Making Memory (Jars)

I'm calling 2014 "The Year Of Social Endeavour": the idea for a Memory Jar came about after I spoke with my friend and fellow spoonie Diana on Twitter about our goals and plans for the year. Of course after a lot of research (faffing and scrolling) on Pinterest, I got inspired to design and decorate my own jar.

My mum had some Kilner jars that she was no longer using, so I put one of these to good use. I designed and printed a little lilac label for the front of the jar, and framed it on to the glass using decorative washi tape, which I bought from this Etsy shop aaages ago. I then added a cover for the top of the jar using a circular design from some fabric scraps I had lying around in my stash, and some ribbon which came free with an issue of Mollie Makes.

I'm using bright, bold origami papers that I got from Hobbycraft and writing little notes to myself, then folding them up and building a colourful confetti memory stash that I can open on New Year's Eve 2014, and relive all the wonderful things I have done, the achievements and memories I have made throughout the year. I already have 4 memories in the jar, and it's only the 15th of January! Also, being a spoonie is not without it's memory problems, so I will probably be in for some pleasant surprises come December 31st!

What creative plans do you have this year? Do you have any special crafty projects you want to tackle, or just simply some goals you want to achieve? What do you hope to be in YOUR memory jar in 12 months' time? Let me know in the comments :)

Look after yourselves,

J x

New Year 2014: Looking Ahead and Leaving The Past in The Past

The past few weeks I've been thinking a lot about how much my health has improved over the last 18 months, and how I've continued to learn to manage my symptoms to keep me "on a level" as it were. This involves pacing, eating right and getting good sleep. Finding balance out lives is something we all strive to do, whether or not we are "spoonies". I have come to the conclusion that I don't want my symptoms to define me anymore. Yes, they will always be there, but I want to get out and live my life, I'll be 31 in January and I feel like I am missing out on life experiences, however small. I have a list of things I want to do and places I want to visit, and I also plan to step out of my comfort zone a bit more in 2014 and confront my social anxiety, whilst also being kind to myself and not overdoing it.

So what does all this mean for this blog? I want to share more of my daily "spoonie" life with you, and stop getting bogged down with lengthy posts about how chronic my illness is. I tweeted a picture the other night of my "weekly cook-up" which is an exercise I do about once a week to make sure my freezer is stocked up with easy to prepare food. I don't have energy to waste on doing this daily, so I do it in a batch.

So I could make a little post about that. Practical stuff, knowledge and tips that I can pass on. Basically what I intended this blog to be about in the first place.

I'm rambling. What I'm trying to say is that, whilst I will always have my symptoms, they don't define who I am, and they shouldn't for you either. We are all human underneath, and we are more than just our illnesses.

I will continue to refer to myself as a "spoonie" but only in the correct context. I will continue to pace, eat mindfully and keep good sleep hygiene, just as someone who has asthma continues to use their inhaler-as a tool to manage symptoms. Nothing more dramatic than that.

This is my life and this is who I am, and I intend to embrace that in 2014.

Happy New Year everybody!