The Update: Resources, a Story and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Today's episode includes a podcast update, including tools I'm using lately, a story from my vision therapy experience and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

RESOURCES:

Chris Daniels YouTube channel entitled me vs meyeself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whjzZQ3P0r0&t=7s

Melissa Daniels' Mastering Peripheral course:

https://learn.strabismussolutions.com/

Elisa Beth Haransky-Beck Somatic Yoga and Enlivening Consciousness book

https://www.enliveningconsciousness.com/yoga

BOOK MENTIONED:

The Healing Questions Guide: Relevant Questions to ask the mind to activate healing in the body by Wendi Jensen (Available right now on Kindle Unlimited)

TEDx TALKS:

TEDx: Seeing the World through the prisms of a Lazy-eyed Realist: Muborak Samieva

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glE7M3vDF4U&t=374s

TEDx: Overlooking our Vision: Dr. Cameron McCrodan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0pljgXZ_GA&t=91s

TEDxPioneer Valley: Sue Barry – Fixing My Gaze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCCtphdXhq8&t=31s

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Transcript

Denise: Hello, I'm Denise Allen, and this is the Healing Our Sight podcast, where we discuss vision issues and healing strategies from the patient perspective. The goal of this podcast is to create an awareness of the diverse types of vision issues that people experience, to highlight the types of help available, and to open a dialogue between patients to show we're not alone in our vision struggles. As a patient who gained 3D at age 54 through vision therapy and strabismus surgery, I feel uniquely qualified to offer a hopeful, balanced perspective on the possibilities. Thanks for joining me today. 

Today I'm just sending out a little update, a little word of encouragement and making a big announcement, so make sure you stay to the end to hear that. Those of you who've listened for very long know that I don't typically do a solo podcast episode. That's partially because I don't like to just talk to myself. And no, that's really what it is. I don't like to talk to myself. I like to have input from other people, some feedback back and forth, and mostly you hear from my guests instead of me, I think, which I'm happy about. But today I thought I would just explain a couple little things and offer a little bit of my story that maybe hasn't been told before so that people can have some perspective on what I'm offering. Back when I started my podcast in 2020, I didn't even realize that it was the thing to do because I had committed to create it before the pandemic hit, and then I found out it was kind of a trend. But what I discovered is that very few podcasts actually make it to episode seven. And I did a little research, and now it's even fewer than that. Before people give up, about 90% of podcasters quit after episode three, and of the 10% that's left, 90% of those stop podcasting after episode 20 or by episode 20. So, I'm grateful to have made it to episode 46, and thank you for being patient with me during that time when I didn't put out any episodes at all. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I still had a handful of downloads every month. So, I thought, well, somebody's listening, and if you're listening now, thank you for being that somebody. Thank you for subscribing or being notified in some way that this episode is available to you. I'd love to know whether you're receiving notifications and that's why, or if you just happen to check in. I. would really like to know that if you'll notice in the bottom of the show notes, at the end of the show notes, I should say there is a little button that you can click that will let you send me a message. That message will come directly to my podcast server's website under fan mail. That would be so awesome to receive fan mail. I tried it out myself. I can see it that it works. So, if you'd love to send me fan mail, that would make my day. Tell me what you want to hear. Tell me what you've liked before. I kind of feel like I'm creating episodes in a vacuum. So that's why I'm reaching out today to say, please send me messages. Please tell me what you got out of what I shared, if anything, or what you would like to see. I think it would make a really big difference for me personally and for the growth of my show to have more input from you, my listeners. So, if you're hearing this right after it's published, it's probably because you're getting some kind of notification again, I would love to know how you found out that there was a new episode. Also, if you can tell me how you found out about my podcast to begin with, I'd be very curious to know that as well. When I search on the podcast player for my show, nothing comes up. So, I don't know if it's working properly when people search it that way. I'd be curious. When I search it on Google, it does come up. So, if that's how you're finding it, that's great to know as well. 

I also want to share some of the resources that I'm using most recently, and my favorite current resource actually is just a little thing that you'll maybe enjoy. A couple of weeks ago, I had a guest named Chris Daniels who shared his story and his YouTube channel. We talked about his setup in his basement where he's able to do vision therapy for himself and he has some other little focusing activities on his YouTube channel. So, he had a new one come out this week and it was fun for me to. To do it and actually have it work and kind of, oh, look, I can do that one, but maybe I should try it on different size screens and different distances and that kind of thing to challenge myself a little more. So that's one of the things I'm going to be doing. Another resource that I like that I'm revisiting is Melissa Daniels course that's entitled Mastering Peripheral. And I noticing that I spend way too much Time focused on my computer screen as I'm teaching English classes and grading papers and all that stuff and, you know, making some podcasts here and there. So, I want to be more intentional about using my eyes more in the peripheral, seeing bigger, relaxing, hopefully gaining a little more comfort and more stable, expanded 3D. So, I'm going to be working on that course. If you want to check that out, it's@learn.strabismussolutions.com and I will put that link, as well as Chris's YouTube channel, in the show notes. 

And the third thing that I'm doing, which will also be in the notes, is I'm taking the Somatic Yoga course. Well, it's a weekly class that is offered by Eliza Beth Haranski-Beck, who also has been on my podcast. It's super late at night for me in China, but it's been really good for me to do it, and I usually sleep better after I've done some Somatic Yoga with her. Last time she was on, she was sharing about her book that had just come out at that point in time. It's called Enlivening Consciousness. So, I'll put all of that information again in the show notes, a story that I decided I wanted to share today. It's a little bit related to my final big news, so I'm foreshadowing a little bit here. 

I want to share about an experience I had several years ago when I was in the middle of my vision therapy journey. I didn't know at the time that I was in the middle of it. I didn't know where I was in it, actually. But I had taken a break from vision therapy. I had been doing it for a couple of years, and when I went for my evaluations, there was really no discernible progress. And my doctor had suggested maybe I should have surgery. And So, I told Dr. Davies, I'm not sure that's what I want to do. So, I was kind of on a break, and I went to this energy healing conference that was in my city. At the conference, I met a woman who was promoting her book. She had just written a book that was called Healing Questions. I think I'll. I'll look it up and, and link that as well. Uh, she had a bunch of questions that you could ask that helped you to heal from different ailments that were physical ailments caused by emotional triggers. And I said, well, I'd really be interested in looking at your book to see if, like, I could address those questions that have to do with strabismus. And as I looked at her book, I noticed that there were no listings for strabismus. I had never seen any in any of the other books that were on this subject. Kind of bothered me a lot actually. And I, I said, well, so what are those of us who are afflicted with this supposed to do? And she of course, had no answers for me. And we talked at length about my vision condition and my frustration. And she finally said to me, you know, it sounds like maybe this isn't something that you're going to be able to overcome, so maybe your story should be how you learn to accept your condition and that can be the way that you inspire others. So, I told her I really wanted to write my story when I was done. So that kind of triggered me in a negative way. I thought, what do you know about my journey and the feelings that I have about what I want to share once I'm done with this journey. And I took my signed copy of her book and I left. And I kind of felt frustrated for a long time after that. Fast forward a little bit. And as you know, I did go have the strabismus surgery. I did have success gaining 3D. I reached out to her again and I said, hey, you remember that we had this conversation? Of course she did not remember, but I said, I'm just really happy to report that I was able to gain 3D vision and this is the path that I'm on in sharing my journey. And she congratulated me and all of that. And that was kind of the end of it. 

About a year ago, I started listening to TEDx talks on a fairly consistent basis and searching for those that had been given about strabismus. Sue Barry gave a TEDx talk and a doctor named Cameron McCrodin gave one. And there was also this young girl who gave a talk, it's called Seeing the World through the Prisms of a Lazy-Eyed Realist, where she talked about accepting her condition. And I thought, you know, if I had gone that other direction, that could have been the type of talk that I would have ended up giving if I were to give a TEDx talk. And of course, that wasn't the kind of talk I wanted to give. There are some very valid points in her talk. It's actually a very good talk, but there are also some things that are misconceptions that she probably doesn't realize are misconceptions. I commented on it about a year ago too I don't know if she saw that or not. 

So now for the announcement. I will be giving a TEDx talk. I've been working on it for a very long time and finally have the opportunity to give a TEDx talk on the stage at Nanjing International School. It's called TEDx Youth@NIS and my talk is in April. I'm not sure how soon after that it will publish, but I will definitely let everyone know because I will be requesting that you listen to it and share it and all that good stuff because that's what's going to give it the impact that I desire for it and that I want to be able to inspire in others the realization that we can do something different and the tools that are helpful in doing that. So again, I'm very excited about that and I hope that all of you are too. Send me a message. Let me know what you thought about my episode today. Next week I'll be talking to my friend Caryn Rinaldini and we're planning to discuss when you should consider changing to a different vision therapist, how you know when that's a good idea and the kinds of things to look for. How do you know when it's a good fit and when it's time to keep looking? That's going to be the topic. So, look forward to that. And again, thank you for listening today. Have a great day. See well.