Lessons from the RA Community

In this final entry for RABlog Week, I wanted to follow the prompt and give shoutouts to many of the good blogs I've read. But due to the other circumstances of life, my brain went on information overload days ago. I've subscribed to as many blogs as I can and will read more of them when I can think again. I'll try to give the deserved thanks and shoutouts directly to the writers and through links in my blog as I get caught up.

What I learned from the community:

I need a shower chair, cool scissors, robot vacuum, and a therapist.

People sicker than I am are doing serious advocacy work.

There are a lot of people who understand exactly how I feel.

The RA community offers great sources of information.  I should pay more attention.


What I learned about the community:

For the last few years, my social media uses have been very specific. I use Facebook to see my cousins' babies and my former students' adventures (and the other way around). I use Twitter to scream into my political echo chamber, promote my blog, and try to lure people to my Etsy shop. (I also follow sheep farmers and some great, quirky sites like Chaucer Doth Tweet and A Bear.)

Which party does your cat support?

Blog week was a good reminder to me that there are a lot of nice strangers out there. I don't know anyone's political leanings, what fellow bloggers are selling, or even what their cats look like. I do know that they are people who have struggles similar to mine. All of us are seeking solutions and reaching out to share what we learn and help each other.

Thank you to all the contributors, But especially to Rick for giving us all this opportunity and for encouraging my writing year-round.

What I learned about myself:

My attention span and memory are horrible (Fibro-fog). I look for articles and realize I've already read them or somehow missed them from days ago. Also, I take notes of names and sites and lose my notes. I've subscribed to as many as I could, so hopefully I can get to know these authors over the course of the year.

I took on RA Blog week as a personal challenge. I want to start writing a 1/2 hour podcast in addition to my blog, so I need to find out if I can actually focus on reading and writing long enough each day to act like it is a job.

This week was as bad as weeks get. It involved two trips to the airport and one to the DMV as well as above average family stress. I'll tell the whole story in next week's blog. Suffice it to say, writing five short blogs this week has been tough. Finding time to read and take notes on all of the other good blogs has been harder.

But I did it. It took more caffeine and pain pills than I usually take, and not everything was done as thoroughly as I would have liked. But I accomplished the goal and am looking forward to next year.