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How to Benefit from Organizing When You Have No Energy
Sometimes I just want to go on an organizing or cleaning spree. I’m one of those people who gets an inordinate amount of satisfaction from tidying things up and putting things in order. I love the feeling of looking around and seeing everything tucked away where it belongs—it’s like a puzzle piece clicking into place. An organized space helps me to feel accomplished, refreshed, and peaceful. When I need to de-stress, organizing is actually very relaxing.
I would very much love to benefit from organizing, but my energy level simply says “no.” My chronic health conditions mean I burn out super easily—something as mundane as taking a shower or sitting at my computer for 20 minutes can make me feel as if I ran a marathon.
I was super bummed to think I’ve lost a major way to de-stress that I depended on. Now more than ever, I could use some tried and true ways to decompress!
So instead of throwing out organizing, I’m rethinking it. How can I still benefit from tidying even though my energy is nonexistent? I’ve thought of some ideas to share with you.
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May 2019 Musings – Regrouping, Investigating, Boosting, Setting & Reviving
I’m excited to participate in A Chronic Voice’s link up for the first time! Link up parties are a fun way for bloggers to connect and write about similar themes, and this one is geared towards those of us in the chronic illness community. I’ve never had a chance to participate in one before, so I’ve been eager to give it a try. Let me know what you think of this style of post in the comments.
The themes for this month are Regrouping, Investigating, Boosting, Setting and Reviving.
It was a nice change to have guidelines “assigned” for writing a blog post. (I think Andy Warhol was onto something about having a “boss on retainer.” Having the framework for a post given to me felt a little more structured—like having a boss vs. winging it on my own.)
So, using A Chronic Voice’s five writing prompts for this month as a jumping off point, here’s what has been going on with me lately.
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Why I’m Taking A Mini Blogging Break
Hello readers! I wanted to let you know that I’m going to take the next two-three weeks away from my blog.
I have upcoming ideas I’m excited to share with you, but first, I need to have a little down time.
I realized this is a needed break for my health. My body is having trouble adjusting to the fact that I had to stop a treatment that my doctor no longer provides, so I need to look into some other ways to support my pain and fatigue. Also, I’m hoping to start a detox, which my doctors have warned me will likely increase my exhaustion, so I want to give myself some space to get through that. I’m really hopeful I’ll see a benefit from this treatment.
Also, I’ve found that blogging has taken up all the time I have for creative pursuits, so I want to take some time to switch things up and pursue some things I haven’t had the time for. (And I’ll share about those fun things with you all!)
I look forward to catching up with you all soon!
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My List of Little Joys – April 2019
Here is my latest list of little joys, part of my effort to focus on the things that I am thankful for and to remember all the little moments in life worth celebrating.
Knowing I’m going to be recording things that make me feel more joyful has helped me to keep up with my goal of gratitude journaling, and journaling in general, more often.
I honestly needed this practice in place over the last couple months. I’ve faced quite a few health setbacks recently, including a sinus infection, an injury, reacting badly to a new medicine I tried, and having to stop a treatment that was helping me, plus worsening insomnia due to tachycardia. Whew, it’s easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed when you see a lot of things going wrong, and it’s easy to dwell on them. Keeping track of little joys has helped me to see that there is more to my reality than just the problems I’m facing. There are lots of reasons to smile, laugh, and enjoy life, even during rough times.
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Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Blogging And Why You Should Blog Before You’re “Ready”
As promised in my round up about my first year blogging, I’m sharing tips I wish I had known from the beginning of my blogging journey. Be assured, this post isn’t to dissuade you from starting your blog. In fact, I think you should start a blog before you’re “ready,” and I’ll explain why.
On my Facebook page, I asked if anyone had questions about my first year blogging. One of the questions was: “What was your reason for starting a blog?” Answering this question is the perfect background for why I think you should start blogging before you’re totally sure what you’re doing.
One of the topics I blog about is dealing with chronic illnesses. I have several, and they’ve become progressively worse the last several years. The first one to get diagnosed was thyroid cancer. These illnesses have threatened to squash my dreams of being a published author. I think the first time I said I wanted to write books, I was in kindergarten (and then I promptly wrote a book for a friend and a play that my friend and I acted out while my dad taped us on the camcorder.) It’s been one of my dreams ever since.
Despite becoming more sick, I was (and am) determined to keep writing. As you might have guessed, it’s kind of hard to finish writing a book when you struggle just to function during the day! And while I’ve published a handful of poems, I’ve not yet gotten a book out into the world. I started to feel frustrated. Even when I pushed myself to write, my words just stayed stuck on my computer. I felt like I wasn’t accomplishing anything. No one was reading a single word I wrote, unless it was a kind friend or family member offering to look over a story.
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Gift Idea: Mommy and Me Craft Kits
I have a fun gift idea to share with you all today!
I got the idea for this because one of my close friends is a mom of a little one and pregnant with her second child. I wanted to give her something that would be a ready-made project for her to enjoy with her little girl once her little boy arrives. This kit will make it easy for her to spend some one-on-one time with her daughter.
Here are the three mini-kits I put together.
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My Criteria For Comfortable Clothes & What I’m Loving Right Now
Finding comfortable clothes can be a major challenge, especially when you have a chronic illness (or two, or three…).
I have fibromyalgia, Raynaud’s and asthma, among other things, which all contribute to my needing clothes that don’t cause any of my health conditions to flare up.
And, as I talked about in this post, it helps me to when I wear clothes that look fashionable because looking presentable makes me feel better. As Gretchen Rubin has talked about in her podcast, wearing clothes that look like clothes (vs. pjs) improves your mood.
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I receive a small portion of sales, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase.
Here are some of the things I look for in clothes:
Soft/breathable fabric—a must for comfort, as well as to help with my issues with temperature regulation. I’m usually freezing. I aim to buy mostly cotton clothing, but it’s surprising how hard that is to find anymore.
Not too tight or restrictive—I already have pressure points and difficulty breathing—the last thing I need is for my clothes to make this worse! A good, flattering fit helps me to look and feel my best.
Makes me feel my best—for me, this means non-pj shirts. To be honest, I usually wear pajama pants around the house because they don’t hurt my hips, so if I’m wearing a “normal” top, I still feel like I’m “dressed” and ready for the day. (If you’re most comfortable in pjs due to pain/illness/etc., the last thing I want to do is make you feel badly about it! Taking care of yourself with your wardrobe is the most important thing.)
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Superpowers You Gain From Chronic Illness and Chronic Pain
Just for fun, I thought I’d write a post about all the “superpowers” we (unintentionally) gain when we develop chronic health conditions.
My massage therapist and I joke that I fight crime in my sleep. It’s a much more fun explanation for why my muscles freak out (the real reason: fibromyalgia). We joke that this is why I have brain fog too—I’m so deep undercover that *I* don’t even know that I’m a secret super hero, so I must be getting my memory wiped every morning. Sounds legit.
This got me thinking that, hey, those of us in the spoonie community really do have our own set of superpowers. And no radioactive spiders are even required! (Thankfully, because I hate spiders…and as for radioactive—been there, done that!)
I hope you enjoy these tongue-in-cheek examples of our superpowers. Because in all seriousness, each of you are fighters to get through each day with chronic illness and chronic pain.
