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Welcome to the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge brought together by WEGO Health – a social network for all health activists.  Again, I am participating in the annual Writer’s Month Challenge in which I will be writing about my health activism and health condition based on given prompts.

Saturday 18th April: Summer is Coming

What are the 3 things you look forward to the most in summer?  Whether it’s the travel, the weather, family cookouts, or another activity, share with your readers why you’re excited for the summer!

It’s fast approaching the end of April, and as we enter into May we are ever nearing the start of Summer.

Hopefully, like last year we will be immersed in months of glorious sunshine and warm temperatures.

Summer is the probably the favourite season for most people if asked.  Living in the UK, and experiencing long and miserable winters, the summer, therefore, provides a welcome respite from the grey clouds and rain.

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With grey clouds overhead everything can look bleak and depressing.  In the summer, however, the same scene can look beautiful cast in dazzling sunshine and bright blue skies.  Also, if you ever notice being out and about during the winter, everyone seems in a rush; dashing in shops and buildings to escape the rain.  The same people during the summer, however, are much less hasty during their walks, taking their time whilst enjoying the feel of the warm sunshine on their skin.

Furthermore, in my personal experience, and depending on whether the temperatures do not get too high, I find that the chronic pain that I experience as a result of spastic paraparesis eases slightly during the summer months compared to the excruciating pain that the very cold temperatures during the long winter months cause.  Taking part in activities such as swimming also helps relieve any pain and discomfort that I do feel, and there is no better time of year to do said activity than the summer.

Look at that view basked in beautiful sunshine and blue skies filling the sky. Bet it wouldn't look half as beautiful when there are grey skies!
Look at that view basked in beautiful sunshine and blue skies filling the sky. Bet it wouldn’t look half as beautiful when there are grey skies!

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about the reasons to love winter.  Not an easy article to write, and often felt that I was taking the reasons for hating the season and putting a positive spin on them.

I have the opposite problem with writing this post about summer; there are so many reasons for looking forward to summer, that choosing only three is extremely difficult!

Here are my reasons for loving summer:

  • Summer Fashion: Although I love my winter wardrobe as mentioned in my post on the reasons to love the season, with the chunky knits and thick, comfortable leggings, I prefer the summer fashion with all the bright colours such as orange, yellow and pink, all of which to me represents happiness.  I also adore wearing maxi dresses and white trousers, all fashions that look lovely and fresh during the summer months!  Recently, going shopping and noticing the new looks for summer, with the bright colours everywhere in the shop looked cheerful.  And the swimwear collections, reminding us that holidays are also looming
  • Good Times: The choice of activities during the winter months can be quite limited in part due to the changeable British weather.  However, if you are a person who likes to be busy and active, you are certainly spoilt for choice during the summer, as there is so much to do.  Summer fêtes, open-air theatre productions, outdoor concerts and music festivals to name but a few.  Tourists besiege the popular destinations, making the summer feel like one long party.  With so much to do and the fact it’s light early in the morning, and the days are long, we get to see much more of our friends and families, enjoying barbecues, picnics, playing games and gossiping until late. Making memories that will last forever.
  • Nature: There are lovely natural sights to behold during the summer months.  Beautiful, bright butterflies fluttering around.  Dazzling, exquisite flowers in full bloom.  The smell of freshly cut grass.  The sound of birds chirping.  Everything feels alive and exuberant during summer!

There must be something special about summer, I mean even a snowman wants to experience it!

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Welcome everyone again.  It’s now Day 18 of the ’30 Days, 30 Posts Challenge’, and a new prompt to challenge us all Health Bloggers!  Today’s prompt reads:

Open a Book…Choose a book and open it to a random page  and point to a phrase.   Use that phrase to get you writing today.  Free write for 15-20 minutes without stopping.

Have been trying to decide which book I should choose for today’s challenge.  I was going to opt for a book by one of my favourite authors Jodi Picoult.  However, as I blog about my health condition, I thought it may be easier to choose a ‘Health related’ book to stay on topic of my blog.  Therefore, I finally decided on a book entitled ‘Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired: Living with Invisible Chronic Illness’.

The book is said to give hope and effective coping strategies for those suffering with invisible chronic illnesses and making them aware of their attitudes towards their illness and how to communicate effectively with family, friends as well as their doctors in a way that meets the needs of the individual.  How to random choose a page, and to pick a sentence…

So, I randomly fell upon page 29 and choose the following sentence:

Invisible diseases can wipe out one’s self-confidence and peace and in their place leave painful doubts about one’s own sense of what is real.

Now that I have chosen at random that passage, I feel that sentence is one that I can relate to and one that could have been written about me.  After the dizziness started at age 8, I went through years of trying to search for a diagnosis, going through many blood tests to determine the origin of the dreaded dizziness.

When no cause could be determined, is when the doctor used the “it’s all in your head” card, and describing the root cause of the dizziness as being due to an anxiety disorder.  As a result, it made me feel that I was the one at fault, to be blamed for my problems.  As the dizziness slowly progressed and became so bad that I was unable to leave the house unless I was accompanied by another person, I was referred to the local Community Mental Health Team.  And so began endless classes and other sessions of Anxiety Management Techniques, Relaxation and Breathing Exercises to lessen the anxiety I felt when in certain situations and to lessen the dizziness I felt.

I did put all these techniques and other tips that I learnt into practice, and felt I certainly did feel less anxious when going out, although I still needed to be someone.  However, I found that the dizziness that I experienced did not lessen at all.

Therefore, to reiterate the sentence from the book that I had chosen – it really dented my self-confidence and made me doubt myself, “was the dizziness that I felt real, or am I simply imagining it? Am I really experiencing it?”.

After a time, I did begin to even doubt if the doctors were correct in their diagnosis and felt that perhaps the dizziness was caused by something other than anxiety.  However, I did not have the self-confidence to bring up my concerns with the doctors, and felt that perhaps that I was being a hypochondriac.  After all they are the professionals and know a lot more than myself.

It wasn’t until another healthcare professional I talked during a course I was participating in, also voiced her concerns about the dizziness, and talked about possible neurological causes.  Hearing this from a ‘professional’ than gave me that push to go and see a doctor about getting the ball rolling for a referral to a neurologist.  The doctor whom I saw however was unconvinced that I needed to see a neurologist – sometimes if you have been branded as a patient with ‘psychological problem’ then it is hard for you to be taken seriously.  It helped that I also had a parent in my corner acting as an advocate.  And then finally I got the referral I needed to see a neurological consultant…

And as they say, the rest is history!!….

I hoped you enjoy today’s post…Again, please feel free to comment…