Hey there, hi there, ho there!

This week I spoke to Amy from Living with ME. Amy is a university student studying English and Linguistics. Amy suffers from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). You can find Amy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Hello! I’m Amy Saunders and I have a blog called Living with ME which is basically a lifestyle blog, focusing on chronic illness. I have ME/CFS, (chronic fatigue syndrome) and potentially an underactive thyroid as well. I am a student at university, studying English Language and Linguistics, and in my spare time (when I’m not sleeping/resting!) I love reading, singing, and writing!

So now we know a little about Amy, let’s have a read of her Friday Feelings entry

“Dear Diary

For the past few weeks, my Friday night has been spent being in bed by 8pm, with a hot water bottle and a big soaps catch up. Usually after a busy week, I am ready to collapse and I use my Friday nights to rest and unwind from a chaotic week, and I usually love doing that. It’s time that I get to myself to do what I want to do, whether that be watching my favourite TV show, doing some blogging, or just reading a book. Occasionally, if I’ve had a quieter week, I might go out for a few drinks with friends, or a meal, but on the whole, I’m usually in bed, and that’s just the way I like it.

I’m currently recovering from a bit of a flare up from my illness which hit me in March, along with a side of anxiety and a bit of depression, so time to myself is so special to me, and so important for my health.

I am comfortable enough with my illness to know my limits, but whenever a flare up arrives, it is bound to hit you hard, no matter how bad the flare is.

March was a bad month, and that’s never going to change, but what is important is that I persevered and I got through it. It’s now time for me to reflect and look back at it and work out if there was a trigger, something that caused it, so I can learn from it and prepare for the future.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Will I get better? Will I get worse? Or will I just stay the same?

I have all these big life decisions that I have to start making over the next year or so, and to be quite honest, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do.

It’s hard to try and explain this to people. I’m at university, so naturally people are always asking me what I want to do once I’ve finished. My gut tells me to be honest and say ‘I don’t know’, but my head tells me to lie and say ‘Oh I want to be a teacher’. I mean, that is the truth isn’t it? I do want to be a teacher. I know it’s not realistic and it most likely won’t happen, but it is the truth, right?

I don’t expect anyone to understand what it feels like to live with a chronic illness at 21 years old, but it would be nice from them to try.

But for now, I live for the present moment. I try not to think about the future, and the big decisions that I’m going to have to face soon. I’m very grateful for the life that I have, and for the family and friends, and wonderful boyfriend that I have. That is what is important, and that is enough for me.”

A big thank you to Amy for taking part in our Friday Feelings blog.

I really hope that she will be able to achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. I can totally relate to her story. How about you? Do you relate to Amy’s diary entry? Have you any advice for her about making big decisions while dealing with a chronic illness? Let us know in the comments.

Want to write your own Friday Feeling entry?

Send

A high res photo

A short paragraph about yourself

What illnesses you have

Your diary entry with the following topics in it:

It’s Friday, many people will go out tonight for a few sociable drinks with their friends. What do you do on a typical Friday night?
How are you feeling at this moment about your chronic illness?
How do you feel about the future in regards to your illness?
How do you feel about the way people view your illness?

and links to your blog and social media to evienevin87@yahoo.ie

Be sure to put “Friday Feelings” in the subject bar.

Sunday’s blog will be published tomorrow as we are heading to London for treatment on Sunday.

Until then,

Z.M

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