September 2020 Linkup Party for People with Chronic Illnesses

Welcome to the September Linkup. I know it hasn’t been a pleasant year for most of us, but still I’d like to usher the start of the beautiful Autumn season in with love. It’s always so beautiful and whilst I live in the tropics, I miss the mild seasonal changes in Hong Kong when I was growing up. I can only imagine how nice it must be to watch the landscape morph, and demonstrate the cycles of life. As the famous quote by Robert Frost goes, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”

I find comfort in that, knowing that no matter my current state or circumstance, life itself goes on. Both with me, and without me. There is a certain lack of pressure in that knowledge, and yet so much promise and hope all at once. With that, I welcome you to our September Linkup. Have a peek at the writing prompts below, and I truly hope you’ll join us in this month’s sharing and support session. It can be therapeutic, and is also how I made many new chronic illness friends over the past few years. Happy writing!

September 2020 Awareness Dates:

• Blood Cancer Awareness Month
• Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
• CMT (Charcot-Marie-Tooth) Awareness Month
• Organic September
• Urology Awareness Month
• Vascular Disease Awareness Month (‘Step It Up’ for September)
• World Alzheimer’s Month

*Note: This is not a comprehensive list. Let me know if I missed anything out and I’ll add it in!

What It’s All About

It is a monthly get together for anyone with chronic illnesses. An opportunity to share, to listen, and to learn from one another. I also think it’s a great way to provide insight into life with chronic pain, from many different points of view. All you have to do is write a short excerpt for at least three of the listed prompts, and publish it on your blog. Then click on the blue ‘Add Link’ button below to add your blog entry here. Voilà, you’re now part of the party!

A Few Simple Rules:

1. Only 1 link per website.
2. Do comment on at least 2 other blog posts in this linkup if you participate. Helping to spread the word on your social media is always appreciated, but not required.
3. This linkup starts on the 1st of every month. There will be 5 different prompts. It will close at the end of each month before midnight. All timings listed are in Singapore time (+8 GMT).
4. Pick at least 3 of the prompts to write about. 5 is best, of course! 😉
5. We also ask that you share this main link to at least one of your social media outlets within the same month.
6. Failure to follow these rules might get you blacklisted from future linkups. Let’s keep it fair for all 🙂

Prompts for the Month

1. Feeling

How are you feeling this September? Last month? This year? It’s been a drag with the pandemic, hasn’t it? Mental health issues have been on the rise all round and are all over the news. It is apparent that the isolation and lack of social contact need to be addressed. As spoonies we have been living this way for years, so it can feel a bit disheartening as our mental health wasn’t taken this seriously before. In any case, let’s hope that something good comes out of this bad situation for humanity as a whole.

2. Gruelling

I’m sure that it’s been pretty gruelling with the lockdown. For many of us, finances have been a challenge. As well as coping with the lack of social contact outside, but increase in family friction at home. Mental or physical health issues might be an incessant plague. Or you might be finding that maintaining your blog, your home, your work or something else to be gruelling of late.

3. Tempting

It must be tempting to want to escape the safety of our homes and masks, and just let go even for a day or two. To feel normal again, whatever our normal was before this. You could also be fighting temptation against certain foods, bad habits, negative thoughts, feelings or more. Or perhaps you are tempted to indulge in a treat, some shopping, some pampering or more!

4. Running

Are you running away from a problem or situation of late, or perhaps for a long time now? Perhaps you’re running a marathon or planning to do so, just trying to get some gentle exercise in, or letting your dog go for a run. You could be running a course, a talk, an event whether on or offline, a group or even your blog. You could also be letting something run automatically such as certain computer programs, some statistics, analytics, and more.

5. Mending

Is there something that needs mending this month? Within yourself, your heart, your body? Or perhaps some old or broken shoes, clothes, bags, accessories, cars, machines or houses? Relationships can also be mended, whether romantic, platonic, familial, societal and more.

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