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Marvelling
at the wonders of nature, and the miracle of life! My young parrotlets have been up to no good, and produced six eggs (well seven, but one cracked 🙁 ). It’s been wondrous to discover a new hatchling in the nest box every two days, and I was lucky to watch one live birth as well! The parents have been pretty chill for newbies, although we found the firstborn lifeless at one week old. I think it would have been blue like its father, judging from the minuscule feathers that were starting to grow. I also believe that the fourth chick should be an albino; we’ll see how they go in a few short weeks! 🙂
Just wanted to check on the little one and totally wasn’t expecting this til Friday, but…#life! ? Happy birthday, my dear blind blob…can’t wait to see what colour you’ll be! ? https://t.co/XzrxC9TzJQ #babybird #egghatching #spoonie #parrotlet #chroniclife pic.twitter.com/agPtSelcVI
— A Chronic Voice (@AChVoice) March 21, 2018
Splurging
because it’s my birthday month! So I’m using it as an excuse to spoil myself :p I know that many of us spoonies out there are sensitive to scents, and I’ll be more than happy to lay off the perfumes if we ever met! As for myself, I love perfumes and sampling scents, they make me happy. It’s a pretty expensive hobby, which I’ve had to curb since I stopped working full-time 😉
I have a collection of perfumes at home, and enjoy selecting one based on my mood for the day. The art and science of perfumery is fascinating, and I highly recommend these two books if you’re curious to learn more:
My current favourites are Rose Barbare by Guerlain, and Velvet Rose & Oud by Jo Malone, but my bottles are running dry after all these years! I’ve had my eye on a new one for a couple months – Oud du Jour by Amouroud – which should make a nice birthday present 😉
I just wrote three (now four) paragraphs on perfumes, so you can probably tell that it’s something I take pleasure in 😉 Out of curiosity, what sort of perfumes do you like, if any?
Continuing
my ‘wake up earlier’ goal from last month’s prompts! I’ve managed to sustain this so far, and couldn’t have felt happier! It makes the days feel less like a pressure cooker, and more like a slow simmer of goodness. I’ve had plenty of aches and downtime come late afternoon, but so far I much prefer this lifestyle. I love to write in the wee hours of the morning, when the sky is dark, the air is fresh, and my thoughts are clear. I finish up as I watch the sky transition to a pale, sun-tinged hue, which instills in me a sense of peace and contentment. I hope to be able to continue with this habit in April and beyond.
Balancing
my health and time is something I’m not very good at! Think it’ll be a lifelong lesson for me 😉 Before I fell ill, I liked to cram all of my school or job assignments into four days, after which I’d reward myself with a ‘long break’. Basically work hard then relax hard, if that even makes sense! This isn’t wise when you live with chronic illness and in truth, is unhealthy for the average person, too.
March was a pretty busy month by my standards, where I attended a wedding, and paid my respects to my ancestors (an annual Chinese tradition). While my parrotlets nurtured new lives into being, one of my budgies was sick. March was also filled with the usual doctor appointments, fun outings, and work – which I hope will increase as time goes by! As such my fatigue levels are building up, and I also just found out that I’m back to being anaemic, so I definitely need to rest up.
I’m also obsessed with blogging, or working on related tasks such as content curation for Twitter. I enjoy doing all these things, so it never feels like work and I dabble with them all day, every day, which isn’t healthy either. The irony of blogging about health to an unhealthy level 😉 ‘Balance’ is a life mission which I’ll need to practice more often. Do you have a tip or hack for maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle?
Investing
more effort into blogging as a business. While I already spend a significant portion of my day doing blog-gy things, I think it’s time to take it a step further after two years. It would be thrilling if I could earn a sustainable income through writing and blogging somehow.
I have some product ideas underway for an online shop. It’s been strangely difficult so far; I’ve approached three different artists to commission some work, but haven’t had any good or conclusive experiences. Not to worry, I promise to get them out at some point 😉
I will also launch a new website soon; “Sick Lessons” will be a platform for us to read and share life lessons from living with illness. I want to use this as a means to reach out to both the healthy and sick alike. Wisdom and emotions transcend individual experiences, to connect us as human beings no matter where we may be. You are welcome to contribute a life lesson here. If selected, I might include it in the launch!
Thank you for reading, and I hope to read your responses for April’s prompts too! Click here to submit your own entry, and to read about what others are up to as well!
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I wish you all the best with “Sick Lesson”. It really sounds like a great idea for a site 🙂
Thanks Lisa, trying my best to keep it afloat! I do like learning life lessons from everyone, too!
It truly is wonderful to see the the miracle of new life. Congratulations on the hatchlings, and Happy Birthday.
Its great that you made goal, stuck to it, and are now so happy with what that goal has brought that you are going to stick to it. I think it is important to change daily routines, even if just to keep our sanity.
I definitely think it is possible to earn a sustainable income from blogging. You are a very genuine person and I think that will go a long way in helping you grow your blogs as a business. If you want some more info on how to go about doing this one of my professors has a blog, a podcast, and an online course all about content strategy. https://michaelboezi.com/
Hi Albert,
Thank you! Unfortunately three of the chicks have passed, but apparently it’s quite common for birds, especially the first batch 🙁 That’s life, but sad…
Yes I really need to try and stick to it. It can be ‘difficult’ (first world problem :p), but definitely worth my sanity in the long run!
And thanks, I’d love to be able to earn from writing, that would be the dream, healthy or sick 😉 Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out!
What a wonderful season of rebirth and new beginnings!
Such a treat to witness new life coming into this big world. They are so tiny.
I’m not really a perfume person. I love fresh floral scents, but they smell awful on my skin lol… it must be a reaction with the ph of my skin. I do currently have a lotion somebody gave me and it smells lovely. I think it’s shea butter and magnolia or something like that. Love it!
I am very excited about your new website and hope to contribute soon.
Wishing you a very happy birthday month!
Yes, it was marvellous to see the births. Unfortunately, one of the babies died again today 🙁 He died in my hands while I stroked his little head. But apparently that’s the life of birds and breeding, especially for the first clutch. 🙁
As for perfumes, they’re really fascinating because the same one can smell so different on two different people. It isn’t just the perfume itself, but its wearer, too 🙂 Shea butter and magnolia sounds nice – those two scents don’t go well on me but they smell nice! 😀
Thank you, I look forward to your contribution, I’m sure it will be very enlightening and interesting! x
So happy to see new friends have joined you! So sweet! I’m not a perfume gal but enjoy a bath & body fruity spray occasionally. I’m looking forward to the “sick lessons” site. Good look with its start-up.
Thanks Selina! Nice to know what scents others like, I find it interesting! 😉 And thank you! I’m also excited to build it up and add more voices and life lessons to it 😀 x
I loved watching your video! I was shocked at how big there eyes were.
Haha yes, big blind eyes 😉 I love it when he ‘pops’ out! 😉
Wishing you much success with Sick Lessons! It’s good to read about other chronic bloggers. I’m trying to get my blog going to..so much perseverance needed. But it does keep my mind off things.
Thanks Marya! Yes, and it’s also necessary to enjoy the process, or it may not last 🙂 It definitely gives me something to do! 😉
The parrotlets are adorable. It’s really the little things in life that make us happy. As for perfume, I’m a huge fan of the Miss Dior collection. Good luck with the Sick Lessons platform, it sounds amazing! x
Thanks Kirsten! They’re the cutest, but also the meanest 😉 They have a pretty strong bite when they want to haha. Nice! Miss Dior does have a rather lovely, feminine collection there 🙂 Thanks, I hope the platform grows in a positive way! x
Happy Birthday to you this month, Sheryl! I hope you manage to do something nice to mark the occasion! Glad you’re gong to treat yourself 🙂 My favourite perfume is Daisy by Marc Jacobs! I find it fresh, light and summery! Very exciting about the birth of your chicks. Nature truly is amazing! Great to read these as always and loving your new “Sick Lessons” site ?
Dear Emma,
Thanks so much!! As I grow older, I celebrate less haha. But it’s still a nice feeling to have a birthday for sure 🙂 Nice! Daisy is such a refreshing, happy scent! 😀 It would really suit your personality 😉 Thanks for your support with the Sick Lessons project…hope I get energy to keep at it…I tend to start well and maintain not so well 😉 Sending hugs!
Congratulations on the new birds, your birthday month, and the new avenues with the blog! All so exciting!
Thank you Kat! Yes, exciting in the good way, for once haha! 😉 x
I always get so inspired when reading other people’s monthly intentions so thank you so much! I especially liked the one about balancing your time and your health. I was definitely the same way before getting too ill to function, and I honestly think that’s what took me to my breaking point. Also, I really want to treat blogging more like a business as well and develop an income from it! Thanks again for the inspo!
Hi Shannon, thank you for your encouraging words, they are also inspirational 😉 Yes I really enjoy reading everyone’s prompts too, very interesting especially when in parallel to other spoonies! x