But now I can! To say that my diet runs light on vegetables is a laughable understatement, so I’m always on the lookout for nutritious veg-like things my delicate, petite-flower palate doesn’t reject. The original V-8 juice is too gross for me to smell, let alone drink, but now they have this wonderful stuff called V.Fusion, which serves up the equivalent of one fruit and one vegetable in each 8-ounce serving!
And it’s good! Good, I say!
*****
Do you guys know Jincy Willett’s Winner of the National Book Award? I requested it from the library after reading a review on the 50 Books blog, and I’m so glad! I read Jenny and the Jaws of Life a few years ago, so I knew Willett was a great writer, but I’m not much of one for short stories. This is her first novel, though, and it’s great. Here are some examples:
“Tim was a bright, slobby drunk, a Pooh-faced failure with a contagious laugh, and carloads of charm he was born into, the way some people are born into money.”
“Mother and I talked about books. It was our way of loving each other, and the reading of the same book was our principal shared experience.”
I love the idea of talking about books as a particular way of loving someone, and I love the general idea of having a particular way of loving someone. I guess I didn’t realize it, but I do this with a few of my relatives—we have so little in common, but there are a few things we share, and talking about those things is really one of the only ways we have of actively loving one another.
The book also features a HILARIOUS look at the Universal Choking Sign and a diatribe on enforced stupidity.
*****
I have been taking half of my regular Zoloft dose for about a month. Today I am Zoloft-free. I’m going to see how I am without it, because I think it makes me too tired, lay, foggy, and apathetic. I started taking it for panic and anxiety, but maybe I don’t need it any longer. We shall see . . .
16 comments:
I read the Jincy Willett right around when I tried to read Marilyn Robinson's Housekeeping. I remember enjoying the Willett, but the Robinson not so much.
No Zoloft - I admire your bravery. The thought of going off my Zoloft makes me want to curl up in the corner and cry. And I am terrified that Dr R is going to suggest trying just that, when I see him next week.
You'll love this book--I'm sure. I haven't enjoyed something this much since Motherless Brooklyn. They're much different books, of course, but the quality of the writing and the wit is similar.
I have no idea how the Zoloft thing is going to go. Will I start having panic attacks again? I don't know. If I do . . . I'll deal with that when I get there, I guess.
Good luck on the Zoloft reduction!
I gave up my Paxil long ago, but I do miss it at certain times. (usually when my life feels like it's going to hell in a handbasket!)
I'm clocking up 14 months of being little white pill free. Sure there have been some scary days, even weeks and some bloody impressive fully fledged panic attacks which I don't really remember ever having before. (See posts from last two weeks for evidence.) But get this - I seem to have skills now to get through it. To recognise what is happening, use strategies and techniques and come back up for air. It still freaks me the hell out (GOD knows what it does to Chef) but it passes. And I think, "so this is how normal people react and respond and recover to stress." And that, quite frankly, knocks my socks off.
GOOD LUCK
What's with you and vegetables?
-J.
P.S. It took me three years of married life to get TFBIM to eat anything green which was not iceberg lettuce. REALLY.
I'm wondering if now I'll be able to handle panic attacks--and not merely avoid things and places like I did for years.
I'm optimistic, but I've also decided that I won't beat myself up if I end up deciding to go back on the Zoloft.
And Joke? I HATE VEGETABLES WITH THE SAME INTENSITY NOW THAT I DID WHEN I WAS FOUR. Really.
I have texture issues. I like the smells and flavors of most vegetables, but I can't abide most of their textures. Celery, especially, gives me the creeps.
I have to cut things into tiny pieces and sneak them into my meals via casseroles, etc.
My mother always said I'd grow into liking salads, etc. Wrong.
I don't like salad dressings, either, because I can't abide mayonaisse or vinegar.
I. AM. A. FREAK.
You're wise to wean yourself off Zoloft. However, in light of your views on vegetables, I'd advise developing a dependency on codeine.
-J.
Why codeine?
Because it's in yummy flavored cough syrups!
It's also good for that raging superiority complex and overweening arrogance from which you suffer.
(j/k!)
-J.
P.S. There is NFW I'll ever get the word verification.
P.P.S. Can you make salad dressings with lemon juice?
Just a totally nebby question: this zoloft stopping is doctor recommended? Brave woman, either way. Will be thinking strong thoughts your way!
The Zoloft-stoppage is GINA-recommended, but doctor-approved. I'm in a much different state of mind than I was when I first started this round of Zoloft, so I'd like to see if I can dump it and its tiresome (tiring) side effects.
I am not opposed to lemon juice. Sometimes I mix Penzey's Green Goddess dressing mix into cottage cheese and call that dressing. Do you hate me for that, Joke?
For giving me a laugh-out-loud moment so early in my SAHD day? Nah! (You have self-view issues, I think.)
Although, you really might wanna put that "Green Cottage" amalgam through the blender. Could even be pretty good that way.
-J.
P.S. Have you ever tried removing the stringy bits from celery? Does that help any?
Strings aside, celery's extremely cellulose nature is intolerable. It makes me feel like I'm chewing on tiny diamonds, for some reason.
And that's a shame, because I love the clean, green SMELL of celery.
And sometimes I do make the effort to put the Green Cottage dressing through the blender. :-)
Jamie Oliver had a whole salad made of celery leaves.
I guess rhubarb is right out the window.
-J.
which is as it should be.
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