Time flies when you’re looking out of the window with no constraints on your time. That might sound wonderful to some, but to someone like me it means that time flies by without me realising it. Having very few time limits in my schedule (save my hospital appointments) one day does tend to blend into the next. What day of the week is it? Well, I know it’s one of the seven; and before I know it a whole month has disappeared.
So this year I’ve started my preparing early for ME Awareness Month (that’s in May, by the way). Each year I decide what I feel I am able to do to raise awareness. Sometimes I don’t do anything when my health feels so low that even making a cup of tea depletes my energy – standing, waiting for the kettle to boil, making, and finally back into bed. This year I feel that I have some energy to give. That could change by the time May arrives. A fluctuating illness like ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) means that scheduling anything is a pencil job rather than permanent ink etched in a diary. I cannot judge whether any plans will be fulfilled. I try not to judge myself if it turns out that my body refuses to comply, although feeling frustrated is quite usual.
So, as I said, I’ve started making plans already. I’ve made a list of blog posts and articles I will write, and decided how I will spread this out so that I won’t flag after a week or less. Using Planoly will help to schedule social media posts, and giving myself two months before May will help me to plan and write blog posts – they, too, can be scheduled. None of the posts will be deep, and will only need a little bit of research so I’m not over-taxed (hopefully).
It’s very hard to explain to someone with relatively good health how my body and brain limit me. It must seem like a very unreal condition. But that is why raising awareness is so important – it is real. So come May you will have the opportunity to learn about the nature and depth of this chronic and debilitating illness. I will be posting on Instagram and Facebook, and also putting articles and web links on this website and also on Medium. I hope you will take the time out to learn even a little bit about ME and the millions around the world who live with it.
Copyright © 2024 Charlotte Clark
Charlotte Clark 