NHBPM Day 30 ~ Tootsie roll (horn tooting post)

Play that horn. Want to hear a secret? You’re awesome. (It’s actually not even really a secret.) This is going to be hard for you, O Modest One, but you gotta give yourself props today. Write three things you love about yourself – things you’re great at – or just want to share. Don’t you dare signpost or undercut those self-compliments!

Today is the end of 30 posts in 30 days.  Traveling kept me from posting on time (traveling to DC and getting stuck in airports, then staying with my parents whose browser doesn't work with blogger), but not from writing my posts, so I am proud of this accomplishment, especially posting in two blogs.  I found a lot of really great blogs through this, and it was incredibly timely, since I was just beginning to really see what's out there in terms of online health communities.

I love the positivity I'm finding through health blogs, but I am also impressed to see people bearing their souls because there's no way to measure the enormity of the benefit that does other patients.  These blogs represent experiences and emotions and coping mechanisms you just can't find anywhere else.  And for people with rare or invisible illnesses especially, you'll find descriptions of symptoms you're experiencing that you won't hear about from your doctor or any published resource, as they're just not formally documented yet.

The name tootsie roll comes from six year old son's recent obsession with tootsie rolls, to the point that he exclaims "TOOTSIE ROLL!!!!" when something makes him really happy.  Or occasionally for no reason at all (and a couple of times he's even used it as an expletive).

Since the thought makes me chuckle, and since I need to be not-too-serious in order to toot my own horn, it puts me in the right mindset.

My first toot is not something I can take credit for, but something I am grateful for.  I pulled this from a blog I read yesterday:

"I have chronic fatigue syndrome, the Bad kind, and it has changed and made its best attempts to ruin my life. But one must keep soldiering on. So I do, paint brush in hand." http://bealightcfsawareness.blogspot.com/

Since I don't have the Bad kind (given all the things I can do), I need to remember that each day.  I can toot my horn that I do a pretty darn good job at that.

Each of the following quotes from lobsterquotes on twitter also inspired toots:

• When we see a soul whose acts are all regal, graceful, and pleasant as roses, we must thank God that such things can be and are~Emerson
• Toot:  I am good at seeing the good in people
•  If you want to know your future, look at what you are doing in this moment~Proverb
• I am spending my time as well as I can and working at being postive now, rather than after I get better or after my health-work-legal issues are resolved

I'm finding that bullet points help, so here are a few more for the road:

• I've kept my daughter's girlscouts troop going throughout my illness
• I asked for help with the troop from other leaders when I needed it
• I've fought hard for the right to work, because I am someone who is very fortunate to be very high functioning---discriminatory responses to our illness can't be allowed to give us the worst of both worlds (people fighting for disability being told they don't qualify and people trying to work being told they can't)
• I appreciate the help and support my husband gives me and do not take it for granted (though, like any care-giving spouse, I'm sure he would disagree with that at least some of the time)
• I am determined to give my kids a more normal life to the best of my ability

To all of you participating this month, cheers to us (with whatever beverage our respective illnesses allow), we rock!

Thank you, WEGO Health, for the prompts and the energy spent toward community and hope!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J
I am also participating in my Bread and Roses Blog