First Impressions of the Fediverse

So, I can confirm that I've landed in some new social media spaces, though I'm still "unpacking," so to speak. And still getting to know the neighbours. I've found my way to the Fediverse, and so far, it's been... refreshing?

• No ads
• No algorithms
• Posts in chronological order
• Hashtag driven
• Welcoming and positive 
• Quieter (in the good way)
• Broader reach (for profiles set to 'public')*

So, how is this possible? One of the biggest factors is that the Fediverse is decentralized. No one person owns or runs the fediverse. 

As best as I can describe it, the Fediverse is a network. There are overarching servers (domains?), and then there are a bunch of different servers within that--each run by a different host, each with a slightly different flavour. (If you wanted to, you could start your own server, but if you’re the average person like me, you’ll probably just join one.)

The individual servers seem to be based on region or topic of interest. For example, there is a server on Mastodon called "mastdn.ca" which is tailored to Canadian audiences. There's also "mastoart.social" which consists primarily of art-related posts.

The larger domains also seem to have different emphases in terms of the purpose it serves and the content people can expect (see tree 👇🏻).

The cool thing about the fediverse, is that you and I don’t need to be part of the same server to see each other's posts. I can follow you, and interact with your posts, even if I’m on a server at Mastodon and you're on a server at Pixelfed.

In this way, the analogy of email or even snail mail has been used to help people understand this concept, because it’s definitely different than mainstream social media.

If you think of email, there are lots of different domains: Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. But even though we may use different email providers, we can still connect to each other. I can connect with you at Hotmail, even though I use Gmail. Post is the same. Each country has their own postal system, but I can connect with you using Canada's postal system, even if you’re in Germany using Germany's postal system, because they're both part of a larger, global network.

It's kinda like that. 

Like mainstream social media, you can set up your profile so that only people who follow you can see your content (i.e., private), or you can choose to have it be public, so that anyone can see your posts. 

I'm sure there are 'dark' servers, just like there is the 'dark' web. However, I've found what feel like safe and positive places to set up shop, and for now, I'm here to stay.

Post by @photosbygina_yeg@mastoart.social

View on Mastodon

*In just a couple weeks, I have more followers on my Photos By Gina profile than I did on FB and IG combined over several years!

If You Give a Girl a Hot Tub...

For my last birthday, I received a City of Edmonton gift card, usable at most of the city's attractions and facilities. Given that it was the dead of winter, I first used it at a rec centre near by, solely to soak in the hot tub

It was glorious.

And so, I hopped around from rec centre to rec centre, checking out the different hot tubs, and the occasional steam room. Once or twice I took a yoga class. But mostly I just liked sitting in the hot tub. 

I found myself coming back again and again to the leisure centre closest to home. It's smaller, older, and therefore tends to be quieter. I started bringing a book each visit, reading while I soaked.

As the weather started to warm up, I found myself one headed to the leisure centre one evening thinking, "y'know, it might feel refreshing to dip in the pool first, before the hot tub."

Now, let me pause here to clarify that I am not a swimmer. In my educator days, I didn't mind playing in the water with the children I was teaching or caring for, but the sport of swimming has never appealed to me. I failed swimming lessons over and over (and over), mostly due to an imperfect front crawl, and a refusal to dive without plugging my nose. But my mom, having seen me tread water (which I could do like a boss), and feeling confident that I could save myself if I fell off a boat, finally took mercy on me and let me stop lessons.

So, when I say I considered a dip in the pool, I quite literally meant a dip in the pool and nothing more. I grabbed a couple pool noodles, put one under my knees and one under my arms, and floated around on the small waves made by other swimmers.

After a few weeks of this, I figured "y'know, since I'm already in the pool"--and since the novelty of the  new energized version of me was still mesmerizing--"I might as well do some aqua-jogging." And so across and around the pool I went, moving to the beat of whatever playlist the lifeguards had chosen.

Faces around me started becoming familiar; I realized the pool had "regulars," and that I was becoming one of them.

One evening, the pool was unusually crowded, except for the area sectioned off for lane swimming. And I thought, "y'know, since I can do so much aqua-jogging, certainly I could do a length of lane swimming." There aren't many swimming strokes I care for, but I do have a fondness for the backstroke when the situation calls for it.

And so I pushed off from the wall, the water just covering my ears, so that the 80's music around me faded, and all I could hear as I followed the line on the ceiling was my rhythmic breathing; it was nice.

Over time, one length turned into two, two turned into three, three turned into four.

And I thought, "y'know, snorkeling might be kinda fun." Snorkeling definitely draws one's focus to the breath. And I also remembered how, the few times I'd snorkeled on holidays, I'd found the act of swimming to be easier and more enjoyable.

And so I bought a snorkel.

And what started as just a soak in the hot tub has become a mix of self-guided aquacise, lane swimming, and snorkeling. ...Though,
definitely still a soak in the hot tub.

Pura Vida

"Pura Vida...it's Costa Rica's slogan, as well as being a way of life. The direct translation is "pure life" but it's so much more than that. It's living the good life...cherishing simple pleasures...spending time with loved ones...and enjoying a slow, relaxed pace of life." 

- John Michael Arthur

Pura Vida is a phrase I heard or said myself several times daily in the beautiful country of Costa Rica, where I just recently returned from after two weeks' vacation. Costa Rica has been on my “must see” list of places to go for several years. Warm, tropical, known for being eco-conscious, lots of flora and fauna to photograph… It had been over 10 years since my last tropical vacation, and it felt very overdue!

One highlight of this particular holiday was how thoroughly I was able to enjoy it, physically as well as emotionally. I enjoyed the company of good friends, watched the sunset on the beach every evening, ate nearly every meal outside, floated in the pool with a good book, won a card game or two...

Balancing out the gentle, unhurried pace, were also a variety of activities for the senses, including:

• Climbing hills and/or stairs daily
• Navigating a 13-cable zip line course
• Hiking through a wildlife sanctuary
• Swimming in the ocean
• Walking through the neighbourhood
• Walking along the beach
• A 60-min yoga class

As well as the sights, sounds, and smells of a foreign country; all in 30°C+ temperatures; none of which required so much as a nap afterwards.

This would have been a very different trip even a year ago. There would have been resting the full day before and after any activity, and lots of negotiating with myself about which activities might be ‘worth’ that.* I would not have done nearly as much sight-seeing. Just the daily trekking around in the golf cart (our rented mode of transportation) would have been enough of a sensory experience to tire my brain and body for the remainder of the day.

Instead, I was able to enjoy every aspect of my holiday, fully present through it all.

I am SO proud of my nervous system, and I’m proud of myself as well. I’ve done a lot of work to get to this point.

The view from my bedroom balcony
where I did my brain retraining
each day

I continued my brain retraining practices each day in Costa Rica—delighting in the ability to do my 'rounds' entirely outdoors! After 8 months, my rounds have become as routine as many people find the gym.

Now that I’m past the 6-month mark, I’ve been playing with the frequency of my rounds, weaving back in more of the other practices I’m familiar with and have come to enjoy (e.g. yoga, breathing exercises, meditation). At the very least, however, I’m finding my rounds are a nice way to start and end my day.

Especially with palm trees as my backdrop and tropical birds as my soundtrack.

My first spark of hope with my recovery came last summer when, just two weeks into my brain retraining, I realized I hadn’t needed a nap in several days. As I regain the ability to do more and more of the things I love well--like travel--my hope grows. When I have hiccups, I know they’ll pass; and, they are fewer and farther in between.

I was fortunate enough to vacation in the Nosara area, which is on the west coast of the Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world's Blue Zones. Immersed in sunshine, ocean waves, and tropical jungle, it's not hard to see why it's a Blue Zone. This vacation was not just a boost to my nervous system, but a boost to my spirit as well.

Pura vida.

*There is a huge difference between resting because I want to, and resting because I have to.

Six months!!!

Today marks the six-month point from when I first started my brain retraining program. And while I will continue to engage in brain retraining practises for some time, this feels like a significant milestone.

I want to share with you a bit about what this last six months has given [back to] me.

Last weekend, I had choir practice on Thursday evening--a typical Thursday evening activity. I generally get into bed a little later that evening, by the time I get home and carry through the necessities of my bedtime routine. Work as usual on Friday, and that evening, I was at a friend's place, celebrating another friend's birthday – requiring the typical social energy, and also managing the input to all sensory systems. It was a lovely evening, and great to catch up with friends. On Saturday, I typically take my mornings slow and gentle,* but was up, dressed and ready to sing with my choir at a celebration of life service that morning. It was a beautiful and emotional service. I was back at church the next day for the regular Sunday service, in which we typically sing an anthem before the sermon. Afterwards, I went for a walk with a friend to feed the birds along my favourite nature trail. All this around the regular activities of cooking, cleaning, changing over Airbnb beds, commuting to/from work, running errands, etc.

On Sunday evening, I was relaxing at home, and a slow smile crept up my face as I thought about everything I had done over those four days.

In the past, all of those activities would have flattened me by Sunday evening. To try and prevent the crash, I probably would have ducked out of some activities early, or skipped some altogether; I may have chosen to block my Airbnb for part of the weekend. And I would have spent all the in-between time trying to be as still and quiet as possible. I would have had to sacrifice joy, connection, compassion, income, hobbies, and community just to be a functional human being.

I don't have to do that anymore.

I am able to engage in the activities I want without having to clear my schedule for days on either side to pre-rest and post-rest.

Some additional impacts of the gains I've made over the last six months:

• I have been reading more books

• I can use lightly and naturally scented soaps, lotions, and shampoos

• I have returned to standing for cooking/baking, showering, washing dishes, doing make-up and hair, and during Sunday morning choir rehearsal

• My breathing and lung capacity has expanded when singing

• I have more focus and creativity at work

• I have been doing more photography work (not just taking photos, but also post-processing, as well as managing my FB & IG pages).

• I can take day trips or overnight trips, including all the driving, and step back into my regular routine when I get home.

I have just started to have success with food reintroductions, and that will continue to be the main focus of my brain re-training through 2024.

In short, I am thriving. 

*This has been true always, not just since my health changed.

Changing Seasons

This past summer, my garden was mostly flowers, as I only had about 5-6 vegetables remaining in my food repertoire. I still made room for those veggies in the raised bed; surrounding them with marigolds, poppies, and sweet peas. Then, promptly after sowing     the seeds, I had a flare that took most of those remaining vegetables off my list.

As I watched sprouts break through the soil a few weeks later, I resigned myself to the fact that it would all go to friends, or the office, or the food bank, come harvest time.

I started my DNRS brain retraining in mid-June; flowers were coming into full bloom, the lettuce was starting to look like lettuce, the parsley was just starting to get tall. During the summer, I did many of my 'rounds' (the set of retraining practices I do each day) in my back yard, often facing the garden; my bare feet in the cool grass, grounding me and connecting me to nature as I calmed my limbic system.

I was growing vegetables and neurons at the same time.

Iceberg lettuce was one of the vegetables I was still eating; I grew it for the first time this year, and I loved being able to grab leaves at will to add to my meals (also, non-mass-produced iceberg lettuce has so much more flavour!).

The Brussels sprouts never sprouted, so their leafy stalks got yanked.

The rutabaga found homes among my coworkers.

Rhubarb was shared with one friend.

Raspberries with another.

I found I loved having the energy to work the garden, even if I wasn't eating most of it. 

By late summer, the only vegetable remaining in the ground was the carrots. I just couldn't part with them. I pulled them on a warm afternoon in September, carefully scrubbing, slicing, blanching, bagging, and then tucking them into the freezer.

Since starting my DNRS program, I've actually nibbled on small, single bites of a few different foods here and there, though my limbic system was clear each time that it was still outside my training zone. I knew that many people in the program had been able to start reintroducing foods almost immediately, while many others didn't even start reintroductions until after the initial 6-month training period. I was starting to get the sense that my nervous system might be in the latter category.

Accepting this was almost as hard to digest as food.

But I still wanted to try.

A couple weeks ago, I pulled a slice of carrot from one of the bags in the freezer. Mixed it into my meal. And I don't know if it was the love and care that went into growing them, or the new neural pathways, or both, but my limbic system considered it from all angles, and said,

"Okay 🙂"

via GIPHY