Welcome to the first instalment of the monthly linkups for 2023! 2022 has been a trying year for many of us with chronic illness and disabilities. What are your hopes, dreams and goals for this new year? Come share and support each other in the January 2023 writing prompts, which you can find below!
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What The January 2023 Writing Prompts are About
The linkups are a monthly writing support group for anyone with a chronic illness, mental illness or disability. An opportunity to share, support and learn from one another through shared writing prompts.
It’s also a great way to provide insight into life with chronic pain, from many different points of view. Many participants have also found it useful to get out of a writing rut, or use it to share about stuff that they don’t normally write about on their blog.
They’re pretty much open to interpretation, so you can use them to craft an evergreen blog post, share freely about what you’ve been up to in your chronic illness life, or even write a poem or comic strip!
How to Participate in the January 2023 Writing Prompts
- There are 5 writing prompts every month. You just need to pick 3 to write about (although 5 is best!).
- Publish the post to your own blog, or use a free writing platform like Medium if you don’t have one.
- Only one link submission per person to avoid spam.
- Don’t forget to click on the blue ‘Add Link’ button at the bottom to add your post to this page, so that others can read, share and comment on your post.
- Do comment on at least two other blog posts in this linkup if you participate. Helping to spread the word on your social media is always appreciated as well.
- Failure to follow these rules might get you blacklisted from future linkups. Let’s keep it fair for all 🙂
Get the January 2023 Writing Prompts!
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Summarising
The New Year is always a good time to summarise and reflect on the previous one. This can be a useful practice to do, as history and insights can lead to greater self-awareness. Which in turn helps us to strive for healthier, happier goals, or to make a small improvement to our quality of life.
You could also be summarising the top posts on your blog from last year – it’s always good to read a roundup of the very best articles that others found useful or interesting!
Or perhaps you’re summarising and consolidating your finances, a book you’re writing, a project report, or something more academic, technical or career-related.
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Crossing
Linking back to the previous writing prompt, crossing over into a brand new year is a great time to make some resolutions, if that’s your thing! Yet, life doesn’t change completely just because the year has changed. We still need to put in the effort and do the work. (Sounds tedious, doesn’t it?!) What else does this metaphorical crossing over means to you?
You could also be using the writing prompt for other more tangible tasks or activities. Such as crossing off your todo list be it for work, play or self-care, playing a crossword puzzle or even crossing people or things off your life list. As a person with chronic illness or disability, we don’t have enough energy as it is for daily activities, much less for bullshit.
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Moving
There is only moving forwards, and not backwards. Yet the past provides wisdom, and can be a good guide as we make choices for our present and future selves.
What do you feel you need to move on or away from? It could be toxic relationships, a bad habit or faulty mindset, or a chapter in your life. You could also be moving towards something, such as a life goal, achievement or dream.
Alternatively, you might be literally moving out of your house into a new one. Or moving and decluttering your home or calendar. You could also be trying to work out ways to add more movement or exercise into your daily life, despite living with chronic pain and fatigue.
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Rebuilding
We tend to think of a New Year in terms of a brand new chapter in life. Yet often, it’s a lot to do with picking up the broken pieces, rebuilding our lives, and growing further. After all, life is chaotic, and is often a process of building and rebuilding.
What are you rebuilding yourself from in 2023? Perhaps you’d like to increase or regain your self-confidence, self-worth, or physical abilities. Perhaps you’re rebuilding your life from scratch, after a rough divorce, death, medical incident, or another calamity.
You could even be rebuilding your blog to make it more SEO-friendly or accessible! If you need help with that, I offer services at Blogging Bread, which is my blogging business website!
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Expecting
We often have a lot of expectations and hopes for the New Year. What are some of yours? You could also be expecting something in return from someone, or are expecting change within them or yourself. Life consists of compromises and choices every step of the way, after all. Even not making a decision is a form of action.
Or perhaps you’ve planted a seed (physical or metaphorically), and are waiting and expecting it to take root and grow. You could also be expecting a return call or text message, expecting an improvement from a new treatment, or even not expecting anything at all.
If you’ve read enough of my blog posts, you probably know that I approach life without expectations, but rather, ask life what it expects from me, instead. I find this a peaceful thought that grants me strength, as I live with the unpredictability of chronic illness and disability.
Happy reflecting and writing, and I sincerely hope to read and share all your posts from the January 2023 Writing Prompts! Have a Happy New Year!
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Hi Sheryl,
I decided to be EARLY this year with your link-up and just finished my post to help you start 2023 off with a bang. Let’s hope it’s good to us! Thanks for the great writing prompts, as usual.
Yay! Thank you so much Carrie, I really appreciate the support and participation! 🙂