I’m back for November’s Link Up Party hosted by A ChronicVoice. In case you are new to this I will explain. Bloggers with a Chronic Illness come together every month and write a post based on at least 3 of the 5 prompts. If you are interested go ahead and click here for link up rules and how to join.
This month’s prompts are:
*Meeting *Advocating *Tweaking *Working *Curating
Last month my theme was challenging myself with new goals, you can see that post here. Since Thanksgiving is in November I am going to make gratitude my theme in each prompt.
Meeting
Since starting my blog I have met so many wonderful, kind and loving people in this community of chronic illness. I am so thankful for all I have met and look forward to meeting new friends as well. Originally, I put myself out there to help myself come to terms with my Fibromyalgia diagnosis. I ended up finding so many others like me that showed me that I can still be a strong, productive person. The only catch is now I have to pace myself and make sure I’m taking care of myself along the way.
Advocating
This is an important word to me because it involves speaking up for something or someone. I have a special needs child that I have had to advocate for his whole life. Now that I have an invisible illness, I have to advocate for myself. Advocating (click link to visit EmpowerThePatients) for yourself can be hard at first, but as I have entered this supportive community (click link to visit DreamBigBeUnique) I am seeing others do it. I am grateful for having such good examples around me to help me understand that I deserve good medical care and I should be believed.
Tweaking
Having a chronic illness involves A LOT of tweaking! I am a planner (hello, Virgo here) and it is hard for me when my plans don’t work out. Fibromyalgia has forced me to tweak my plans as I go and BE ok with the new path. I wish I could say I am an expert at this one, but I am still working on it. That being said, I am so grateful for my support system that constantly shows me it is ok to have plans change or cancelled. The most important thing is to take care of myself!
Working
This is a word I know all too well. I am a very hard worker which is evident by me always working, even when I’m not supposed to be. It can be at my actual JOB or my blog or various side hustles. You would think that I would learn from my mistakes and PACE myself better. What can I say; I have high goals and a strong drive to reach them. I push myself when I shouldn’t until I collapse sometimes. Oddly enough, I am grateful for this part of myself. It pushes me when I don’t think I can go on and helps me accomplish what I want. Again, I go back to my support system for allowing me to do this and for speaking up when they see I need to take a break (whether I like it or not)!
Curating
To me this is a new word in my vocabulary. It seems I am curating a lot these days. I plan, execute and organize my blog and now apparel for my blog. Although, I love reaching out to others that are going through similar experiences, I would also like this to be my income. So I started designing shirts that hopefully will resonate with invisible illness warriors. I am grateful that I have been well enough to juggle my JOB and my blog and my shirt designing. Also I’m very grateful for my support system for encouraging me to be creative.
I’m not going to lie; sometimes I dwell on the fact that I have an illness that will never go away! I feel sorry for myself and get depressed. Naturally I know I’m not alone in this grief process as many others go through the same feelings. However, this is why it is so important to me to keep my blog going for me and for others like me. We need to be reminded that although this sucks and our life is harder than others, we still have things to be thankful about.
You know, we need to be reminded that even though we don’t always feel it, we are strong enough to keep standing and fighting (metaphorically of course). My mission is to bring this message to all that need to hear it and to make “the invisible – visible”! I would love to hear what you are thankful for and what these words mean to you. Please tell us in the comments or write your own post and join the link up party! Gentle Hugs to you all!
Chloe Chats
Great post, it’s interesting to learn more about you. I totally relate with the working one, I work myself so hard but I enjoy it, sometimes I do need to just stop and relax but it can be difficult to switch off sometimes!
Chloe x
http://www.chloechats.com
Suzanne
Thank you Chloe! It does help to enjoy what you are doing. I’m so happy that you took the time to read my post and comment. Thank you so much!
Kerri
Your t-shirt immediately got me hooked! I’m a big coffee drinker as much as I want to stop 😛 What a unique blog post! I haven’t heard about this type of post, so it was interesting to read! I’m impressed with women like you who still go after their passions in their life despite the odds seeming to be stacked against them. I wish you and your blog all the success 🙂
Suzanne
Kerri, thank you so much for your kind words. I love my coffee too, even when it hurts my stomach I can’t stop. Thank you so much for your well wishes I truly appreciate it!
Sheryl
Thanks for joining us once again, Suzanne! Love how you integrated gratitude to take each prompt yet a step further 😉 Have a great Thanksgiving!
Suzanne
Thank you Sheryl. I am so happy to be party of your link up parties. Thank you for having me. You have a great Thanksgiving as well.
Jennifer
Great post! I wrote a similar thing to you under working. I push myself all the time to the point where I end up feeling really unwell. But it is so important to me so I keep doing it anyway. I really like planning too. Maybe our planning skills help us to keep going with work!
Suzanne
Hi Jennifer, thank you for your kind words. I truly agree with you on the planning thing. My husband always gives me a hard time about always having to plan things but it really does help me feel more in control. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.