30 Day Chronic Illness Challenge: Day 25 and 26

Day 25: Name five activities you have managed to pursue whilst being ill, and five activities you may not have done had you not been ill.

I'm only doing three instead of five, as it's becoming increasingly difficult to not repeat myself. 

1. Reading

I'm aware from other people with similar conditions that they run into problems reading - the words move about, they can't focus and concentrate or it brings on headaches and the like. I couldn't be more grateful for the fact that this doesn't happen to me (touch wood).

I know myself well enough to recognise the fact I would go absolutely crazy if I couldn't retreat into a book whenever I needed to. There's nothing I love more in this world than a good book.


2. Pilates

I'm lucky in that eighty percent of the time I manage to at least do a little bit of the workout I use. I struck gold in finding a workout that isn't just pure Pilates and incorporates a little bit from several other disciplines - stretches from a particular form of yoga (I forget which) and some moves from classical dance training. Through a mixture of grim determination and no small amount of pig-headed stubbornness I've kept going with it and if anything my overall flexibility is better now than it ever has been. The downside is I do find I have to do it as close to every day as possible to keep that flexibility and low pain level, but it's a small price to pay for comfort.


3. Day tripping

I can't do this very often any more, and nowhere near as much as I would like, but through careful planning I have managed a few trips since falling ill. The most recent excursion was to Chester to see friends, but also to tick off both my biggest loves: animals and in my own words "things that are a few thousand years old and have fallen over". I really recommend both the city itself and Chester Zoo. The partner in crime and I also managed days at Warwick Castle and Thorpe Perrow Arboretum in North Yorkshire. I miss the ability to wake up on a nice weekend and just throw things in the car and head off, but being able to do some things is always better than nothing.

(Roman Gardens, Chester.)

Day 26: What impact has this had on your friends, family, partner, parents etc?

I'm going to refer back to Day 4 as I've inadvertently answered this already:

30 Day Chronic Illness Challenge: Day 4