I haven’t managed to do Christmas cards again.
I am, or perhaps more accurately I was, a person who loved the chance to write to my pals at the end of the year and let them know how much their friendship and support has made a difference to me over the past 12 months.
It’s hard, isn’t it, when your illness restricts you from being the person you have always been?
When you can’t be the friend you have always been, or aspired to be, it’s frustrating.
There are ways to make Christmas card writing work. Typing up the messages rather than using pen and paper, which can be more taxing. Having addresses saved ready to print off onto stickers. Starting months in advance…
How rubbish it feels though when these methods are still out of reach because they still require an extra portion of energy and function that you do not have, or if you do it ends up needing to be spent elsewhere (like last week’s unexpected meter reading which meant I had to cut my rest short, go back downstairs, answer the door, speak a little, be ‘On’ for the brief exchange…
My good friends assure me that friendship is not transactional (the opposite of how others have made me feel in the past) and they feel they don’t need a Christmas card or present to confirm that I value them. But I still wish I could.
So please let me use this post as my way of showing my heartfelt thanks and immense gratitude for you all and for the friends I’ve never met in person who help make my days as good as they can be.
I wouldn’t and couldn’t be without you – at the end of a message with your depth of understanding for what it is to live this way. You are worth your weight in gold by merely existing here and caring and reminding a poorly gal that she’s not in this on her own.
Please never underestimate the difference you make in this online community.
Wishing you the most contended end of the year possible.
Love from Anna & her guinea pig girl gang
P.S. I hope 2023 brings me the ability to reply to at least some of your lovely comments 🤞🏼❤️
M.E. myself and I 