Overall Wellness Archives

The Little Stuff that Actually Helps, Ataxia included

Michael MantzJuly 28, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

Not every change worth making comes with a plan, a program, or a before-and-after photo. Some of it is smaller than that: five minutes here, a different afternoon snack there, or something you tried mostly out of curiosity and kept doing because it worked. I’ve written before about the bigger stuff: how food and energy...

The Gut-Brain Axis: Why What You Eat Affects More Than Your Stomach

Michael MantzJuly 21, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

Most people think of their gut as a digestive system. Something that processes food, causes problems when you eat the wrong thing, and doesn’t have much to do with anything happening north of your stomach. That turns out to be significantly wrong. Your gut and your brain are in constant two-way communication, sending signals back...

What to Say to Someone Going Through a Hard Time (When You Don’t Know How)

Michael MantzJune 23, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

Most people want to be good at this. Almost nobody is. Somewhere between the first phone call after bad news and six months later, the questions tend to quiet down. Not because anyone decided to care less, but because nobody teaches people what to do with concern that has no end date. A crisis is...

What Stress Actually Does to a Nervous System Like Mine

Michael MantzJune 5, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

Most people treat stress as a mental problem. Something you manage with better habits, a cleaner calendar, maybe a meditation app. Work through it. Breathe through it. Talk yourself down. I’ve never had that option. For me, stress has always had a physical address. I have Spinocerebellar Ataxia, a progressive neurological condition that affects balance,...

When Your Body Costs More to Operate: Food, Supplements, and Energy With Ataxia

Michael MantzJune 2, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

For most of my life, I didn’t think much about energy. I woke up, did my day, got tired, went to bed, and did it again. If I felt wiped out, there was usually a reason I could point to without much effort. Too little sleep, too much work, not enough food, or a night...

Home Safety When Balance Is an Issue: Small Changes That Make a Real Difference

Michael MantzMay 22, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

Most people don’t think about their home as a risk until it becomes one. Tricky steps. Slippery rugs. A bathroom with nothing to grab onto. For most people, these are minor inconveniences. For anyone dealing with balance issues, they can be something else entirely – the difference between a normal Tuesday and a trip to...

Experience Is a Gift. It’s Also a Trap.

Michael MantzMay 15, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

There’s a particular kind of confidence that comes with experience. Not arrogance exactly, just a quiet certainty that you’ve seen enough to know how things work. The mistakes get made, the hits get taken, the learning happens. A perspective gets earned. The problem is that the same confidence can quietly close you off. Not all...

How Blood Sugar May Affect Balance and Coordination in Ataxia

Michael MantzFebruary 25, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

There are days when nothing obvious has changed. You slept fine. Your symptoms feel about the same as usual. And yet your balance is just a little less reliable. You misjudge a step or reach for something, and it takes a second longer than it should. Walking across the room takes slightly more effort than...

When It Feels Like You’ve Lost a Part of Yourself After a Major Life/Health Change

Michael MantzFebruary 20, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

There’s a moment after a major life change – injury, illness, relocation, relationships, career changes – when something feels like it disappeared. Not paused, not adapting, just gone. It doesn’t arrive dramatically. It shows up in quiet sentences: “I’m not that person anymore.”“That chapter’s over.”“I can’t do that the way I used to.” Over time,...

When the Same Advice Wrecks One Person and Helps Another

Michael MantzJanuary 18, 2026Ataxia Awareness, Overall Wellness, Resilient Voices

Why “What Works” Is Misleading With Ataxia and Neurological Conditions One of the most confusing parts of living with ataxia and similar neurological conditions is how often the same advice produces completely opposite results. Something that genuinely helps one person can quietly wreck another. Sleep medications are a common example. Supplements too. So are routines,...