#HAWMC Day Six

Hello lovelies, 

Today's Prompt:

Superpower Sunday! If you had a superpower –

what would it be? How would you use it? 

What a fun question! For me, I'd love to be able to teleport for the most selfish reason possible! The question didn't say it needed to be so I could save the world so I'm going to have a superpower so I can go and visit all of my friends all over the world! 

I have made some amazing spoonie friends from places in America, the United Kingdom etc and I find it sad that for the majority of us, we won't get to meet. I don't have a lot of friends nearby and all I want to do is lay on a lounge and watch movies with my spoonie friends!

Hopefully one day I'll be able to meet some of them. It's such a wonderful connection you have when you find out someone is a spoonie!

I'm all caught up on the challenge now so I will hopefully be able to write a little more and put a little more thought into each day. 

Gentle hugs, 

Bridget 

#HAWCM Day Five

Hello lovelies,

Today's Prompt:

Are you all about 180 characters or less? Do you enjoy shooting the perfect photo? Or perhaps love sharing posts on Facebook.What’s your favorite platform to get your voice heard and why? 

Social media.... what an interesting thing. I personally use Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. I believe they all have different purposes and completely different ways in interacting. I also think they have different "feels" to them. For instance, for me recently, I've found Facebook has become a rather negative place. It's become very political and anger fueled with sharing things I'd rather not have thrown in my face first thing in the morning! I find Snapchat fun and playful with all the different filters. 

Recently I've been using Twitter a lot. I like having to be creative in short characters. I also have met some lovely people on there. 

Instagram is another one I love. I have several different IG accounts for different things. 

Honestly I couldn't decide on a single platform, because I do think they all work differently. I love having this blog platform to share my thoughts and feelings and then sharing the post on all my social media. 

Gentle hugs,

Bridget 

#HAWMC Day Four

Hello lovelies, 

I'm almost caught up for #HAMWC! Just a few more to do!

Here's Day Four!

Write a letter to yourself for the day you were diagnosed, knowing you all know now. 

Dear Bridget, 

Oh sweetheart.... 

I remember the day we were diagnosed. I remember feeling happy because I finally got the acknowledgment that it wasn't all in my head, that I was actually sick and I finally had an answer. I had no idea that life would change this much though and that I'd be sitting here in bed 4 years later still on this journey. Going into this I think I had my blinders on, I was so focused in being diagnosed that I didn't really think of the future. I suppose thats life though, no one wants to think about where they'd be 5 years from now in a negative way. But life has changed. Please sit down to read this part because it might be hard....

You will still be sick. In fact, it's going to get worse. You'll add new illnesses to your health story and break your foot so badly it'll impact you daily for the rest of your life. 

Your friends will leave you. People can't handle you being sick. They only want the highlight reel and not the behind the scenes. It's going to hurt and be hard but you will get through it. You'll find the Spoonie community and after all these years finally meet "your people".

Speaking of your people.... Sami's just come back into your life as you were diagnosed. I remember being in the passenger seat messaging Sami to confirm your diagnosis. Oh how she was so important in helping you in the early stages of being sick. But my love, her health journey ends, so devastatingly to you. It'll rock you to your core and change you. You'll miss her every single day. The universe will help you though, Tara will come into your life and you'll have a new best friend who supports you every day. It's a friendship that will mean the world to you. 

You end up having to stop studying your Bachelor's Degree and finishing your tutoring business. It doesn't happen all at once, that would be too hard to handle. Instead its a slow ending goodbye in which you slow realize you can't handle working or studying without being so incredibly exhausted and sore. You'll miss it. But you have to do what is best for your health.

Reading this you're probably thinking- what else is there to life then? Yes, there's no work, no studying- but you become part of such an amazing community that you work to advocate for in ways you never thought possible. 

And you know what? You are still standing sweetheart.

Through the absolute struggle the last 4 years have been, you're still here and you're working so hard at not only living the best life you can, but a life in which you are working towards awareness for other's. I'm not here to tell you how to cope with your illnesses, tips or tricks or how to survive the heartache, I'm here to tell you in the end it will all be ok. You are waking up every day with a purpose. It's different from the life you lead 4 years ago, but in some ways it's more authentic. You've learnt to stand up for yourself, to actually have hobbies instead of working 24/7, how to just "be". You've become a pretty cool grown up who may have a hard life, but makes the most of it. 

#HAWMC- Day Three

Hello lovelies,

Here's Day Three!

Find a quote that inspires you and free write about it.

I feel like Fear is chronic illness. It's the first thing I thought of when I read this quote.

When we first become sick we are afraid, navigating through this new life with no idea what's happening or what is going to happen. I remember forgetting who I was because parts of myself weren't recognizable anymore. I was sitting in a boat and taking on water, holes all over and panicking. My goal was to simply manage to still float, scooping the water out as much as I could. Life at the start is an unknown. 

But then...

Then you get into the groove of being sick. Going back to the analogy, you learn how to patch up the holes in the boat. You're no longer merely surviving, but able to float, without that desperation of worrying about sinking. Sometimes you'll still worry, and sometimes you'll still take on a little water when you flare/ go through rough patches. But you're in this chronic illness phase of "maintenance" that makes life a lot easier. You learn how to live. 

Or you don't.

That's where I believe this quote comes into play. 

It's the fork in the road, or for this post's purposes, the fork in the river (are we on a river, or the sea? I guess that's for you to decide). You've overcome the early stages of being sick- been diagnosed, learnt about your triggers, learnt about pain management and the routine that is taking medications. 

This is where you need to decide, as the quote says- to run or rise. Or for those people still on my boat, to sink or sail.  It's not a conscious thought at all, it's an emotional reaction to the situation. For me, I decided to "Rise". I decided that I wanted to not only live a chronically ill life but to use it to my advantage and educate people on what life is like living with the notion of not getting better. I'm not saying that every day I wake up happy and positive and ready to shine. Far from it. But I don't allow myself to sink into that black hole that can so often come from being unwell. I refuse to focus on the negatives- the pain, the isolation and the fears. I'm not going to use my illnesses as excuse nor "Run" the other way and not tackle life head on. 

Life changes being sick. My 2011 Bucket List is so unattainable now that I am sick. The goals and dreams I had, had to change as I changed. But I focus on the now and not the past. I don't allow myself to get caught up thinking about how my boat went off path, or how its looking a little worse for wear then the other boats my age. 

I refuse to sink. I refuse to run. I refuse to do anything other then be me and be the best version of me that I can given my journey.

Gentle hugs,

Bridget 

#HAWMC Day Two

Hello lovelies,

Let's get right into Day 2! 

What's the blogging process look like to you? 

There are certain things I like to do to keep organized with my blog. The thing is, lately I haven't been blogging because I've been flaring. Had I gotten ahead in my blogging schedule I might've been able to keep it up. But before my mini break here's how I would plan to blog. 

Write a list of blog post ideas I have. 

Whenever I have an idea I jot it down right away. I keep all my ideas in one place. Having them all in one place also helps for planning out the week and making sure I have variety in the three blog posts for the week. 

Plan your blogs for the week

I love to planner, and love my planner so I write down the blog posts I want to do for the week to keep me motivated, ensure I have variety in my posts and focus on those posts to ensure they are published in time. 

Blog three times a week

I like to blog Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. I read its a good idea to blog numerous times a week to get people engaged in your blog. 

Blog about different things.

I like to have a little variety of topics to post about. I find writing about spoonie issues take more time and takes a lot more concentration and there is absolutely no way I could write about spoonie things three times a week. I have a lot of interests and find it fun to do quick and easy posts on coloring books and make up, as well as the meaningful ones on spoonie topics. When it comes to those spoonie posts I only write when I feel inspired, I absolutely cannot write unless I feel motivated and creative. 

In regards to the process of writing a post, I never usually write a post in one go. If its a post needing a lot of photos I usually do those first- taking the photos, watermarking them and uploading them to my computer. Being a spoonie I find it very draining to blog so I often save the post and have rests in-between writing. 

I'm sure others have their own style in blogging, but thats mine. 

Gentle hugs,

Bridget 

WeGo Health #HAWMC- Day One

Hello lovelies, 

I hope when you're reading this you're having a wonderful day. 

For November, WeGo Health has created The Health Activist Writer's month Challenge. WeGo is a wonderful organization that highlights people who work at spreading awareness for illnesses and diseases. There is a prompt for each day for bloggers to write about, mostly surrounded your illnesses/conditions/diseases. I discovered the challenge whilst scrolling through my twitter feed (@bridgetparker). I haven't actually mentioned on my blog but I was nominated for a WeGo Health Activist Award for Chronically Jewelled's Instagram! I'll admit that before I was nominated I wasn't aware of who they were, and I am so glad to now be part of their community! 

I haven't been blogging recently as I've been flaring rather bad and resting as much as I can. I've also been working on something special that will launch soon so whenever I'm online I've been focused on that. I have been feeling a little better, and feeling a little guilty that I haven't been blogging, so this challenge came around at the perfect time. I am several days behind but I do believe I can catch up to join the challenge as I believe it's a great one! Over the next year days I'll be posting the first 6 days to catch up, after that it'll be back to once a day for the challenge. 

Day One Prompt:

What drives you to write about your health? 

What do you want other Health Activists to know about your condition and your activism? 

For me, I believe there are a few reasons I write about my health. Firstly I feel it's incredibly cathartic to put thoughts and feelings out into the universe. There's something soothing and healing about writing through struggles, as well as venting about the frustrations of being chronically ill. There's such a wonderful validation in posting what you feel in your heart and having someone say "that's exactly how I feel!". 

There's also a blessing in having others relate to your journey and connect with you on that level. In a post I wrote about Anxiety and Fears as a Spoonie I had a lot of people reach out to me and thank me for writing about something that they often think about but don't talk about. I did get a little backlash from my family with that one, and I'll admit it put me off blogging for awhile. But those who didn't understand now do, and for those who did understand, totally supported me. 

I've learnt that there are lots of things that us spoonies think about and worry about but don't tend to voice. Maybe because we don't know how other's will react to what we feel? Maybe saying it out loud solidifies the scary thoughts we have about life and death and loneliness and isolation that chronic illness can bring. 

I want to be someone who not only lived with chronic illnesses, but turned them into a positive. I want to spread awareness of invisible illnesses and broke the stigma surrounding them. I want my life to count as something, and have people know I helped as much as I could. It started with jewellery, then Facebook support groups, a blog for spoonies and soon to come a special website for spoonies to connect, be motivated, celebrated and supported.

Gentle hugs,

Bridget