Miss Chronically Creative: 3rd candle light award

Image by ismh_ via Flickr

{Double disclaimer: It’s been brought to my attention that the font and color scheme of my blog makes it difficult for some folks to read (as does my tendency to bamble (babble and ramble). I’m working on choosing a more visually agreeable template (may have to let go of my love of widgets, and descriptive summaries of blogs of note), and hope to have something in place soon) Due to the number of images I wanted to include in this post, I had to use Live Writer which isn’t really supported by WordPress.com any more. So I apologize in advance for the blog not looking quite like I had envisioned. Thanks for your patience!}

Emily Ruth is truly an inspiration. Despite her battles with fibromyalgia, inflammatory/rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and endometriosis, she has “a passion for encouraging and empowering the chronically ill.” As she says on her blog chronically creative: living creatively with chronic illness, “I’m on a mission to live creatively despite illness and hope to empower and encourage you to live a creative life whatever your circumstances. I love to bake, scrapbook, make cards and paint my nails! I also love to give stuff away and bless the socks off people I’ve never met. I may be chronically ill, but I’m also chronically creative, and it’s contagious!”

And Emily Ruth’s, Miss Chronically Creative, exuberance, crafting skills and abilities, honest and open blog entries, and facebook page are very contagious and habit-forming.

Her goal for this year, “to dream big” means she will refuse to dream small – “determined to fight for old dreams and find new ones.”

Her kindness and caring for others is demonstrated in her project Random Acts of Blogging Kindness: “ a project that seeks to bless and encourage those living with a chronic illness who wholeheartedly blog with a passion to raise awareness, who write about their own struggles so that they may help and encourage others in chronic pain.

But, it is Emily Ruth, herself, who blogs wholeheartedly, with passion, and offers encouragement to others dealing with chronic illnesses and chronic pain.

To quote Emily Ruth again, “[b]logging is one way I deal and cope with chronic pain. I’m on a mission to live creatively despite chronic illness and I hope to empower and encourage you to do the same. I really hope that you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it.” Chronically Creative is Emily Ruth’s journey, “her search for contentment.” Her blog (and facebook page) demonstrate her skill at crafting, writing, and caring.

Emily Ruth has light many candles; lights that have helped others to find their way through the shadows of chronic illness and chronic pain. I think it’s time Emily Ruth received recognition for all her good works and her inspiring courage and perseverance; Emily Ruth truly is a a candle lighter.

Kate Kresse, of Believe Anway, originated the Candle Lighter Award to: . . . “light a candle in the darkness that envelopes us all at times. I want to lighten loads and light the way. I gravitate towards positive people and positive blogs. I want to start a blog award that reflects my love for the positive in the blogosphere.”

Kate asks little of the winner – to link back to her comments when the blog been posted, and to, of course, if you choose, to pass the award along to anyone you feel deserves it. You can award it as many times as you like, all that Kate asks is that you link your post back to her site.

http://dogear6.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/adding-a-widget-to-your-sidebar/ will help you, Emily Ruth, to attach the candle lighter award to your side bar (thanks again to Kate both for initiating this award, and for the badge instructions, which I also want to thank dogear6 and Becca Givens  for helping me place my badge on my side bar. Thanks for someone who is less than techsavy.)

If you have yet to visit Chronically Creative (the blog or facebook page), you are missing out on an enormous amount of creativity and courage. As Emily Ruth says, “creativity is not impaired by illness . . .”

2nd candle lighter award: picnic with ants

Image via Wikipedia

{Disclaimer: I had to use Live Writer to general this blog due to the amount of graphics/pictures I incorporated. Which means it’s pretty blah, the font not too exciting an the layout not quite what I wanted, especially for a blog that points folks toward a very creative blog!}

As I said in my first bestowing of the award, there are SO many deserving bloggers out there (I have a list of who I’d like to give the award to.)

This time, I’m going to try and cut paste a bit differently, so that the recipient, Wendy of Picnic with Ants blog, origin of the award, and the only criteria for acceptance are easier to read (not in several different fonts in several different colo(u)rs.) So here goes – I hope to get this finished before the internet goes on strike on 18/01/2012, so I can get Wendy’s hon(u)or out there.

Kate Kresse, of Belive Away, originated the Candle Lighter Award to: . . . “light a candle in the darkness that envelopes us all at times. I want to lighten loads and light the way. I gravitate towards positive people and positive blogs. I want to start a blog award that reflects my love for the positive in the blogosphere.”

Kate asks little of the winner – to link back to her comments when the blog been posted, and to, of course, if you choose, to pass the award along to anyone you feel deserves it. You can award it as many times as you like, all that Kate asks is that you link your post back to her site.

Now, on to the person and blog I’m nominating for the award, someone who shines a light in her particular chronic illness community, the chronic illness community in general, and in my life particularly: Wendy of Picnic with Ants. Wendy has to deal daily with headaches, vertigo, disequilibrium and the other effects of Meniere’s disease. She blogs honestly and openly about her illness; how it has affected her life; shattered some dreams; and changed her future. The things she has to face like further hearing loss, endless operations, tinnitus, and the list goes on. She also advocates for those folks dealing with chronic illnesses such as Meniere’s and other chronic illnesses as evidenced by her recent posting: Help End Federal Neglect of Headache Disorders.

And, if her current blog wasn’t enough, Wendy, as an artist, has created another blog: Create to Heal. As she writes of this project:

Why Create To Heal?: Art can be therapeutic. “I am not an Art Therapist, I am simply someone who uses art to help deal with the day to day trials of living with a chronic illness. My goal is to create something every day! Draw, Paint, Make a Collage, Take a Picture, Create a Recipe…anything. I may not be able to post every day. However, I will try to post every thing I’ve created. (so some days you may get one day’s worth of creation, other days you may get many.) When one lives with a chronic illness some days it can be hard to accomplish anything. Having this goal to create something every day, gives me something to strive for. It also gives me an outlet to share how living with a chronic illness affects me. I’d love to hear your story. To see your creations. You will see that things do not have to be perfect. Just doing something will help.”

Here are just some examples of what she is able to create despite the pain and disequilibrium she lives with daily:

 

The Last Dance.
Leaves blowing in the wind

copywrite, of course, on all images belong to Wendy (just so you know)

As part of her artistic side, she participated in Art Every Day Month during during November 2011.

Wendy is a multifaceted individual, blogger, writer, creative person. And, without going into personal details, Wendy has been my candle in the darkness as I’ve tried to navigate my mental illness issues and problems finding treatment. She has helped light the paths at the tao of the crossroads; she truly has been my candle lighter.

I think her drawing, Hope, best symbolizes all that Wendy stands for, and I am very pleased to nominate her as my second candle lighter award winner.

http://dogear6.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/adding-a-widget-to-your-sidebar/ will help you, Wendy, attach the candle lighter award to your side bar (thanks again to Kate both for initiating this award, and for the badge instructions, which I also want to thank dogear6 and Becca Givens  for helping me place my badge on my side bar. Thanks for someone who is less than techsavy.)

* (One word of caution, only, Wendy writes about ALL aspects of her dealing with the disease and her relationship with her wonderful husband, Stuart. There may be some posts that are too personal for some folks to read comfortably, depending on who they are and how they react to the good, the bad, and the ugly (and the amazing) of being a couple dealing with chronic illness.)

And, I already have my 3rd nominee in mind – if all goes well, I could be posting about that tomorrow. (Or Thursday – time will tell.)

Thanks for listening.