#HAWMC Day 27: 5 Challenges & 5 Small Victories

#HAWMC Day 27: 5 Challenges & 5 Small Victories

I am not a good list maker. Especially when it comes to listing “challenges” and “victories”! I understand the therapeutic value of this exercise. It is so much easier for me to list my weakness than my strengths (because I don’t want to feel like I’m bragging!). Yet at the same time, I’m struggling with listing “challenges” because it makes me feel like I am complaining. I am not a whiner, I don’t give myself pity parties. I don’t like to focus on the negative. I approach my health “challenges” by taking them in stride.


With that in mind, I am focusing my “Top 5 Challenges & Small Victories ” on health (both physical and mental) as that is what I’ve written about in my blog.


5 Challenges


1. Living with Chronic Illnesses


a.) Crohn’s, fibromyalgia, depression and ptsd (See how indecisive I am? I couldn’t just pick one illness/disease! Ha!)


b.) taking medications: side effects contribute to my fatigue/make me so sleepy and feel like a zombie


2. PTSD: causes me to avoid: people, places and things which are triggers.


3. Fibro: constant pain/fatigue


4. Depression: and with it the tendency to shut people out and withdraw.


5. Not being able to go to work due to my health condition (I know this is only temporary)


5 Victories


1. Allowing myself to be vulnerable. (this one is a crossover as it is both a challenge *and* a victory)


2. Starting therapy: addressing my ptsd & depression. Getting help. Admitting that I can’t do this alone.


3. Joining Twitter (yes, this IS a victory… and an addiction! Ha!) : feeling comfortable speaking with others about my health conditions in such an open forum.


4. HAWMC: blogging daily is a great accomplishment NOT a small victory, rather a great one.


5. The discovery that I am Chronically Awesome: that while I may experience illnesses, there is more to me than that.


Tell us what surprised you about these items, what you expected (or didn’t expect), what excites you.


What surprised me is the ease with which I am stepping outside of my comfort zone, by opening up to others, via twitter and my blog.


What I expected and what happened, was that it was very easy to list my challenges, yet difficult to list victories. I wasn’t surprised to find that I struggle with letting people in; due to my unwillingness to be vulnerable. Another reason is that I don’t want to be a burden or a “Debbie Downer”.


What excites (hmm. I don’t know if that’s the right word? Maybe a better term is ” What gives me hope” or “What motivates me” ) about this is knowing that what I’ve listed as “challenges” are obstacles which I can overcome.






@hipsteralice
April Blogger in Residency
Alice in Crohnsland for