July Writing Prompt Link Party

July is one of my favorite months. It’s not the favorite. That’s reserved for the end of the year. October through December is really my favorite time for lots of reasons I’ll save for another day. I like July because it’s kind of the midway point of the year, and it’s my birthday month! 

Every month Sheryl over at A Chronic Voice posts a list of prompts to write about. I’m always thankful for those lists, because they inspire me to write, and I enjoy reading everyone else’s submissions. This month the prompts are Aging, Suffering, Transforming, Navigating, and Visualizing. 

Aging

Like I said, July is my birthday month, so I am feeling the aging prompt pretty readily. It’s not a milestone birthday, but I am well settled into middle age at this point, and I think for those of us dealing with chronic illness, we feel our age much more acutely. I joke with my kids all the time that I move “like an old lady” most days. One thing about growing older I find fascinating is my changing perception of the passage of time. Life moves both slower and faster now, and I notice things I never did when I was younger. Watching the seasons change, children grow, the patterns and flow of time, have shown me how beautiful and bittersweet life is. Things change all the time. It’s the most real fact of life I’ve learned. Those changes can be beautiful or heartbreaking or anywhere in between, but the one thing we can count on is change. 

Suffering

Oof, we're not pulling any punches with the prompts this month. This one especially feels very heavy to me. I’ve had to take some time to think about this. Suffering carries such negative connotations, but it is something that everyone experiences. 

Suffering through the daily limitations of chronic illness has become something of a defining thing for me. The daily pain that comes with it, dealing with limited energy and being unable to do all the things I want to do, all contribute to suffering in some way. The positive part of this is suffering isn’t the defining “thing” of my everyday life. I’ve had to get past that and deal with what my reality looks like with chronic illness, suffering, and all. It's not easy, and every day looks different but understanding what my daily life looks like helps me deal with what I am capable of doing on any given day. 

Transforming

There are lots of ways to transform. I could talk about all the ways my life has transformed: from a young adult in college, to a wife, a new mom, finding a career, dealing with changes and emergencies, and all the things that come with being human. I think it ties back really well to the first prompt, where the one constant is change. Life and the people who live it are constantly evolving, changing, transforming.

One of my favorite kinds of transformations is what you get from baking. Baking is one of my favorite hobbies. I've had to modify how I do a lot of things in the kitchen, and my son helps out a whole lot, but it really is something I enjoy. Taking humble ingredients like flour, sugar, and a few other things, and transforming them into innumerable different delicious things really feels like kitchen magic. 

Navigating

Navigating our way through chronic illness is quite the adventure. My husband and I both have complicated medical histories, and navigating our way through the healthcare system is difficult. We recently had to change primary care doctors, and I took that opportunity to compile pretty in-depth medical history files to give to our new doctor. I knew we would never get through everything in one visit to her office, so putting our histories together in one place, in a cohesive and clear way, would mean I could make sure she has a clear picture of what our health looks like., and I didn't have to worry about remembering everything for the appointment. I’m hoping to do a series on how I put our files together, to help anyone else who’d like to get their records organized into one place.

Visualizing

Let me tell you, meditation is something I do every day, and really can’t go without. These days, most of my meditation is mindfulness, but visualization helps me so much with pain. It’s not a fix-all, but guided visualization meditation helps me through migraines and other pain that doesn’t respond well to medication. Podcasts from Meditation Oasis and  Meditation Station are my favorites. There are many apps and podcasts that can help with mindfulness or guided visualization. Some have subscription fees, like Calm, and others have free content, like Oak. Those are two I’m familiar with, and there are tons more out there.

I'm really thankful for the writing prompts this month. The last year has been hard on everyone, and my blogging habit has definitely suffered. This has been a great way to get back into the swing of things, and hopefully is the beginning of the path back to regular updates. If you enjoyed this post, please be sure to go to A Chronic Voice and check out all the other links. After you read the post, just scroll to the bottom for all the other great posts.