Admittedly, I’m not super proud of this story. It doesn’t paint me in the best light, however I do think that it is an interesting story. I wrote this piece for the Elle Writing Competition. It didn’t win - clearly, otherwise I wouldn’t be posting it - but I still think it’s worth posting.
via GIPHY
Head pounding, like my brain was repeatedly butting against the front of my skull punishing me for the previous night’s actions. I tried to push myself up, my arms were too weak to push past the weight of my chest, the realisation of what I’d done. That, and the actual arm of the man laid next to me on the tiny single bed. I reached down towards the floor, hoping to find my glasses and maybe what was left of my dignity and common sense.
I found nothing.
Travelling at the best of times can be stressful, confusing
and tiring. Now imagine whilst doing that whilst you’re ill. It can be
incredibly difficult at times, but the rewards of travelling making it more
than worth it. I’ve travelled numerous times since being diagnosed with
fibromyalgia and I’ve gathered a few tips that I think are invaluable when
travelling with a chronic illness.
When I first started dabbling into changing my diet, YouTube was a lifeline for me. There's such a wealth of information out there, but it can be easy to fall down the wrong rabbit hole. When my interest in veganism was piqued, I ended up looking at YouTubers that were promoting a lifestyle that I knew wouldn't be sustainable for me in the long term. As much as I like fruit and vegetables, I couldn't eat them raw all day every day. I struggle enough trying to get myself to eat the same thing two days in a row. Not that there is anything wrong with a raw diet. If it works for you, that's great and you keep doing you.
If you're interested in veganism, here for 6 YouTubers I watch, that you may find useful.
So, on Sunday I am turning 26 years old. I thought that I would be bothered about it, but I’m not. Getting older just doesn’t seem to bother me, it hasn’t for a long, long time. I actually quite like getting older because I like to reflect and see how I’ve changed and what I did over the year. I know some people don’t like to reflect, especially when they have lost someone throughout the year, but I think if you are constantly wanting to evolve as a person then this is an important practice to get into. Or maybe I’m just weird like that.
- I may no longer care about getting older, but when I was 9 turning 10 terrified me because entering double digits meant I was getting older and thus becoming an adult.
So, I have stolen the idea for this series from Sarah from the wonderful blog Sarah in Wonderland. Please check out her blog as it’s awesome and she is super lovely! I love the idea of sharing our firsts, so every so often I am going to recount one of my ‘firsts’, now I can’t guarantee that they’ll be interesting or funny, but they’ll be good or at least they will be in my own opinion.
I have no idea how this one is going to be taken. Absolutely no idea. I have no memory of writing this but it has been kept by my grandparents who appear to keep every piece I’ve written. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. From what I’ve been told I was about 8 when this was written. It was also written in five, yes FIVE, different coloured gel pens. You know, because one clearly isn’t enough. Three of them were glittery too which just amuses me as after almost 20 years the pages are still all sparkly. Please keep in mind that none of the text you are about to read has been changed. All the grammar mistakes, misspellings, and complete and utter nonsense you are about to read have been kept the same. I wouldn’t even know where to begin in editing this. When I read things like this, I can see why people always thought I was weird, I think this is super weird!
I feel like this is going to be a bit of an inflammatory post, I really do, especially within the spoonie community, or whatever it is we are calling ourselves these days. Are we warriors, spoonies, or munchkins? I don’t know. What I do know is that there are things some chronically ill people need to learn. I find a lot of the community to be incredibly negative and it personally puts me off.
1. You are not your illness.
You were a person before you got ill and you are still a person. Whatever your illness is, it doesn’t define you. If you were Andrea with the multi-coloured hair before you got ill, as long as dying your hair doesn’t make you worse – I know with some illnesses you become really sensitive to things so don’t make yourself ill to prove a point – you can still be Andrea with the multi-coloured hair. I’m still the same person I was before the diagnosis. I just move a little slower and rattle a little more than I did.