Top Posts – Me, Myself and Chronic Illness Blog

It’s celebration time everyone because this week Me, Myself and Chronic Illness Blog turns two! Wow, how has another year gone by since I started blogging? Today, I thought I would follow on from my post on my blog’s first birthday (which you can find here), and share my favourite blog posts of the year as well as the most popular. Alongside, my thoughts and feelings about my corner of the internet.

Finding a balance

This second year of blogging I definitely feel I have found my stride a lot more, I have a better routine and a more manageable schedule for posting new content. If you read my first birthday post you will see in the first year I posted a lot – sometimes twice a week – moving to once a week and ending up with three times a month, so I could have a week off. This year I had a quiet word with myself and reminded myself I am ill and therefore took a small step back, now posting every other week (so twice a month).

Finding this balance has benefited me no end because I get to still produce content regularly, but realistically whilst enabling me to focus on my health and other projects at the same time.

In addition, I have improved on my social media skills (ever so slightly), but seeing as this blog is all about honesty let me tell you something this will probably be something that is only ever so-so – I truly struggle with finding the energy! The point is I have improved, so let’s take it as a win.

My Posts

In summary I have written 29 posts in the last year – which of course is a lot less than last year, but understandable with my new schedule. I have tried to cover many topics and below are a mixture of the most popular and my personal favourites to write.

My most popular posts (based on likes)

My favourite posts

My Favourite Tattoo Ideas to Represent Chronic Illness – This was my favourite ‘fun’ post to do this last year and spoke to my creative side.
A Letter to My Chronic Illnesses – I found this a very therapeutic experience and a great way to express how I felt about becoming ill.
Invisible Disabilities – Why Won’t You Believe Me? – This was a post I made for invisible disabilities awareness week, giving my first hand experiences of living with disabilities that are invisible. This is such an important topic to discuss, as is the impact of not being believed.
Why It Is My Right to Wear a Facemask – and Why It Isn’t Your Right to Question That – This was a very poignant post for me regarding current times and how my rights as a disabled person are often overlooked in favour of the majority.
The Mental Health Impact of Living with Tourette’s – This blog will always discuss the mental health impact of living with chronic illness because it is so prevalent in my own life. Whilst my Tourette’s posts are the least read on my blog, Tourette’s is part of my life and sharing my story about the mental health struggles in relation to this is something I am proud to have done.

The Future of Me, Myself and Chronic Illness Blog

One thing I said to myself when I started this blog was I would only do it for as long as I got enjoyment from it, and I am happy to say we are still on that enjoyment train.

Looking back on what I wrote this time last year, I had stated I was looking to see if it was viable to take it more seriously financially and move to paid options. At the time I felt it wasn’t and a year later I am still very much of that same opinion for now. Partly, I don’t really know what constitutes as viable and also like for many a chronic illness sufferer money is tight.

I also said I would start a Pinterest account – I did – and then didn’t really enjoy it so kind of stopped posting – did I mention I struggled with social media? Therefore at the moment I am mostly rocking Twitter and Facebook – feel free to come say hi if you are on either. I was thinking of maybe an Instagram account to share books I am reading or activities I enjoy, what are peoples opinions on that platform in particular?

Before I go…

I wanted to thank everyone and anyone who has supported me and/or my blog this last year and beyond, your support means everything it really does. The world of chronic illness is a really lonely place at times and knowing there are people out there helps. I hope this blog can be a place to feel less lonely and that hearing my thoughts on chronic illness life can make you feel less alone in your own.

Thank you so much again,

Lots of ❤

Sarah xx

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Me, Myself and Chronic Illness Blog (bit of a mouthful), Happy Birthday to you!!

In case you haven’t guessed it yet, this week marks the first birthday of my blog. I can’t believe it has been a whole year since I started sharing my stories and life with you. With this in mind, I thought this week I would celebrate the journey of my blog by discussing the highs and lows the blog has brought me, my future plans and my most popular and favourite blog posts of the year.

The Highest of Highs and the Lowest of Lows

When I started Me, Myself and Chronic Illness I was in a place in my life, where I had all these churned up emotions about being chronically ill. Thoughts and feelings that would run round and round in my head, and ultimately a feeling of not being understood wherever I went. I started the blog with the intention of sorting out my own thoughts and essentially having my own space to rant, with the hope maybe one or two people would read it along the way.

What actually happened was this and much more. As alongside my own space to organise my thoughts and emotions, I found people were reading what I actually wrote and it has allowed me to grow in confidence with my writing, as well as find that last bit of acceptance of my conditions that I didn’t realise I was still looking for. Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle with the internal battle from time to time, but then I jump on here and things feel that little bit better.

Nevertheless, as with most things in life, when there are highs there are also lows. The main being my need of wanting the blog to grow. Blogging can be addictive at times and the want to share content can be consuming, the down side being to share content and reach more people, you need to promote your blog. Promoting your blog is DIFFICULT, especially when you don’t have the energy to engage in social media, or the know how even. So what does someone like me do? Compare myself to others of course. I see how many followers other bloggers have and how many people read their posts and I berate myself for not being at that level. I then question myself about whether carrying on with the blog is really worth it, when there are so many bloggers out there and I want to give up…

… then I have a better day and think get a grip. Remember your reasons for starting the blog in the first place, it was for me, to have a space of my own and it was to write pieces that resonate with one or two people. Does it really matter how many people are reading this, as long as I am enjoying making the content and the people who read it are?

I do have a long winded answer for this, but in short no, it doesn’t matter not really. Success looks differently to everyone and the second I start comparing to others, the second I start moving away from my success and focus on someone else’s (crap! I started going long winded didn’t I?)

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

My Posts

In summary I have written 62 blog posts which have covered everything from symptoms and living with specific conditions to family and work, with a couple of more ‘fun’ posts thrown in the mix.

My most popular posts (based on views)

My favourite posts

Symptom of the Week – This isn’t so much one of my favourites, but the symptom of the week section I did took a lot of energy and as a result was a huge relief when I finished it. Saying that I do have a few new symptoms to discuss so watch this space…
Hobby Piece – National Gallery of Ireland – I really enjoyed writing a piece based on a passion of mine, and the opportunity to indulge in one of my hobbies.
A Poem To Those Who Knew Me Before – As part of World Poetry Day I decided to pen my own poem and was really surprised how much I enjoyed it.
Boost Your Self-Esteem Month – Writing pieces about mental health especially those that are tip based is really important to me. It took me a long time as a chronic illness sufferer to realise how important my mental health was, not just my physical.
Personal Piece – How I Feel About Possibly Never Having Children – This is probably my most poignant personal piece to date. It felt really therapeutic writing about my fears and hopefully sharing with those who feel the same.

The Future of Me, Myself and Chronic Illness Blog

My goal for the blog was to get it to the year and see where I was at with it. I wanted to see if it was viable to take it more seriously financially (as the eagle eyed amongst you may notice this is on a free site) and how I felt about it mentally.

At this moment in time, I still feel I have a lot more content in me which I would like to share. I am not sure financially if it is viable to move to a paid option (plus I wouldn’t know how), so I may keep this on the back burner for now.

One plan I have is to start a Pinterest account to go along with my Twitter and Facebook, oh and to finally fill out that Contact Me tab.

My next blog post I am going to go into a bit more detail about the structure of my posts going forward, so if you would like to hear more about the type of posts I have planned stay tuned for the next post.

One final note…

Before I go, I wanted to finish off these birthday celebrations by saying a massive thank you to anyone who has followed me or who has ever taken the time to read any of my blog posts, even if it has been one.

Living with any type of chronic illness, energy is limited at the best of times. So to know you have used up some valuable energy to read my musings makes me feel privileged. Your support means the world to me and every like or view you have given has filled my heart and made me feel I have a voice. Because ultimately this is what Me, Myself and Chronic Illness is about: knowing your not alone.

Much love

Sarah xx