New Material

Rj asked me today how I somehow find new things to write about nearly each day.
How do I come up with new material every single day?

Well, there are a few reasons.

Primarily, drawing inspiration from real life offers a never-ending stream of material. Having several chronic illnesses offers new stories, new experiences, and new ways to cope. Even if all of my illnesses were to go into remission, or if I were to be miraculously cured, I have had enough varying experiences already to continue telling stories day by day. A life revolving around medicine, diet, health, coping skills, and illness, will always have a place. I guess I should count myself lucky.

Secondly, changes in health and medicine happen every single day. There are new discoveries, new treatments, new medications, and controversy around all of the above, happening every day. I see about five to ten stories each day as I scroll through any social media platform about a new medication, a new perspective on an old treatment, and a new health craze that touts an ability to cure the incurable. Science surrounding chronic illness also provides a consistent stream of new information to discuss.

Thirdly, we all evolve. Our minds and our opinions evolve over time through experience - sometimes bitter experience. I am certain that if you look back at some old blog posts, I was probably really hopeful and optimistic about cupping as a treatment to help the muscle pain and spasms in my back, or maybe a strikingly negative view on the use of pain medication. At one point I was convinced that the Ankylosing Spondylitis was a misdiagnosis and that I simply had a generic form of arthritis, for instance. Oh how things change. As we go through life and go through new situations, our perspectives will change. They may change slightly, they may change drastically, but little changes will always occur. So I don't even necessarily need a new symptom to arise, a new treatment to try, or a new illness to break me down - it might be the exact same pain and symptoms that I have experienced for years and years. And years. But my viewpoint about these issues will change in unexpected ways over time. In this way, I will always have new material to discuss. 

Trying to write every single day takes dedication.
Writing about illness as I am going through it each day is a no-brainer for me.
Suffering with chronic illness and trying to keep my symptoms bearable and my illnesses relatively stable IS a full-time job. Writing about my daily experiences with illness might require a few minutes out of my day every day, but it isn't exactly a 'job' for me, because I don't have to fabricate anything. I write what I know.
It is much different that writing a food blog while trying brand new recipes on a regular basis, or an exercise blog that requires new videos and new routines that no one has thought of, or trying to write fiction or poetry on a daily basis.
Illness is my life. Well, a part of it anyways... a large part. It is already happening.
So I take care of myself and I write what I know. That's it.

I can never truly say that my life is boring. I might be a home body and I may stick to playing board games at home and relaxing while watching the latest tv series. I may stick close to home with Dex and Rj, but when it comes to how I feel, my life is never boring. It is unpredictable, messy, often painful -> it is anything but ordinary.
What's more?
Nothing that I go through is the exact same as someone else's experience. My daily blog posts are not going to be like everyone else's because the unique combination of illnesses, medications, and medical history is unlike anyone else's.

Writing daily takes dedication.
Being chronically ill provides new information constantly. Put those two together and you have a daily medical blog that is personal and still, somehow, relatable.

Happy blogging!