De-Stressing, Simplifying, & Resting ~December Link Up Party

It is finally December, a time of year for many celebrations. For many there are holidays, shopping, eating and spending time with loved ones. This is the time of year to be most thankful for what you have and reflect on the past year. Perhaps think upon the New Year to come. Which leads me to my theme for this months Link Up Party, Hope.

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Many of you already know the drill; Sheryl from A Chronic Voice gives chronic illness bloggers 5 writing prompts. To participate a writer must pick at least 3 of the prompts and of course show some “blog love” to some of the other participants. If interested you can find the full directions and rules here. Now, here are the prompts:

• De-Stressing
• Savoring
• Simplifying
• Resting
• Finalizing

De-Stressing

This year has been full of so much stress for me that I literally became so sick I had to “pause” my life for months. I’m still under a great deal of stress.  I feel a lot of pressure to figure out a way to make up my income with a job less stressful than my current job. Of course, I have to do this while still working said stressful job. For someone with Fibromyalgia this is a recipe for a flare.

So I like to incorporate a theme into these prompts every month. This month I want to focus on Hope. I need to find more ways to de-stress my life, yet I keep getting myself into more stressful situations. I have hope that in 2019 I will make more self-care choices that will allow me to de-stress.

Simplifying

Like I said, I am having a hard time managing stress in my life. So, for this reason I am simplifying the holiday activities this year. I usually bake many different cookies as presents, however this year I didn’t bake a thing. We have a fake tree that my husband and kids put up and decorated. I never finished decorating the house with my many Christmas items. I also spent Christmas day at home instead of traveling to my mother’s house a couple hours away. Lastly, I did most of my shopping online this year because I was just physically unable to shop.

My hope for 2019 is that I get and stay more organized. I have bought myself a planner so I can keep track of all that I need to do. I also hope to do as much ahead of time that I can do. I have found this to be the best way to keep my life as simple as possible.

Resting

I am starting to think that I am incapable of resting. I keep trying, but then I think of something I could/should be doing. This is an aspect of being chronically ill that I’m not sure I will ever get used to. I am a passionate, driven person and I will not let Fibromyalgia stop me from accomplishing my goals!  That being said, I am going to have to find some kind of compromise in this area to keep myself from becoming bed ridden.

My hope for 2019 is that I figure out how to accomplish my goals and fit resting into my schedule. I guess I will have to write in time each day.  Which actually might work since I love crossing things off of my To Do List.

Considering there is only one day left of this month and of 2018, I am only going to do 3 of the 5 prompts this time. I truly Hope 2019 is better than 2018 for you and for myself. Life is about balance whether you have a chronic illness or not. I know it can be easier said than done, but I think good things start happening when balance is achieved. Good-bye 2018 and Hello 2019!  Gentle hugs my fellow Warriors!