Remember, remember the fifth of November…the date made famous by Guy Fawkes and his friends when they attempted to blow up the houses of parliament. You will probably be relieved to know that I am not writing about governments, gunpowder, treason and plot. Instead, I am reflecting on the past year of blogging because the fifth of November was also the date when I published my first post on Despite Pain.
Reflecting on the Past Year of Blogging
One year ago, I hit the publish button on my first post which was about learning to listen to your body when you’re in pain. I learned the hard way. I’d been fighting against my pain for so long and it was a losing battle. Once I learned to listen and to stop fighting against it, I was able to enjoy my life more.
That first post is probably the crux of what my blog is about because as anyone who lives with chronic pain or illness knows, we need to do a lot of learning and listening.
We Learn a Lot When Living With a Health Condition
We normally have to learn about the condition and its treatments. We need to learn about our own symptoms, triggers and coping techniques. And we have to figure out our capabilities. We have to learn how to talk to doctors and explain our problems properly so they’ll understand. We also need to learn how to help other people understand our health. None of this is easy, but it is necessary.
Listening to our Emotional Needs
Trying to have a positive attitude can help us to cope with our physical symptoms. However, we can become so swamped down sometimes with negative emotions that it’s impossible to find any positivity.
We have to learn to listen, not just to our pain or physical illness, but to those feelings too. Physical illness often has a huge impact on our mental and emotional health and unless we listen and learn how to help ourselves, it can become a massive problem.
Sometimes we need to ask ourselves questions. Are we feeling depressed, stressed or anxious? Are we able to deal with those emotions on our own? Do we need to seek help from a professional? Asking those questions can be a step forward in helping ourselves.
Acknowledging Our Feelings
It’s not always possible to control those emotional feelings but if we acknowledge them, we can cope with them much better.
Over the past year, I’ve written about some of that emotional baggage that comes along with chronic pain or illness. I’ve also tried to make some suggestions which could possibly help people cope.
Guilt
Guilt is a terrible burden that often accompanies chronic pain or illness. If you struggle with guilt, please remember – you live with a health condition, therefore you have no reason to feel guilty.
Loneliness and Isolation
So many people feel lonely or isolated because of their health. Poor health can take so much from us, including work, social life, friends and even family.
Judgement
It’s a horrible feeling being judged. It shouldn’t happen but unfortunately, it does. Not only do other people judge us, but we often judge ourselves.
Stress
We all know pain or illness is affected by stress, therefore we need to work on reducing it or at least find ways to help us get through it.
Everyone has a Favourite
When I’ve been reflecting on this past year of blogging, I realised that I have not one, but three favourites posts. They are:
There’s More to Chronic Pain Than Just Pain
In this post, I wrote about some of the other problems which can come along with chronic pain. There are so many! I think that post resonated with many readers.
Getting Help in a Trigeminal Neuralgia Emergency
I wrote this post because I get so annoyed when people do not get the care they need if they present at an emergency department when their TN is out of control. Treatments given by IV in a hospital can help. Hopefully, if patients have correct and factual information, they can advocate for themselves better.
How to Explain the Pain of Trigeminal Neuralgia
For the TN awareness day, I wrote this post and included contributions from other sufferers. I believe their voices need to be heard. I hope that by explaining the pain, people will understand it more.
Blogging can be Therapeutic
When I first started writing my blog, I wanted it to be about positivity and enjoying life despite living with constant pain. But I also explain the realities of living with pain and try to offer suggestions that might make life a little bit easier.
It might look as though I’ve got it all worked out, but I don’t. I’m human and there are times when I don’t cope too well with my pain. And I deal with guilt, loneliness and stress just like everyone else. Writing some of those posts have helped me over the past year and I hope that they have helped some of my readers too.
Writing Despite Pain has almost been therapeutic for me. I often suggest that people with health problems should take up writing for that reason, but blogging is also a great way to raise awareness about a health condition.
If you are interested in blogging, it’s easy to get started. I’ve written a post here which will hopefully help you get started. All you need is a blogging platform, then you can get started writing. I use WordPress.org and my blog is hosted by Lyrical Host. (Click here to read my review about Lyrical Host and receive a 10% discount if you’d like to join them.)
Enough Reflecting on the Past Year – It’s Time for Cake
Enough reflecting on the past year…birthdays (even blog birthdays) mean cake, don’t they? I’ve listened to my body and I won’t be baking cakes today. And shop-bought gluten-free cakes are far too expensive. However, despair not, because I have some homebaked goodies in the freezer which I baked a few weeks ago. I have a Victoria sponge, chocolate brownies and apple and cinnamon cake, therefore today I just have to decide which to choose. Decision making is not one of my strengths. Which kind of cake would you choose?
Thank you for reading and sharing my posts over the past year. I appreciate your support. Please look me up on Facebook and Twitter. I might even share some cake with you.
Happy One Year Anniversary………so glad you are here 🙂
Happy blogaversary Liz! Your posts do so much towards the goal of raising awareness but also for other sufferers to identify with and say “yes, me too”. You are also a great support for other chronic illness bloggers like myself, so I wanted to say a personal Thank You for this.
Helen
Ps; I think I would of ended up eating all 3 cake options out the freezer 😉 yumyum!
Thank you, Helen.
Thank you
you are very welcome.
Wooooohooo, happy Blogiversary, Liz! I thought it would have been longer than a year as I consider you one of the staples in the Blogosphere (I would liken this to the much-loved piece of furniture expression but I won’t ?). It’s good to be able to step back and take a look at things, to sum up your posts and pick some favourites, to see how things are going and where you want to go next. I’ll have to keep Lyrical Host in mind when I next renew my blog, so I’ll bookmark your review on that one. And it would be rude to let a celebration pass you by without cake. Mmmm I’d go for chocolate brownies I think, I’m in a chocolate monster kind of mood. What did you go for in the end? I hope you enjoyed every delicious bite and patted yourself on the back – I think you should be very proud of everything you’re achieving with your blog, in the ways you support others and touch the lives of both other bloggers and your readers.
Much love to you, Liz ♥
Caz xx
Aaaw..thank you Caz. That is such a nice thing to say.
Cinnamon and apple won on the day.
I am so glad I met you in one of the blogging groups and discovered your blog. Following your journey has been educating and inspiring. Keep up the great work. I am glad you made that first post and are blogging about it.
Thank you
Congrats on your one year anniversary!
Thank you.
Happy Blogiversary! I love your posts – thanks for being part of this community.
Thank you, Lene.
Happy Blogversary and great post! I agree acknowledging your feelings is important and helps you grow.
Thank you
Happy anniversary blogging.
It’s so good to see your passion in your blog from your writing.
Keep going straw.
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Love Alexa!
http://AlexaJade.co.uk
Thank you
Congratulations on completing a year of blogging. I really enjoy coming to your blog and learning more about trigeminal neuralgia.
Thank you, Kelly
Congratulations Liz and happy birthday to your blog… your blog and Facebook page give so many people hope, you are amazing!
As for which cake ?
It has to be the apple and cinnamon but the chocolate is coming a close second !
Thank you. Apple and cinnamon won the cake battle for me too. It was delicious. The chocolate got to survive for another day.
One year of blogging is certainly something to celebrate! I appreciate how in your posts you always find a positive spin to any situation. Although in life, we cannot always choose our circumstances we can choose our reactions to them. Thank you for sharing your journey and for inspiring us all to live our best life.
Thank you.
Great that you had some cake to celebrate in the freezer. Congratulations on your first year of blogging. It’s interesting to look back and reflect on our experiences.
Thank you
Happy blogiversary!! For some reason I thought your blog was much older than a year – it’s brilliant! Very encouraging, supportive and understanding to others with pain. Here’s to many more years of blogging ??
Thank you so much.
Always focus on what you body and mind tell you. I’ve had to cut back on things over the years because blogging can get overwhelming if you let it.
Yes, it could become overwhelming. Thank you.
You are doing a great job with your blog! It is such a important and definitely underrated subject we should be more aware of, I can only thank you and wish less pain
Thank you
Congrats on Blogniversary. I think all bloggers should do something like this. A great way to relect on your growth as a blogger.
Thank you
Congrats on your bloggiversary here’s to many more successful years
Thank you
Liz, I have loved watching your blog grow, sharing our writing with each other, and becoming great friends. Your blog being a year old is definitely something to celebrate! I am so excited to see what the next year brings you. You have taught me so much through your blog and our friendship, that has given me not only a different perspective on things, but a much better understanding of others battling the invisible illnesses.
Erica, thank you so much. One of the amazing parts of blogging has been meeting and making friends with some other bloggers. It’s always so nice to catch up and chat with you.
Congratulations!! Happy 1 year Anniversary! Your blog is really helpful and has helped me know even more about all the illnesses we can not see. I hope to learn much more with your blog!
Thank you.