July Link Up Party

Hey everyone! Wow can you believe that it’s July already! This time next year me and my truly amazing George will be husband and wife (that’s mental!)

I may write a post about wedding planning with MS if any of you are interested — there might not be many pictures lol as I want to keep a lot of things a surprise hehe.

Anyway, how are you all? This post I’ve teamed up with the lovely Sheryl from www.achronicvoice.com to take part in her Monthly Link Up Party for people with chronic illnesses. It’s a way to make new friends and connect with other spoonies and I love it! Alas I haven’t written one for a while so I’m determined to get back on the horse and start doing them again!

If you click on the link about, it will take you to Sheryl’s page where she explains how the link up party works.

This month’s prompts are:

* Adding

* Spreading

* Ranting

* Dividing

Adding

This month and every month for that matter I’ve been trying to add positivity into my life every day. I’m a very positive person but let’s face it, it can be hard and we have to work on it every day!

I like the phrase Charlotte from Sex and zthe City says in the first movie when she’s asked if she’s happy in her relationship.. she says.. “I feel happy and blessed every day” the others say “you feel happy every day?!!?” Her reply “not all day, but yes everyday I feel happy and blessed” — this is exactly me.. I generally feel happy and content every single day, like Charlotte it’s not all day.. but it is every day! And that’s what I focus on to remain that way.

I’ve also added a new MS treatment to my life Copaxone and so far it’s going well.. apart from some minor injection site issues but I deal with those.. I could write a dedicated post about that?

Spreading

I thought was a very interesting prompt and have to say it’s taken a while to think of something.

For me I love spreading my positivity and help to other people, I love writing, being on Instagram and filming you tube videos for you all (something exciting is coming in September stay tuned) my main passion in life is to create, share and spread content to people either newly diagnosed with MS or maybe it will help anyone with a chronic illness to hopefully make life just that little bit easier!

I’ve been researching cleaning hacks, cooking tips and general tips on how to keep life easy and relatively stress free and I can wait to share and spread that with you ☺️

Ranting

Okay.. I’m not too keen on this prompt and I don’t think I have much to rant about.. I don’t want to “rant” about the weather here in the UK, but I shall just chat about it.

Everyone with MS is different when it comes to the weather, here in the UK when it gets to 30° we don’t really deal with it too well.. we don’t have AC or an outside swimming pool in our back garden (believe me I’ve really contemplated digging a hole in the garden and filling it with water 😂)

For me the heat actually makes my symptoms worse. Fatigue is a lot stronger and makes me feel like an extra from a zombie movie, my whole body feels like I’ve got sandbags attached to it dragging it along, nerve pain in the evenings gets to a point where I’m in bed (with the fan on) at 8:30pm — so this kind of heat is a real struggling for me.

What about you? Does the heat help your symptoms? Or make then worse?

With all my symptoms heightened I just try and remain calm, relaxed, hydrated (that is so important!) And more importantly j make sure we have the fan on, always and our freezer is well stocked with ice lollies! Then I just keep smiling like I usually do cause let’s face it… Noone can see how I’m feeling inside so it’s sometimes easier to whack on a smile 😂 — but I’m fine and I deal with my symptoms, I just make sure I listen to my body.

Dividing

I think this is the only prompt this month that I’m actually struggling to decide what to write about. There’s nothing really that I’m “dividing” as such.

I suppose I divide my time at the moment between doing an activity and resting while the weather is hot.

I struggle to get everything done at once at the moment and if I do then I’m usually suffering for it afterwards, so I divide my time.. do one thing, then rest and so on.

That’s probably the only thing I’m dividing at the moment to enable me to save my energy and to be able to do more things 🙂

And that my lovely people is the end of this post and this month’s Link Up Party.

Thank you so much to Sheryl for always coming up with thesez they’re amazing! I’m so glad to be back doing them!

On Sunday I’m doing to be posting a blog post about all the things I loved in June.. maybe I’ll just upload them as pictures for you to see instead of writing about them? Let me know in the comments what you’d prefer 😊

Lots of love to you always,

Hannah xx

April Link Up Party

Hey Everyone! Long time no speak, how are you all? As always leave me a comment below and then we can connect 🙂

Yay for another lovely link up with the lovely Sheryl from A Chronic Voice. I always love these monthly prompts and find it such a joy to read others.

Let’s get started 🙂

Here are this months prompts (above)

Marvelling

I would say that this month I have been marvelling at the fact that I’m going to be attending the MS Society Awards 2018 as a finalist… Even just typing that shocks me.

I still don’t know who or how I was nominated, and I still sometimes think, why me? I write on here, connect on social media and create me YouTube videos because I love to do it.. I love talking about MS and giving MS a voice to people who have no idea what we have to go through every single day and how strong we are to remain so positive also.

My passion and dream is to one day become a spreaker or writer on more of a full time basis — that’s definitely the dream but for now this is the main thing that I’m marvelling over.

Splurging

Lol. Well with still working on reduced hours (I’ll be talking about that in another blog post) I’m not really getting much money to splurge on things (apart from my weekly grocery shop, for me that’s always exciting to receive 🤣)

For me… I’ve been splurging “time” and “energy” recently. I’ve been spending time with friends and family having wonderful times, however I have felt recently that I’ve “spent up” and now need to work on increasing my energy and time levels back up again. It was all so worth it though and being mindful to my body I knew when I need to have little breaks.

Continuing

Recently I’ve been continuing to slowly build up my hours at work. I’m now working 5 hours a day 4 days a week and I will be honest… Its been a little tough to adjust to, however I know with time it will get better and I’m so honoured and lucky to have such s supportive work team and manager who allow me to do things in my own time. And I’m really proud of myself for achieving this and still remaining strong and positive throughout 2018!

I’m also continuing my motto of “Not My Problem” I know some of my other lovely friends and followers are using this motto — it’s really great and I find it’s really helping me!

And finally continuing to love each and every day, one way or another. Of course there are times when we get angry, upset or frustrated… However there is ALWAYS one thing to be happy about in ever single day! Even if it’s something really small like.. ‘you had a rubbish day at work, so you treated yourself to a delicious dinner or watched your favourite TV show” these are the things I talk about. 🙂

Balancing

Now, there a couple of things that I’ve been trying to balance this month and one is going well…

Work like and home life with a chronic illness

Since I’ve been working four days a week, I’ve noticed that I’ve been able to have more of a an actual life! I’ve had the energy to see friends, go shopping and hang out like I used to because I’ve had that extra day to just rest my body and mind.

I feel like I actually have that work/life balance with a chronic illness.. when I was working full time 5 days a week, I was miserable, depressed and all I knew was… Work, home, sleep and repeat. I would be utterly exhausted when I got home and I found it so hard to manage my home and work life. But now.. things are definitely better and I’m much more happier inside and out!

The thing I haven’t been balancing recently is my blog — the thing I love so much which is writing.

I know I will get back to it, I just need to allow my body to adjust to these new hours at work.. I’m still in the stage where when I get home all I want to do is sleep.. but I know like I said before that will get better and then I’ll be back to making more regular blog posts 🙂

Investing

This month I’ve definitely been investing in “time for me” making sure I have self care or self love days everyday. That doesn’t have to be anything too mental.. to me a self love part of my day is relaxing with George and watching “My Virgin Kitchen” on YouTube while we eat dinner.

You can invest in a lot of things but I believe that investing in yourself is the most important and we could all find a little more time to do that 🙂🧡

And that everyone is my April monthly Prompts 😊😁😄 I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them 😊 I’m going to head over to Sheryl’s blog and see if anyone has linked their prompts to it.. if you haven’t then let me know so I can read yours too.

I hope you have a wonderful week and weekend.

Lots of love

Hannah xx

March Link Up Party

Hello everyone ☺️ how are you all? As always leave me a comment and we can have a lovely chat ☺️

So the lovely Sheryl from A Chronic Voice has done another Monthly Link Up Party and you know I LOVE these and always like to get involved.

This months prompts are below

Sorting

What I’ve decided to sort out this month is… My wardrobe!!

I’m becoming more and more excited and interested in the world of minimalism and making my home living a clutter free place.

I’ve noticed that when everything is best, tidy and the space is clear that my stress levels and overall anxiety is a lot better.

Going back to my wardrobe. I’m not a fashion expert (far from it — that’s more my sister lol) and there are corners and bags in my wardrobe that just don’t get worn etc.

So I’m going to sort them all out this monrh and the clothes that I don’t wear or don’t fit and the bags that I don’t use that often.. and going to charity!

Yes I could sell them, however giving something to charity makes me feel better and also it’s great to know that someone maybe less fortunate than myself can enjoy some of my items.

Rising

The only thing that I could think of that would fit with this prompt would be “rising earlier in the morning”

I’ve been listening to Mel Robbins – 5 Second Rule auido book recently and it’s truly amazing and is really working for me.

I’ve always been a “Morning Person” ever since I was little. However I always used to waste my mornings just “faffing or staring at social media” social decided to set my alarm a little earlier in the mornings and RISE!

I get up at 6:30am and I make the most of my time.. it usually takes me around 15-20mins to get ready for work, 10 mins to do my morning yoga and 5 mins to get some breakfast. I try now to do at least one little house chore before I go to work to “Help future me, because future me is always exhausted in the afternoons, whereas Morning me has the most energy”

I’ve been doing this for the month of March and I shall continue to practice this from now on. 😊

Rejoicing

Since my NY motto “Not My Problem” I’ve been rejoicing most days! I always try to keep each day as positive as I can — when I’m over tired or fatigue kicks in, that can sometimes be quite hard! My mind can sometimes take control when I’m exhausted.

But rejoicing each day is what I try to do. I also feel since starting my vegan lifestyle and trying to be more mindful of what I put into my body, I feel a lot happier and relaxed mentally.. isn’t that strange 🙂

My main this I’m rejoicing is deciding this week to increase my hours at work to 5 hours a day! I feel I’m ready and I’m excited to venture to this new chapter of achievement. Yes I’m nervous but I feel more excited and ready to try.. so I shall rejoice this!

Reading

Right now I’m reading this lovely book called “A Secret Garden” by Katie Fforde. It’s a really happy and uplifting book.

The last week I haven’t read much because it’s was a very busy week resulting in me crashing out asleep between 9-9:30 most nights, but I shall keep going!

Priding

Priding. I have one thing to say about this… IM PROUD OF ME!

I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved and how I’ve achieved it.

* sticking to my wholefoods plant based diet and not allowing other people’s negativity to stop me.

*Going back to work and not allowing people’s negativity to stress me out

*Becoming more minimalist and learning to love myself and giving myself more Self-Care moments.

And finally I’m so proud of ME for getting up, whacking a smile on my face and slaying each day!

I’ve decided that you have ONE life! I know there might be really hard times (I’ve definitely been there!!) But I know, truly know that we all get through them! My mission for 2018 is to not allow other people’s negativity affect myself and to have the best year by far with Multiple Sclerosis!

MS is apart of me and I have accepted that and I will work WITH my body and not against it.

This is what I’m priding on 🙂

And that my lovelies was my March Link Ups. I really hope you enjoyed the read and I hope this post finds you all relatively well or at least having a slightly good day!

I’m sending you all lots of love and hugs!

Hannah xx

January 2018 Link Up

Hello everyone! How has your start to 2018 been!? I hope you’re all having a great start to the year! 

Well it’s another link up thanks to the lovely Sheryl from A Chronic Voice – Link Up — I just love these link ups and reading everyone else’s I can’t wait and I always look forward to them! 

Below you will find my January Prompts, I hope you enjoy joy the ready, feel free to comment and leave me your post so that I can read it too. 

1) Reflecting

Wow! This is a kind of difficult one as 2017 really wasn’t the greatest of years… I mean it wasn’t horrendous but not the greatest. I had four MS relapses over the year with long recovery periods — I’m just about to go back to work after being off since October 2017 from my most recent relapse. 

However, I reflect back on all the love and support I got from great family and friends.. I really found out who the true people were when I was in my dark times.. Ill also reflect back on the strength that I have gained over the year, how each relapse has made me stronger and more accepting and finally listening to my body! 

Finally reflecting about all the amazing people that I’ve met online and through my blog! Meeting you all has really helped me become the strong and positive person that I am today! So I think those are the things that I’ll reflect on as opposed to the negative ones 🙂

2) Aiming

Well there’s lots of aiming for 2018! If you hadn’t read my previous blog post The BEST start to 2018 then my wonderful partner George proposed to me on New Year’s Day 🙂 and we have always said that we would like to be married 12-18months later… So there’s lots of planning… My aim is to have a wonderfully simple wedding that’s a good budget and as stress free as possible (I know wedding are always stressful)

 I’m also aiming to help my MS even further by starting treatment in February and continuing my vegan diet and hopefully get into some exercise lol (I’ll definitely try) 

3) Expanding 

This is something I’m not too sure about.. the only thing I can think of that I’ll be expanding on is my research for MS medication and also natural ways in which I can help heal my body, especially with my vegan diet. I’ve found this lovely Youtuber called Madeleine Olivia and she creates some simply delicious recipes and they’re affordable too so I’ll definitely be looking at that more 🙂 

4)  Focusing 

This is a great prompt and I’ve had some time to think about it.. I’m definitely going to be focusing on getting stronger, getting back to work and remaining positive! I think these are the only things I’m going to be focusing and I’m going to make 2018 a great year for me 😊

5) Refreshing 

A refreshing prompt 😉 I think the main resting thing for me is a new year! Planning mine and Georges wedding and then yesterday (Wednesday) I got a letter from my Neurologist that said even though I had 4 big relapses last year, my scan has come back with no new lesions and no permanent damage which made me feel so much better and stronger! I think that’s the main refreshing thing, however also my mindset has completely changed.. I’m focusing on the positive things in life and my new little motto for 2018 is “not my problem” stop letting other people’s issues affect me and stop letting people drag me down.. 😊 

And that my lovelies isy January Prompts which as I’ve said before I LOVE writing! 

I hope you enjoyed the read,

Lots of love

Hannah xx

December Link Up

Hey everyone, how are you all? I hope you’re all have a lovely start to December 🙂

Yay! Another link up from the lovely Sheryl over at Achronicvoice and it’s December’s link up 😊 I so enjoy writing these and reading everyone else’s and connecting with people 😊 I just wanted to say that I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas 😊

So here are December’s prompts:-

If you’d like to read about it then click on this link December Link Up. Now I’m going to write about all five of the prompts and I look forward to reading yours 😊 

Recovering

So I’m actually still recovering from this relapse that started in October this year so this prompt is an ongoing one I think at the moment. The most important thing that I do is *listen to my body* as much as I can anyway lol.. we all get caught up and forget that our bodies tell us a lot when it comes to recovering/recovery. 

I’ve been trying to do light exercises, rest and just look after myself wherever I can really 😊 having “Me Days/Evenings” always helps. 

Shopping

Shopping! I love shopping! Since October however I haven’t been out shopping much really, however the other week a really good friend of mine came to visit from Australia and we went to our local shopping outlet for an actual look around (yes retail therapy!!) I wasn’t able to do much walking around due to pins and needles and fatigue but my amazing friend had arranged for me to have a wheelchair so when I got tired or needed a sit down I was able to. She’s such an amazing supportive friend and I feel very lucky to have her in my life. I was also able to enjoy the day and get a few bits that I wanted! It felt good! 😊

Enjoying

I like this prompt 😊 it makes you think about the positives. Even though being off with a relapse I’ve been enjoying quite a lot. The main thing has been my new Bullet Journal that my dad kindly got for me as a get well soon present.. I’ve been Bullet Journalling since 2016 and it’s been the best thing I ever started.. I love it 😊 

Another thing I’ve been enjoying is reading. I’ve never been a massive reader but when my sister gave me one of her books called “The Cosy Teashop in the Castle” I was hooked and then I found the book that in currently reading — I try and stick to one chapter a night lol cause I want to make this book last 😊 the book that in reading is called “A cat caller Alfie” by Rachel Wells. Its such a wonderful book from the cats perspective (if you are a cat lover, you will love this) and I love reading every chapter. 

Reminiscing

This is a very interesting post. I think because when I reminisce sometimes it makes me a little sad because I sometimes think back to before I had MS and before I had a care in the world… However I then turn those sad thoughts into positives.. looking back and reminiscing how far I’ve come and how much I now listen to my body and actually try take care of my body and that makes me feel proud and happy! 

Preparing

Preparing.. this again a great prompt! I’m a planner, organiser and preparer (I don’t even know if that’s a word lol) I love preparing and planning things, I helps me to manage my illness and stay in control (kind of lol) I use my Bullet Journal a lot when in preparing things and I find it so helpful. 

It’s also that time of year and preparing for me is key to limit stress — I find if things are prepared and organised then I feel a lot more relaxed.. so yes all my presents are wrapped lol. 

And that is my December Link Up prompts 🙂 I absolutely love doing these and really love reading others so let me know about your link ups and I’ll give them a read 🙂

November Link Up

Hello Everyone 😊

This is my second link up party which was created my the lovely Sheryl at www.achronicvoice.com. I think this is such a wonderful idea for bloggers with chronic illnesses to get together and also she positive experiences.. it definitely makes me feel better and more positive when I write about them.

So here are November’s prompts! I hope you all enjoy the read and I challenge you to go ahead and join in, let me know once you’ve written yours and I’ll check it out 😊 also check out Sheryl’s blog (linked above) to find out the rules for this. 

Okay so the prompts for this month are:-

• Discovering

• Rediscovering

• Anticipating

 •Decluttering

• Cherishing

Discovering

So this is the first prompt and the main thing that I’ve discovered is a new book. It’s called “The Cosy Tea Shop in The Castle” written by Caroline Roberts. My sister gave this to me I’d say a couple of weeks ago and I’m thoroughly enjoying it! I read a chapter a day (so I don’t finish it too quickly lol) and I can happily say that it’s such a wonderful cheerful book and I know it will make you all smile 😊

Re-discovering
So I really like this prompt because over the last week whilst I’m recovering from this relapse I’ve started going out for daily walks around a little block near my house. It’s a lovely little walk through a greenery area and at this time of year the leaves look so beautiful on the floor. 

This walk has three parts. The first is a short 2 minute walk, the second is about 5 minutes and the third is a little longer. I’m able to do the second walk and I know I’ll manage the longer one as soon as I’m stronger again ☺️

Anticipating

Now this one is a little harder to think of, however I feel the one thing that I am anticipating is seeing my Neurologist on Tuesday. Being able to discuss this relapse, the MS fatigue and the possible attempt to retry MS treatment again. 

Since this relapse (third this year) I’m definitely reconsidering my options, all for the better however. I am no longer letting MS affect my life the way it has, adapting to it is different and learning to help myself everyway I can is definitely a positive. I feel strongly that ignoring MS isn’t always the best way. 

De-cluttering

This one made me smile a bit. Again I’d say since this relapse I’ve been very keen to keep my home neat and tidy (it’s always clean) and making sure there isn’t a lot of “stuff” just lying around. I do a little bit of house work everyday and that seems to keep everything in order. My main place that I like to be “clutter free” is my kitchen, it brings me calm and peace when I see a nice tidy kitchen 😊

Cherishing

I love this prompt too. I cherish every single moment that I’m breathing. I cherish all my loved ones who are ALWAYS there for me. I cherish my home and all the wonderful things in it. Basically everything! 

I think we all take things for granted in life. Instead being able to cherish things, yes even the little things allows us to remain positive and happy.. even if we are having a bad day! 

And these are my November Link Ups. I thoroughly enjoy writing them and I thank Sheryl from www.achronicvoice com for creating this. 

If anyone else reading this has written their November Link up, leave me a comment so I can read yours too 😊

I hope you’re all well (as well as can be). Sending you all lots of love

Hannah xx

October Link Up

Hey everyone, 

So on twitter there have been a couple of times where I’ve seen a post called October Link Up from Sheryl Chan at A Chronic Voice over on Twitter. 

She created these link ups for people with chronic illnesses to get together and write about various tooics, which I think is great. There are five topics to discuss every month and for October theyre:-

Inspiring, Dreaming, Reducing, Creating and Listening. 

If you’d like to see an overview of this think click the link above and it will take you to Sheryl’s blog where she explains everything. 

Okay… So here’s mine. 

Inspiring

I always would hear from other people how inspiring I was with the way I cope and deal with my illness. They’d always say “your so amazing and inspiring” and I’d always smile and say thank you, however I’ve been thinking over the past few days about this… Also how I should feel inspired by ME! I very rarely hear people say that ‘they inspire themselves’ (whether that’s possible or not who cares) 

I feel inspired to myself… The fact that I live with this chronic illness every single day and when other people say that I inspire them.. it’s usually when I’m hiding the pain or fatigue.. when I put on that smile we all do and just try and act as normal as we can… But what inspires me? 

The fact that I go through the dark times, the times where I’m crying at night and just feel generally low… These inspire me because I beat them! I break through and come through these hard times and that’s why I smile.. when people say I’m inspiring and amazing.. I’ve finally started to say to myself… Yes I am! And I think a lot of us should be amazed and inspired by simply themselves! We are all amazing! 

Dreaming

Ha! Well I do a lot of this and it’s mainly Day-Dreaming of what house I’d be in at Hogwarts (yes I’m a massive Harry Potter fan)

But on a serious note… I dream about my wedding to my amazing boyfriend (yes he still needs to propose to me but we’ve found a ring at least!) 

I dream about walking down the aisle with no crutches or sticks to help me, I dream about my amazing sparkling glittery converse trainers that I’ll be wearing underneath my dress instead of heals and I’ll be rocking them! 

I dream about eventually being able to have a lovely work – home balance lifestyle where I’m able to do more things when I can hopefully reduce hours at work slightly. 

I try not to dream about things too much as for me it whisks me up and takes me away from reality lol.. but being whisked away occasionally is definitely a nice thought.

Reducing

STRESS!! I definitely feel that this is something I’m always trying to reduce stress even though sometimes stressful situations are inevitable. 

The things I do to help with my stress levels are:-

Simple meditation – nothing adventurous I love Madeleine Shaw her YouTube channel has some great mediation for beginners

HeadSpace – I rave about this app.. it’s free to begin with for the first 10 sessions I believe but then you need to subscribe (that’s up to you) 

Relaxing Baths – for me this is something I do most days lol.. lovely relaxing bubble baths, candles and my favourite film or series on my iPad.

Creating

Bullet Journalling

I started my Bullet Journal at the beginning of 2016 when a dear friend recommended it to me.. I didn’t realise how therapeutic and rewarding this could be. I completed one of my Bullet Journal in May 2017 and for my birthday I got a brand new one from my amazing boyfriend. 

I write in it everyday – some days are harder than others but I try and make a conscious effort to write in it. 

When I look back if I’m having a bad day, especially when I look back through my “MS Achievement Log” or my “Gratitude log” I feel happy and proud of what I have achieved. 

Listening

I think this is a great one.. and what I am trying to do is LISTEN to my body. Since going through this relapse I’ve been doing this more and more and I can honestly say how much I believe it’s helping with not only my recovery but my mental health too! 

I would always just push through things and ignore the warning signs because I stupidly thought that I was “fine”… And then I’d get upset, depressed and low when I’d fall off the band wagon. But now… I am stronger and more determined to HELP and LISTEN to my body recover from this relapse.. and I’ll be listening to it more from now on! 

I also love listening to Audio Books! Aaaannndddd can anyone guess what I’m listening to???? Yep… That’s right… Harry Potter! Read by Stephen Fry and I just love it!! It’s so relaxing and helps me to calm down when I need to. 

And these are my October Prompts I absolutely loved and I’d like to thank Sheryl from A Chronic Voice for deciding to to start these link ups. 

Love Always

Hannah