Chronically Hopeful Award

What a lovely surprise to be nominated for the Chronically Hopeful Award! 🌸 I would like to thank Terri over at Reclaiming Hope for the nomination! When you have a moment, check out her blog, https://reclaiminghopecoaching.com/. Her blog is truly a top-notch site for practical tips on how to, not only survive, but thrive with fibromyalgia. Honestly folks, I’m regularly impressed with the information presented on her posts, we are lucky to have her here, sharing her content for free.

The Chronically Hopeful Award is, in the creator, Pamela’s words, “to recognize the incredible people who blog about chronic illness, mental health and disability.”

The Rules:

• Thank your nominator
• Recognize Pamela from There Is Always Hope as the creator of this award and link her URL – https://pamelajessen.com
• Use the Chronically Hopeful Award logo somewhere in your post
• Copy these rules onto your post
• Answer your nominator’s questions
• Write 5-10 of your own questions (they don’t need to be illness related)
• Nominate 5-10 other chronic illness, mental illness, or disability bloggers
• Comment on each of your nominees’ latest posts to tell them they have been nominated

Terri’s questions for me:

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your blog?

Hmmmm I’d say the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that my brain is no where near where it was pre-illness. At one point in my career I did advertising compliance and proofreading review for a financial marketing company, something I couldn’t possibly do today. Now I have to read my posts over and over to the point of exhaustion to just get them close to grammatically correct (and still I go back and there are errors). Typing them in Word and then transferring them over helps a great deal. But as you all know, it’s frustrating to know you could do something with ease, but you just aren’t able anymore. However, you do learn to adjust, laugh, both with and at yourself, and move on. Life’s too short to be frustrated that every time I type me it mysteriously says my. 😊

If you could tell people ONE thing about living with a chronic illness, mental illness or disability, what would you want the general public to know???

It takes EVERYTHING we have some days to just be a person, and sometimes it feels like it’s actually ALL the days, but don’t discredit our strength because we also know that any day now the clouds will part, the sun will shine, and we will appreciate things in a way the general public may never know.

Why did you decide to start your blog/advocacy work?

One of the biggest reasons is because I wanted other people in my shoes to know they weren’t alone, whether newly diagnosed or undiagnosed, there are millions of us out here who get ‘it’.

What is one thing you’re really good at? Don’t be modest — tell us something you have a talent for!

Patience, I’m really, really patient, until I’m done, then…I’m not. A thing? I have freakishly good organizational skills. Not really useful these days.

What do you like to do for enjoyment?

These days I like to listen to music, doodle, eat chocolate, probably not in that order. 😉

My questions for my nominees:

(Shhhhh I’m using Terri’s so I guess it’s really Terri’s questions for my nominees. :0)

• What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your blog?
• If you could tell people ONE thing about living with a chronic illness, mental illness or disability, what would you want the general public to know???
• Why did you decide to start your blog/advocacy work?
• What is one thing you’re really good at? Don’t be modest — tell us something you have a talent for!
• What do you like to do for enjoyment?

My nominees:

This part is always such a challenge, it’s so difficult to narrow down! The below bloggers, who I’ve listed in alpha order, are a few of the people in the ‘blogiverse’ who regularly bring me hope, and smiles.

• Chronically Hopeful
• Chronically Siobhan
• Hope Found In M.E.
• Living Life One Pill Organizer Compartment at a Time
• Not Just Tired
• Tea With Jennifer
• The Unabashed Autist

Thank you for stopping in today. My uninvited flare of August has decided to make an appearance in September as well, but seems to have lifted a little bit. Woke up twice last night with internal trembling (if you’ve had it you know, if you haven’t … consider yourself blessed). Very unsure as to why, but did have a few bites of wheat last night (total cheat = Ben & Jerrys Vegan cookie dough bites..um – yum), not something I typically eat. Who knows… Loads of chamomile tea today to try to calm that central nervous system down. A few more of my doodles below as I continue to follow along with World Watercolor Group on Instagram. Wishing you a day that brings you smiles, and laughter too.