“The Good Stuff”….My Well-being Tips.

Hi Everyone,

I was going to blog about my new COVID infection, only 15 days after being cleared of my first ever infection.

You can read all about that saga here: How On Earth Did We Become A COVID Couple.

Just briefly, after a few COVID symptoms returned last week, I took a Rapid Antigen test (RAT), and surprise surprise it was positive. My GP ordered a PCR, which was also positive, and consensus of opinion is I have long COVID, which, given my health complexity, is not surprising.

My RAT is now thankfully negative, but on the same day of testing, my PCR test was reported as positive, which again all points to long COVID. Yet another chronic health issue to manage, but as always, I will find a way.

But let’s put that aside for now and focus on something much more positive….managing my overall wellbeing.

Which brings me to a much brighter topic…

The Good Stuff

When we have chronic disease, it can be so easy to focus on our pain, symptoms, medical appointments ( scheduling and attending), prescriptions, daily medication management, carers visits, and you might even have a carers role for your partner or another loved one .

It can become so overwhelming, and that feeling just makes everything worse!

In the midst of all that, what is ” The Good Stuff?.”

This is the stuff we need to do to mitigate “The Bad Stuff.” This is about our well-being, our efforts to reclaim ourselves from the octopus arms of our diseases, and break free as much as we can.

My “Good Stuff” is going to be very different to yours, so don’t think what I’m going to share is the answer. It’s simply my examples to help you find your “Good Stuff.”

I’d love you to share in the comments your own list of things that make you feel normal, connected with life as opposed to illness. That’s the aim of finding your “Good Stuff” and using it in your ” Wellness Toolkit.”

My Wellness Toolkit

In my “Wellness Toolkit,” there are “Good Stuff” routines I do daily and weekly that really help my overall sense of well-being.

Daily

Start my day with a cup of tea and look out onto the garden. It’s my quiet, reflective time, and if I miss it, my day never quite goes right. Sometimes I’ll take my first cuppa of the day back to bed so I really start slowly.
Have a healthy breakfast while watching the morning news. It connects me with the world, both local and global current affairs. It reminds me that life is bigger than my chronic disease.

Brain Games.. Every morning while having breakfast, I play “Wordle.” In the afternoon or evening, I play a series of word games or brain training games. I enjoy these so much and just seem to relax the moment I start playing. Below are my efforts with Wordle today and a selection of the games I currently play on my phone.

After breakfast, I potter around my home, clean up, do a bit of dusting, laundry, etc, and just make sure it’s a haven to live happily for the rest of the day. All of this is paced over 2 to 3 hours.
Before making my bed for the day I need to lie down for about 45 minutes. This is when I travel the world courtesy of my favourite YouTube travel vloggers. You have to check them out. Especially Leeanne and Dan from The Buddymoon. These guys are from South Africa and are just a delight and so genuine. All three of my top favourite’s are husband and wife teams, and all have the main goal of sharing travel experiences with us as if you are there with them. I’m very new to following this kind of vlogging, and I’m hooked! Here’s a list of my favourites for various reasons:
The Buddymoon (Leeanne and Dan) https://youtube.com/@thebuddymoon?si=5n606IPOAuSOb_xq
Walk With Me Tim https://youtube.com/@walkwithmetim?si=8f4znaRwM6Z1T_xT
Kara and Nate: https://youtube.com/@KaraandNate?si=c0045qIA5UM-HVR6
Chloe and Ludvig: https://youtube.com/@chloeandludvig?si=aahZangIE3lBKRMa

After making my bed it’s time to get dressed for the day which involves:

Choosing a nice outfit to wear..I don’t want to look sick.
Putting a little make-up on. I often get comments that my make-up looks perfect and no one could be bothered. My make-up routine is literally around 3 minutes and consists of :
- Mineral Foundation Powder applied with a make-up brush.
- Black eyeliner on top lid plus waterproof black mascara.
- Eyebrow pencil
- Lip liner and lipstick…and I’m done!
Styling my hair. I use Boost and Blend hair fibres to cover my bald patches, a hot air brush to give it volume, and lots of hairspray. It takes 5 minutes max, and I sit on my walker in front of the bathroom mirror to help deal with my pain.
I also listen to my favourite Spotify playlist or a podcast while doing my hair and makeup, distracting me from pain and taking me to a happy place.

In the afternoon around 3 pm, I’ll lie down again, enjoy some more YouTube vloggers, ( I follow some French Chateau owners too…..my favourite is The Chateau Diaries: https://youtube.com/@thechateaudiaries?si=2gkV3OmBvvfSH9Wu
I also do some blogging of my own while resting on the bed, or jump on my forum to check in on everyone. I also usually fall asleep for 30 minutes despite trying to stay awake.
After my rest period, my husband and I always enjoy afternoon tea together. It’s such a ritual for us that I look forward to it every day.
In the evenings we watch a favourite TV show while having dinner… another favourite time of the day.

Weekly

There are a few things I do weekly that are really important to me:

Write a blog post. This is a weekly goal and discipline. I love writing, but sometimes I feel too tired. I’ve learned that if I push through that feeling, I am soon energised and focused on nothing but writing. When I push that “publish” button, it feels like such an achievement!
Every second or third week, I aim to record and publish a podcast episode on Medical Musings with Sam. I like these to be as authentic as possible, so I’m a “record once” kind of girl. I feel like this ensures I’m speaking from the heart and not over-thinking. You may get a few too many “umms” as a result, but I hope not too many. I absolutely love my podcast. Even if I don’t have a massive following on this platform, I find it is such a therapeutic process to talk to an unseen audience in chat form. As I record, I imagine I’m in a gorgeous old fashioned book store talking to a group of people who came in for a book signing or reading. It transports me to a happy place.
I manage my online support forum, Medical Musings with Friends. As my regular readers know, this is my first love. I established it in 2017 to provide global support for anyone with chronic disease. It’s such a positive forum, and with over 1800 members across the world, it’s a 24/7 support group. It keeps me busy, but that’s also great for my well-being.
I also volunteer for Arthritis Queensland and am involved in two of their online support forums, Swell Gals and JIA Family Suppoort. Both are amazing groups.
Once a week, I try and get out of the house. That might be a drive in my power wheelchair around our village with my husband, or we might do a car picnic or try and get to a local cafe.

It All Keeps Me Sane

All of the above helps me hold on to me. Every activity taps into something I love to do. Looking as nice as I can, having a clean house, exercising my brain, nurturing my creativity, and enjoying connecting with and helping others.

There are other things I could list, but one of my biggest loves since I was a young girl is interior design and decorating. I love to create warm and welcoming rooms and spaces in my home. Often, it can be simply changing a throw or cushion. Sometimes, it’s changing a room around or changing cupboard door handles or creating a new flower arrangement.

Finding Your “Good Stuff”

Our chronic diseases are hard to ignore, which is why finding ways to increase our sense of well-being is so important.

If nothing else, I hope this blog post encourages you to take some time to create a list of your “Good Stuff” and incorporate it into your daily, weekly, or monthly routine.

Enjoy your “Good Stuff”….I’m blogging off to watch a YouTube travel vlogger and relax a while.

Take care,

Sam

My Podcast

If you would like an audible version of my blog, please check out my Podcast, Medical Musi ngs With Sam

Medical Musings with Friends

If you’re looking for genuine support, care, understanding and friendship, you are so welcome to join my closed Facebook support forum, Medical Musings with Friends . It’s a safe place to connect with others living with chronic and complex diseases, who truly understand the daily challenges. A warm welcome awaits.

My Book

My book “My Medical Musings”, is published by Imaginewe Publishers and available now to purchase as a paperback or e-book.

Here are the links to online retailers if you would like to purchase the book anytime:

I’m also a contributor at “The Mighty”. You can check out my published articles at My Author Page