Recent Blog Awards Round-Up

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I’m rather late to the party with these (and by ‘rather’ I mean incredibly) and I don’t typically do blog awards on here. However, I wanted to acknowledge them and the amazing fellow bloggers who’ve so kindly nominated me. I’m going to be a rebel and break the rules a little by combining awards, not doing nominations, and curtailing my responses as otherwise you may be here for days reading it all! To those who’ve nominated me – and hopefully I’ve included each but apologies if not – thank you. And to all those who read InvisiblyMe, thank you. You rock!

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Blogger Recognition Award

Nominated by Rachel, Nisha, James, Cecilia, Ana, and Nicole.

Give a brief story of how your blog got started.

I’d started numerous websites, then blogs when they came into being, over the years, but nothing stuck. I’d get a title and a few ideas and that was it. When my health took another nosedive and I had my stoma surgery, I wanted to give something back in the way that other individuals had encouraged me. I had more time on my hands, lost my job due to surgeries & ill health, and felt worse than ever, and yet more motivated than ever to do something to raise awareness of invisible illnesses and provide a little support if possible.

Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.

Own your space  –  Your blog is your own, so write what makes your heart happy and use it as a platform to achieve what it is you want to achieve. Don’t feel boxed in when it comes to content either; just because you may write within a niche doesn’t mean you can’t expand on that and be creative.

It’s okay to take breaks – Whenever you need to, take a break. It’s easy to get caught up in feeling stressed and worrying about falling behind when it comes to writing content, replying to comments, responding to emails and reading other blogs. Life gets in the way and if you have chronic/invisible illness there’s another layer of uncertainty and challenges to face. Take a breather, remember what you love about blogging, step away when you need to, and reach out to the blogging community for support.

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Sunshine Blogger Award

Nominated by Yancosky, Liz & ValleyGirlWalking.

Sweet or Savoury?  Savoury first, then lots of sweet. I have a relentless sweet tooth.

Do you have tattoos?  I have 8 piercings (3 in each ear lobe, 1 upper ear piercing and my lip) but no tattoos. There’s one I’ve wanted for ten years, maybe more, that I’ve been ‘waiting for the right time’ to get due to its meaning and personal relevance. Maybe one day..! In the mean time, there are always temporary Hello Kitty tattoos, because even at 30 I’m still cool 😉

Are you a spring, summer, autumn or winter person?  I can appreciate parts of each season, but I’d have to go for summer due to my body struggling to regulate temperature; I always seem to be freezing and pain tends to be worse in the colder months.

If you could introduce one thing world wide, what would it be?  A replacement immune system that works like a USB stick – simply plug and play.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given? Too many excellent bits of advice, but I’ll go for something my mum says as she said it again the other day. ‘Don’t keep kicking yourself and beating yourself up, there are too many people in the world who’ll do that for you’. Also, when feeling the self-hate monster and feeling guilty and useless for not living the life I thought I’d be living, she reminds me that you don’t have to do amazing things and achieve greatness to be a good person. ‘Have you killed anyone? Have you set out to harm people? No, you don’t have an evil bone in your body. Those are the ones who should feel bad, but they probably don’t and yet you do even though you have so much kindness to give. Stop it’. Of course, the ‘stop it’ part is easier said than done, but it’s a stark reminder nonetheless.

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Versatile Blogger Award

Nominated by Nikki and Mishka.

7 facts about myself…

1. I’ve never tried a churro. Don’t even know what they are. In fact, I’m off to Google it right now.
2. I can be a hypocrite who can’t take her own advice.
3. I made a website when I was about 13 having picked up some HTML, using a box of a computer and dial up internet. It was dedicated to Lord of The Rings and Elijah Wood. Not a high point in my life, but I was proud of the technical achievement aspect.
4. I grew up in a chocolate shop. Sadly it wasn’t made of chocolate, it wasn’t a Hansel & Gretel fairytale.
5. I can’t stand pigeons. They’re hateful things.
6. I don’t have the guts to do things anymore. Literally, I have no large bowel.
7. I don’t eat fish or anything from the sea. The whole idea of it creeps me out.

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Random Act of Kindness Award

Nominated by Gail.

[ Write a paragraph on a random act of kindness, either you saw, was given to you, or you have done.]

I’m going to go for one that happened a couple of years ago with a touch of humour to it, though she certainly didn’t find it amusing at the time.

My mother was in town doing a little shopping, I was at work, and the town is known for having some pigeons in residence. As she walked down the high street, what she describes as ‘flock of pigeons’ (I am imagining more than two, but less than a flock) descended… and crapped all over her, like a tin of paint being tipped on her from above by a bunch of thugs. Thuggish pigeons. Anyway, obviously equal measures embarrassed and disgusted, my mum was shocked, and even more shocked to discover people weren’t just laughing but coming over to help. One lady went into the nearest shop to ask for some kitchen roll, and another took tissues out of her bag. As a team, they helped clean her up and quietly thanked their lucky stars it wasn’t them with which the ‘flock’ of pigeons took umbrage. I’m just glad a few people were so incredibly kind as to take the time to make sure my mum was okay and help her in this rather yucky situation. They could have continued to laugh and walk on by, but they didn’t.