December 2022 Thoughts With “A Chronic Voice”

December 2022 Writing Prompts

This December 2022 I’m sharing my thoughts with Sheryl’s Link-Up at her blog, A Chronic Voice. The writing prompts are Closing, Treating, Rationing, Reminding, and Embracing.

December Thoughts On Closing

The first thing that comes to mind with this prompt, is I recently discontinued my Twitter account. I’m trying to be more consistent with posting my content 2 times a week on Instagram and Facebook. I just don’t have the energy to post on Twitter, too. With all the recent drama at Twitter since Elon Musk bought it, I didn’t want to invest a lot of energy in the platform and then lose it if it fell apart.

Part of me wants to say, “Good riddance to 2022.” It wasn’t all bad, but it’s been a hard year between my health challenges, helping my parent’s with their health challenges, family strife, and an adult child struggling with his mental health. Looking at that sentence, it’s no wonder I feel drained.

I’ve been working on setting boundaries with my parents and find doing so to be very anxiety provoking. I am setting and keeping them, which is a huge accomplishment for me. So perhaps I’m also closing out the old way of letting other people’s wants and needs swallow me up.

Thoughts On Treating

The temptation to go crazy eating all the yummy Christmas treats is real, y’all!

I’ve been watching Diane in Denmark videos for a while now, and she encourages those of us who do all the Christmas shopping and planning to get some small treats for ourselves to put into our own Christmas Stocking. Since I live by myself and money is tight for most of my kiddos, I put up my stocking this year. I hung it on the cupboard door knob in the kitchen.

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One of the treats I plan to get for myself, is a book reviewed by Jimmy Clare on his website, Crazy Fitness Guy. The book’s called Discover Your Joy by Louise Pistole. Jimmy says:

“Louise provides readers with actionable steps to uncover what brings them joy and how to live a more joyful life. Louise Pistole’s tips and techniques are based on her own journey of self-discovery and she shares her hard-earned wisdom in a relatable and easy-to-understand way.”

Jimmy Clare

Here is one of Diane in Denmark’s energetic Christmas videos:

December Tips & Ideas

December Thoughts On Rationing

My attempts to pace myself continues to be an endless challenge. No matter how I plan to leave recuperation time between activities, I’m always running on empty. This gets even more difficult when you throw in December’s holidays. And even more so when sick.

I’ve been sick lately with some unknown germ. There’s a good chance it is covid, since my son was here over a week ago and tested positive two days later. Thankfully, being vaccinated seemed to help keep it mild. Yay! Those jabs paid off!

Sadly, I’ve gained back all the weight I lost on the Bright Lines Eating Plan plus a few more pounds for good measure. ): I know I need to ration my food, but I just don’t seem to have the motivation to do it. If anyone knows what to do when you know what you need to do, but you just don’t want to do it, I’d love to hear from you.

I think it might have something to do with the fact that I’ve lost so much since 2020, I’m not willing to lose comfort food, too.

Reminding

Lately, I’ve been texting one of my kids to check in on him daily. He’s been struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. So I’m reminding him to take his meds, eat, and hydrate.

And some days he reminds me too! Because we all forget to do these basic self-care things when we’re distracted by whirling thoughts or pain, or an infection.

I wonder why I’m so likely to forget to take my pain meds or use the tools in my pain or mental health toolbox when I really need to remember?? Does anyone else have this struggle? I know my son and I do.

I set reminders on my phone, and then shut them off when they ring and go about whatever I was doing. Perhaps changing up the ring tone every now and then would get my attention. If you have any tricks to help you remember to take your meds, I’d love to hear them!

Thoughts On Embracing

Even though this Christmas probably won’t be the way I want it to be, I’m embracing all the aspects of Christmas that bring me joy. I put up some colored lights on my windows a couple days ago. I love their cheery colors on dreary days and dark evenings. The Advent wreath is out on the table and I turn on its LED candles in the evening.

I’ve also been watching holiday movies and listening to seasonal music videos. This past weekend I watched The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey on YouTube. Check it out if you need a feel good movie.

If you’re looking for something more comedic, Pluto TV has a free on-demand show called The Christmas Karen. It’s a modern-day take on The Scrooge.

Wrap-Up of December 2022 Thoughts

Thank you, Sheryl, for putting together another great list of thoughtful writing prompts for December 2022. I’ve missed these link-ups. No pressure though! (:

If you’d like to read other chronic illness warriors answers to these prompts click here: https://www.achronicvoice.com/2022/11/30/2022-december-writing-prompts-chronic-illness-disabilities/ Scroll to the bottom of the post to read other entries.

If you’d like to read my Advent posts click here: https://www.upbeatliving.net/category/spiritual/advent/

Till next time, Kathy

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