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Q&A with Kelly J. Aalseth “Living with Fibromyalgia has been a way for God to constantly remind me that he is my place of safety”
Kelly J. Aalseth recently published her first book! Congratulations Kelly! You can find her book “Keeper of Your Life: Actively Trusting Jesus Through Chronic Pain” on Amazon. This book focuses less on the medical side of chronic pain, and more on how to practically turn to Jesus in the midst of longsuffering.
She also runs the blog Behind Pained Faces about life and faith with fibromyalgia. I’ve been enjoying reading her insights, especially in this blog post: “On annoyingly happy people, jealousy, and real joy.”
I hope you’re encouraged by this conversation with Kelly on chronic illness, faith, and perseverance.
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My One-Year Blogiversary—Highlights From The Year
Wow, it’s already been one year since I could start calling myself a blogger! Today is my blogiversary.
I think it’s important to celebrate blogging “firsts” and milestones. I had some trepidation starting this journey due to my chronic illnesses, and I wasn’t sure how much blogging I would be able to do.
I’m not gonna lie—it’s been quite a challenge to keep up, but I’ve enjoyed it so much. I’ve especially loved the connections I’ve made blogging. It’s wonderful when someone lets me know—in a comment, or in person—that they struggle with the same health problem and didn’t realize anyone else understood, that they love that book too, or that they were encouraged by something I wrote.
Blogging, for me, has been a beautiful reminder of how we can use our words to positively impact others, in spite of any challenges or limitations we may be facing.
I’ll be sharing tips in an upcoming post about what I learned over the last year. If you have questions you’d like me to answer in the post, leave them in the comments! I’ll try to answer them all.
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Q&A with Richelle Heacock: “Keep fighting! You never know when your breakthrough will come.”
Richelle Heacock runs a YouTube channel focused on awareness of disabilities, with an emphasis on spreading hope and love. Her video discussing viewer questions about how to interact with someone with a disability or someone who uses a wheelchair is very informative and insightful.
A car accident in 2010 left Richelle paralyzed, impacting her life and her identity as an athlete. Richelle worked as a volleyball coach for the first seven years following her accident, and is now focusing on her health and sharing her experiences and wisdom on YouTube.
I hope you’re encouraged by this conversation with Richelle on chronic illness, faith, and perseverance.
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Why I’m Making Christmas Cards in January
Since Christmas, I’ve still been in a Christmasy mood. Which has been nice because it has made the season feel like it’s lasted a little longer. I was very unwell Christmas day, so this has helped. I still felt like making Christmas things, and I’ve actually had a little bit of energy this month to do so.
It has also helped that my parents got us a Sizzix embossing/die cutting machine for Christmas, which has been so fun to play with. Plus, it’s made card making very easy. (And watching tutorials on YouTube for using fun card cutouts while I’m crashed in a recliner has been inspiring. It’s nice to feel like I’m learning something and getting creatively inspired, vs. just being stuck recuperating.)
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Brain Fog Broke My Internal Editor
Fibromyalgia has impacted my ability as a writer, and I’m just starting to understand all the ways it has. I’ve been trying to express it for awhile, with the irony being that it takes way more effort now for me to express anything. Brain fog has made it extremely hard for me to objectively edit my work. It’s like the editing part of my brain is broken.
Blogging has been much harder than I thought it would be, for reasons I didn’t expect. I knew energy to write was going to be a challenge, in addition to fighting through brain fog to express myself. But I wasn’t expecting to have so much trouble evaluating the quality of my work.
I was given a great piece of advice
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To the Christian Who Feels Sad at Christmastime—Here’s What’s Helping Me
We’re getting real on the blog today.
I want talk about struggling with feelings of sadness around Christmas, something that can impact anyone, not only those of us with chronic illness.
In a way, this feels a bit like a taboo subject. I kind of worry about admitting to this struggle out of fear that people will think I’m not grateful for all Christmas represents (it is Jesus’ birthday after all!) or that my sadness means I somehow dislike Christmas (which certainly is not the case!)
I’ve struggled over the past several holiday seasons, and a lot of it has had to do with getting used to my limitations due to chronic illness. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, so in addition to struggling with not feeling happy, I’m also struggling with not feeling quite like myself. My love for Christmas is a part of who I am, so this sadness is yet another way my chronic illnesses impact my identity.
And I think as Christians we can sometimes feel pressure to feel or act happy 24/7, so feeling sad this time of year adds another layer of complexity—I feel guilty about it!
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Q&A with Calina: “Arthritis can happen to young people, too.”
Calina is a dear friend of mine who is super tech savvy, loves video games, good movies, and practicing hospitality. We met in college at a Bible study hosted by a mutual friend. She took me to my first ComicCon several years ago, which was incredible!
Calina graciously agreed to be my guinea pig—I mean, my first interviewee on this blog!
It was a fun interviewing her and learning some new things about her (which is pretty awesome considering we’ve known each other over a decade!). I think you’ll be encouraged by her story—she has gone through osteoporosis, Crohn’s disease and arthritis plus some major injuries and surgeries, but her joy and humor is so life-giving and a beautiful testimony of what it looks like to trust God even when we don’t understand.
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A Chronic Illness Gift Guide Based On Love Language
Gifts are extra-special if you gear them towards your friend or loved one’s love language. I’ve compiled ideas to help you do just that in this chronic illness gift guide!
Those of us with all the complexities and uncertainties of chronic illness can often feel misunderstood and even invisible, so it’s especially meaningful when you take the time to tailor a gift for us.
As I mentioned in my post about easy, low-cost gift ideas, picking a gift based on someone’s love language helps them to feel seen and understood.
