082: Aoede on Life w/ Dermatomyositis & Creating to Heal
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Lisa Sniderman, aka Aoede, is an award-winning quirky folk-pop musician, playwright, author, and filmmaker from San Francisco. She’s been honored with more than 85 awards for songwriting, audiobooks, films, stage plays, and books since 2012 — all while living from rare autoimmune disorder dermatomyositis (or DM, as she calls it), a progressive muscle weakness disease. Her memoir, A Light in the Darkness: Transcending Chronic Illness through the Power of Art and Attitude* *chronicles her decade-plus journey living with DM while creating to heal. As Aoede, she creates and records unique, original full-length fantasy musicals on audiobooks that she adapts to musical theater stage plays. Her goal as an advocate is to encourage and inspire others — especially those experiencing transformations, from chronic illness and disability to unexpected life challenges. Hers is a joyful perspective on living well with chronic illness, and her latest venture is a free two-week virtual summit entitled Keep* Shining: *How to Thrive With Chronic Illness and Limited Energy, which will be hosted online from July 10th-24th. The summit will bring together a vibrant interactive community of 60 expert speakers; thriving artists who battle chronic illness, alternative practitioners, spiritual teachers and healers, creative therapists, thought leaders, medical professionals, and online support communities; who will share stories, resources, tools, practices, strategies, tips, and life lessons through conversational videos in order to help those of us struggling with chronic illness, caretakers, and loved ones to THRIVE.

Tune in as Lisa shares:

• that she was first diagnosed 12 years ago — 6 weeks before her wedding
• that chronic illness treatment is always focused on the physical, and rarely addresses mental health and other holistic concerns
• what dermatomyositis is — a progressive muscle disease that also attacks and weakens her immune system
• that in 2010, she had a DM flare that left in hospital for a month, and led to such severe muscle weakness that she had to learn the basics of motion all over again
• why her life is “firmly cast in Jello”
• what pacing looks like when you’re living with chronic illness
• what to expect at her free virtual summit this month

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