that could go wrong.

Luckily I have friends who drag me out. I can go to some places easily, but others? The anxiety is too much for me. Just going outside to pick up the milk off the gate can take me hours to decide to do it. And yet meeting friends lifts me up. My cats help too. What would I do without them.

Well that’s my situation at present….

Bee painting

Posted on May 15, 2024May 15, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Art, Bee, Craft fair, Fine Art, fund raising, Mental health, Money, Painting, Time, Wood4 Comments

I was asked to paint some bees today for a craft fair at Growthpoint to raise money for the group. I painted one large bee on a flower and three small ones. I like going to the group. It’s helping me feel a bit less anxious. I can talk to the people there and get things off my chest I’ve had a lot of things to deal with over the last few months, I just want things to calm down.

Singing cheers me up

Posted on February 27, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Choir, Languages, Learning, Memories, Mental health, Music, sheet music, Singing, socialising, TimeLeave a comment

I was at choir practice yesterday and today. It cheered me up. I have to say I feel much better when I do go. I believe it helps to release endorphins in your brain? I know that when I’m feeling really down it helps so much. I would suggest if you can join a choir do it! A lot of choirs don’t have auditions, and are taught be repetition of the musical phrases rather than using sheet music. That’s how we are taught, the choir master sings a line and we repeat it. Gradually building up the song. We sometimes have the words printed off phonetically. We’ve learnt French, Zulu, Maori, Spanish, Bulgarian and many other languages learning that way.

I know this is a bit random, but I think its a great way af helping your mental health and also a good way of socialising.

Hanging baskets hung

Posted on July 1, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged arrived, Back yard, Colour, Garden, Growing, Hanging baskets, Mental health, Plants, Summer2 Comments

A few weeks late because I couldn’t afford them earlier. Some of the trailing plants got damaged in their transport in the back of our car. I would like to get a few small colourful plants to dot around the yard and make it more colourful. I will see what cheap plants I can get locally.

These cheer me up. I know they will last well into autumn, and looking out the window on a cold damp day brings up my mood. X

Remembering songs

Posted on May 30, 2023May 30, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Brain, Choir, Happy, Health, Life, Memories, Mental health, Music, Poem, Poetry, Recollection, SoundLeave a comment

Something in my brain ‘dings’

I remember how the song ‘sings’

Music has a way of sticking

Notes together, metronome ticking.

Sound comes back as mouth opens

Words come out, with the vocals

Songs from months or years ago

We remember how they go!

From some dark corner of my mind..

My vocal chords my brain reminds

The timing, tempo, notes and all..

Into a pattern they all fall

My joy as memory keeps going

And music, memories it keeps sowing…

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Mental health