When thinking about clouds, we have become accustomed to think about the possibility of bad weather or how the clouds block the sun. We are programmed to believe that clouds have a negative connotation. When learning about precipitation in school, we talk about clouds; how they look and we know the darker the cloud the worse the impending weather will be. There are even songs referencing clouds in a negative way.

You don’t believe me?! Let me prove it to you.

The song writer wrote, “Sunshine on a cloudy day,” suggesting the clouds to be indicative of a not so great day. You need sunshine on a cloudy day, the writer suggests.

Are clouds really a representative of bad times and difficulties???

The answer is: some clouds, the gray in particular symbolize bad days; however, some clouds are not gray. Some clouds are white and they don’t symbolize bad days. In fact, the white clouds are a symbol of stability, inner consciousness and goals in your life. Thanks google!!!!

What does this have to do with anything???

You see, just as our diseases are unpredictable, so are the clouds. We don’t know when we awake in the morning how we will feel and we don’t know with certainty what color the cloud will be that day. It could be a gray cloud day or it could we a white cloud day. In other words, we can’t predict whether we will have a good or bad day. We can’t control the clouds just as we have no control over how we feel from day to day.

Secondly, regardless of the color of the clouds, we still have to get through them. We still have to get through our days, whether bad or good. We still have to make it through the day whether we feel well or not. The clouds may be present, but we have to make a conscious decision of how we will handle them whether white or gray. We have to choose to fight to get through the clouds. Likewise, we have to choose to fight to get through our ailments.

Thirdly, the clouds are showing us that not all days will be bad. That is such great news!!! We WILL have some white clouds days. They are coming. You might be experiencing gray clouds right now, but you should know for sure, white clouds exist and they will come!! You will have some good days. You will get through.

If you focus on the white cloud days while you are facing the gray cloud days, you will make it through! Place your focus on the white clouds.

If you only see gray clouds right now, realize white clouds do exist and you will soon have them. Enjoy your white clouds!!!! ☁️ ⛅️

At times we tend to look for light in everything and everyone else around us. On our darkest days, we depend on others to be the light that brings us out of our darkness. We expect the people closest to us to understand what we are going through and help by meeting us where we are and brightening up our darkest days.

This sounds absolutely wonderful and some of us have amazing people in our lives who will try to do this very thing.

Reality is, if YOU are in a dark place, YOU have to make a conscious decision to come out of that dark place. Others can certainly assist in your coming out; however, the decision to accept the help is yours.

There has to be some light within YOU in order for it to be illuminated. I think you missed what I just told you!

You are looking to everything and everyone to make your dark days light, but you already possess the light within yourself. Sure the light can be illuminated, but it already exists.

In other words, YOU already have what YOU need to make your dark days brighter. The light is already inside you! You have the power to tap into the light within to ensure your days are bright. It’s already there waiting for you to tap into it.

In order to change the face of your dark days, find YOUR light within!!! It’s always there!!!

Getting knocked down is a part of life whether you are dealing with illness or not. We all have low moments. No one is exempt from going through trials and tribulations.

The key is to never allow what knocked you down to knock you out! Do whatever it takes to stay in the fight! Put on your boxing gloves and fight back!

What am I talking about???

Do whatever in your power to keep yourself motivated and fighting. Self care and love is your biggest weapon. They are the best boxing gloves you can ever possess.

What can you do for yourself to keep you in the fight? How do you stay positive in the midst of your negative situation? What do you do for yourself to get you out of your funk?

I do a number of things for self care and love. I have shared some before, but I’m happy to share them again. I find things I like to do to keep my mind off of the things that are hindering me.

~Singing

~Applying Makeup

~Reading

~Writing

~Watching Movies

These are just a few! I have found that if I allot time to do some things for myself daily that make me feel better, my quality of life is better!

Use your self care and love boxing gloves, stay in the fight and never allow anything to knock you out!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No portion of this article may be duplicated in writing or in any other recorded format without permission.

There is a big difference between understanding the definition of a chronic illness versus an invisible disease . People seem to believe because they understand that you have a chronic illness, they also understand you have an invisible disease. Unfortunately, most people are far from a true place of understanding.

Allow me to help you understand where I believe there is a true disconnect in understanding.

You see it is fairly easy for people to get that you have an illness that has no cure. When there is no cure, people understand that you will be dealing with whatever illness you were diagnosed with long term. That’s the easy part to understand. The disease will not just go away. Treatment won’t cure nor fix it and you will have the disease for as long as you live.

The hard part to understand is that you don’t look like you have an incurable disease. When you hear the words “chronic illness,” most people assume they will see the worst. They assume you will appear deathly ill. In some cases with some chronic illnesses you do appear ill. There are characteristics of different illnesses and treatments that stick out in people’s mind when they think of a chronic illness. For an example, when someone has lost their hair, people assume that they have cancer and are going through chemo because hair loss is a side affect of the treatment.

The truth of the matter is not all illnesses are able to be seen by the naked eye. Invisible diseases are still chronic illnesses, but you may not be able to tell that the person is ill. We look “normal” to the naked eye, but our bodies are fighting internally with all of its might. Our outward appearance may be pretty, while our inward appearance and organs are severely damaged. We could die just as quickly as those who appear ill.

It is imperative to understand the difference between the definitions and also understand the diagnosis of the people around you. If someone has an invisible chronic illness you have to be cognizant of their health just as much as you would with someone who has a visible chronic illness.

What do I mean?

Just as you would be considerate of someone with cancer who is clearly weak from treatment and the illness itself, you would have the same consideration for me who has Lupus which you can not see. Your expectations would be the same for the both of us. I look healthy, but the reality is I’m not and at the drop of a dime I could end up in the hospital or die, just as someone with a visible chronic illness could.

You truly need to remind yourselves when dealing with people with an invisible illness that they are truly sick no matter how good they look.

Now understand that we all, whether invisible or visible illnesses, have good and bad days. We all have days where we can do more than others. We all have the same mindset that we want to be looked at as normal as possible and don’t desire pity. We all strive to have a positive mindset and fight our disease as hard as we possibly can, but even on our good days keep in mind we are still sick.

If you can truly understand the difference between a chronic illness and invisible disease, interacting with your loved ones from a place of true understanding, you will be able to sustain a healthy relationship with them that just might save their lives!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No portion of this article may be duplicated in writing or in any other recorded format without permission.

Whoever told you that taking breaks is not okay is WRONG!

When you think about working a job, typically you get two fifteen minute breaks and a lunch break. Why is this? Taking breaks gives your mind a chance to refresh. It is said to increase productivity and creativity. A lot of times, just stepping away from something for a spell gives your brain a break and when you return, you are sharper and able to work more effectively and efficiently.

Anytime you do anything for a long period of time without a break you will more than likely become stressed and truly exhausted! It doesn’t matter what you are doing.

If we think of this in relationship to our bodies and lives, we will then realize that taking a break is essential to great health.

Spoonies, need more rest than most and in turn need more breaks!!! Our bodies are at work 24/7 fighting illnesses and when we do other things, we are working our bodies even harder. We are mentally and physically working all day every day! We need to take breaks.

We need to find a peaceful space to rest our minds and bodies daily.

It is imperative that we take a physical break from working, expending a lot of energy, etc., but it is as equally important to take mentally breaks. We need to take breaks from TV, Social Media, Reading, Outings, People and the list goes on.

I always say, “Too much of anything, isn’t good for you!” In other words, don’t listen to those who say it isn’t okay to take breaks! Not only is it okay, it is imperative to a healthy you!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No portion of this article may be duplicated in writing or in any other recorded format without permission.

Life has a tendency to throw us curve balls, but what do you do when you know at some point they are coming?

In life things are going to happen. These things have the potential to knock us down, kill our joy and diminish our fight, but we must figure out what our position will be and be ready for these curve balls.

You see, we may be up for bat when these curve balls come and we have to hit the ball out of the park. That sounds good right?!!!! Reality is, it is not always our turn to be at bat when these curve balls come. We may not be capable of even holding the bat up. A lot of times we are so tired we can’t even hold ourselves up, more or less a whole bat. We may not have the strength to stand with our knees bent in position. Wearing a heavy helmet may even knock us over because we are so weak.

So what can we do when these curve balls come????

We can open our hands and catch them. Baseball aside, we don’t have to be in a standing position to catch something. We can be sitting, laying, squatting, running, etc. and still catch a ball in our hand.

Am I serious??? Yes, I’m so serious!!!

You are going through your day and sickness is thrown at you hard. It is thrown so hard that the impact could take your life. You have to catch that sickness curve ball my brothers and sisters. Don’t let it hit you!!! Catch it!!! Don’t allow it to knock you out!!! Catch it!!! You realize it’s coming so make sure you are position to catch it!!! Prepare your body for the catch!!!

How???

You make sure you always have on your catchers mitt!!! You take your medicine. You get proper rest. You count your spoons. You put some in reserve. You schedule your day with breaks. You carry your medical information with you everywhere you go. You wear your medical bracelets. You take proper precautions when it comes to sun and the list goes on!!! Doing these things is setting yourself up to be able to catch the curve ball. You have on your mitt!!!

We can’t always be the batter and hit a home run. Sometimes the curve balls come in contact with our bodies, but we have positioned ourselves accordingly to catch them.

Catching them means that you feel the impact. Your mitt may be worn so your hand may burn from the contact. Your hand may even turn a little red, but you are able to keep going because you caught the ball instead of it knocking you out!!

Catch the curve balls and keep going!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No portion of this article may be duplicated in writing or in any other recorded format without permission.

It is said all the time that I don’t look like what I am going through! As a matter of fact, I just said it yesterday! The truth is I will NEVER look like what I am going through and it is not about what clothes I wear, makeup I put on or anything aesthetic.

The reality of living with an invisible disease is, although our bodies are in full on war mode in the inside, you may not be able to tell we are fighting on the outside. It’s deeper than that though!

You don’t know where I’m going with this? Well, let me make it clear.

Some days when illness takes over and our bodies are fighting its hardest we do look run down, beat down, exhausted, weak, dark under our eyes, etc. It is true that we are not able to hide all of our scars, but no matter how many scars are visible or how we physically appear, the world will never see what we are truly going through!

You see, we don’t look like we are fighting mentally to get up and get dressed. We don’t look like we are so mentally exhausted that we have lost all track of time or reality at some points. We don’t look like at any moment we can have an emotional breakdown. You may not see how down and depressed we are because we awake daily with an ailment. You may not see the spiritual struggle we are having because we keep asking God to take away our illness and yet we are still sick. You may not see that we are only smiling to hide the pain. You may not see that we are so anxious about committing to anything because in the blink of an eye we may not be able to participate. You may not see that we are anxious to the point of nausea, worrying about our next doctors appointment. I could go on and on.

What most people don’t realize is that we are not only fighting physically daily, but we are fighting emotionally, mentally and spiritually all at the same time!

We look amazing!!!! On our worst days where you can see we are physically ill, we still do not look like what we are going through!!!

This battle is not for the faint at heart. This battle is for true Warriors and it is imperative to understand that just because we look “well,” doesn’t mean we are well!!! What it does mean is our strength is prevailing and what you see is a Warrior on the front line of the battle.

Don’t get confused by our outward appearance and automatically assume we are well or better because our illnesses affect us mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well as physically!!!

Don’t ever stop praying for us and sending positive thoughts because some of our hardest days are when we appear to be well on the outside!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No portion of this article may be duplicated in writing or in any other recorded format without permission.