Before I give you a few blog updates, I just wanted to share a quick story I posted on my personal Facebook wall yesterday:
I had an interesting experience of Walmart of all places today. As many of you know, I spend the majority of my day house-bound if not bed-bound. This has been a little better week so today, I was able to leave the house for the second time this week (look out world!). As I was getting ready to check out, I noticed an older lady behind me with her cane in her cart and she just looked tired. I told her to go ahead of me and she just looked so relieved. As she unloaded her cart of TV dinners and various types of juice, she proceeded to tell me that she had finally had someone come over to sit with her husband who has severe Alzheimer’s and dementia but only had a short amount of time. As she unloaded her cart, she said that she was no longer able to cook full meals like she would like because she’s afraid of leaving the stove plugged in as she’s afraid her husband would turn it on and cause damage. She was constantly worried about him running off or getting himself hurt. You could tell that it had been quite some time since she had had any time for herself. It broke my heart. As she was checking out, I overheard her talking to the cashier. She told a little bit of what was going on and how she was so thankful that I had allowed her to go ahead of me in line and how much it helped her. She said there were so few nice and courteous people left in the world any more and how thankful, blessed, and overcome with gratitude she was. All because I let her go in front of me in line at Walmart. My hips were throbbing and I was in so much pain but something in my heart told me that she needed to go before me. Once she told me her story, it took everything I had not to break down. The most simple thing can make the biggest impact in someone else’s day. I’m not sharing this as a pat on the back to me but as a reminder to myself to do it more often. You never know how much a simple act of kindness can change someone’s day (or life).
It was definitely a very powerful and moving experience. One of those types of experiences where you feel like you need to take your shoes off because you are standing on sacred ground. God gave me such a powerful reminder today that life is so much bigger than me and even when I feel like I am drowning in my own problems, there are always people suffering more than I am. My husband came sympathize with her more than I can on the struggles of being a caregiver but before she left the store, I just wanted to chase her down and give her a huge hug. Then I realized she may have thought I was some kind of major creepo. Maybe I should have done it anyway. Sometimes its the most simple things that are the most important.
With that being said, I wanted to post a quick life and blog update. I really want to get back to the roots of A New Kind of Normal. I thought last year was hard but this year has proved to be even worse and I have felt so lost. I felt like I have just wandered in circles. I’ve tried to come back to posting but each time I’ve done so without a plan in mind so in all of my posts, its apparent that I am just wandering in circles and that is SO not what I want for this space. I want A New Kind of Normal to be a place of inspiration, encouragement, support, and most of all empowerment but in order for that to happen, I first need to feel inspired, encouraged, and empowered.
I am going to take the next week and a half off from blogging in order to get myself organized and my content structured so that this blog can go back to being what it was made to be. I am going to be reading, researching, and finally putting all those blogging boards on Pinterest to good use! I am also in the process of renovating our office/guest room/beauty room so I will have a space where I can truly feel inspired so that also has me really excited! There will definitely be a big reveal when everything is ready!
Things here at A New Kind of Normal will kick back up in May. Sharing Our Spoons will be starting up again so May 3rd will be the first post where we can share our goals for the month. Check-ins will take place the first Tuesday of every month as a way that we can support one another to be the healthiest versions of ourselves possible on all fronts. I am also restarting sharing the stories of our fellow spoonie warriors as a part of Sharing Our Spoons which will be featured once a month so if you are interested in being interviewed and sharing your story, please shoot me an email!
My goals are to post four times a week with Tuesdays being directly chronic illness/health related; Wednesdays will be Chronic Style days; Thursdays will be geared more towards home and family life; and Fridays will be focused on faith and emotional health. As you can see, I really want to hone in on this idea of holistic health and taking care of ourselves as a whole. When you are chronically ill, so many times there is always the bulk of focus placed on our physical health when there is so much more to us than that. I want A New Kind of Normal to become a thriving community of the most bold and vivacious spoonies anyone have ever met.
I am excited and already feeling empowered just by writing this post and I am hoping that you understand and that you too will feel excited and empowered about what is coming ahead. While I will not be posting here until the first of May, I can still be found on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter).
I am now also on Snapchat (@anewjamee) but I am still trying to get that one figured out! If you have any tips on getting the hang of it, please let me know! And friend me:
I hope this post finds you all doing well! In the next few weeks, if there is anything that I can be praying for you about or helping you with, please let me know! We can become stronger, inspired, and empowered together! I love you all and I truly mean that!
