Julie Courtney
Bio
What could go wrong? I have tested fate with these words and it has tested me back. I am a cancer survivor, suicide survivor and phoenix rising. I give myself first to my family of five and next to my hobbies: writing, running and reading.
Stories (4/0)
You Can't Poke Fun at Cancer
I had heard the spiel before, though the miles of paperwork and intricate details of the treatment plan were, admittedly, rather new. Frankly, I had been told all I needed to know. I had Breast Cancer, stage two or three, and it was invasive ductal carcinoma with multiple affected lymph nodes, or something to that effect. At age 33, with a nursing one year old daughter and two other children ages five and three, that was more than enough to process at the time. I had spent the requisite hours in a sobbing puddle of mess and had reconciled with whatever treatment would entail: hair loss, sickness, double mastectomy, scars. Regardless of what else was in store, I had finished processing to the extent I was able. In fact, it had taken some convincing by my first doctor, for me to believe I had anything but some “cheese curds plugging my milk ducts.” It was one of my jokes, that he had most decidedly not laughed at. Honestly, the poor young surgeon looked like he might cry and that was what hit me like a punch in the gut. How serious does breast cancer have to be, for your small town general surgeon to be in tears? That was the beginning of a dizzying spiral into the abyss of panic.
By Julie Courtney3 years ago in Confessions
5 Steps to Reduce Zoom Fatigue
If there’s one thing we learned in 2020 it’s that Zoom fatigue is a force to be reckoned with. While there are surely psychological underpinnings to these feelings, there are also elements of visual fatigue. Most of us are aware that a 20/20 score on our yearly eye exam is a very good thing. It is, after all, known as perfect vision, but 20/20 in 2020 didn’t necessarily confer a real break for those whose screen time saw exponential growth. You might be blindsided by this information (pun intended), but perfect acuity, does not determine optimal visual function. Perfect vision, it turns out, is only a measure of how clearly one can see objects at a specific distance from the eyes. Screen time, by contrast requires a vast array of visual skills. A better measure of perfect vision, would focus less on acuity and take into account the entire visual system, including peripheral vision, visual motor skills, eye teaming and visual perceptual skills, to name a few. Following are several simple tricks that I find reduce eye fatigue throughout a screen-filled work day.
By Julie Courtney3 years ago in Longevity
A Signal From Forgotten History
We have walked past the strange old oak hundreds of times over the last ten years. When my three children were little, they named it the “rhinoceros” tree because of its pointed, horn-like protuberance, and the name stuck. Each time I pass it, I think of this name and wonder how the beautiful red oak grew into such an odd shape. For a long time, I imagined that the wind and snowfall whipping off Lake Huron in the wintertime, were the cause of the strangely shaped tree and yet, I have seen no other quite like it. I try to imagine what the world was like when this tree grew as a young sapling and what befell it.
By Julie Courtney3 years ago in Wander
Through Deep Waters
Meticulous in her selection, she gathers rocks, like gifts, cradled gently in her arms. Lovingly she seals her selections into my plastic sepulchre. The pitch black of the night distorts her vision and I slip from her arms, only to be caught deftly, in mid stumble. I would prefer to be found, but she does not crave my discovery, though she loves me well enough to provide for my protection. My pages hang heavy with the burden of memory, each entry carefully crafted and tainted with tears of grief. Clinging to one another we march toward the end and I alone catapult over the edge into oblivion. I the reluctant guest, fouled by the weight of common stones, ground from the remnants of ancient volcanoes, am sinking. She, resplendent, emanates immense relief, on her peaceful countenance, while I, the burden am lost, wedged into the lake floor, between two immovable boulders in immutable silence.
By Julie Courtney3 years ago in Humans
