gift guide

It's my birthday on 3rd Feb and normally I loathe them because it's kinda like a reminder of my loneliness and the time I'm losing in my battle with anxiety and depression. Does anyone have any inexpensive, less travel (lockdown), people friendly (I live with my mom and brother), not-locked-in-my-room-all-day-but-still-bearable way to celebrate it? If I was living alone I might have just taken a leave from work and been at home but it isn't an option now. All ideas are welcome.

PS: my parents have also asked what I want as a gift, and my mind is totally blank. Any ideas for this too are welcome.

#birthdaywithchronicillness #Depression #Anxiety #tootired #GiftGuide

Hello friends I meant to write this gift guide a lot earlier in the month but I just fell very far behind. It's not just for Christmas time but because of the season I was thinking that even though the holidays shouldn't be focused on just gift-giving, gifts can still be a wonderful opportunity for #Spoonies to receive things that could have a positive impact on their quality of life.

When I've been given gifts, as grateful as I am for the beautiful candle or bath bomb or trinket, I sometimes think about how chronic illness has made me wish for more practical things that could help me with daily living.

I also know that it can be pretty challenging for our family and friends to know what to give someone who is living with a chronic illness because, understandably, they don't know what this life is like. In this blog post, I've listed a bunch of ideas that I think are pretty atypical for "traditional gifts" and tried to explain why the gift idea could be helpful or have a positive impact on a spoonie's quality of life.

I'm not actually sure if this is something I'm allowed to share here (so please remove if not) but if you have people in your life who are struggling to figure out what to give for a gift, please feel free to share this list with them. I really hope it helps (and feel free to add your own ideas too!). I'm still working on it and growing the list as I reflect on my own life and think about what would've been helpful during really hard times:

www.christinawiebe.com/practical-gift-guide-for-spoonies

Holidays are coming up, not sure what to say when people ask "what do you want for holiday?" Or know a neurodivergent person you want to get a gift for, but they already have an assortment of fidget cubes and a weighted blanket? Here are 3 ideas for affordable gifts (and things I'm going to ask my relatives for lol)

Musicians earplugs. These are made to not distort sounds like ordinary earplugs, also they are reusable and less bulky than headphones. $15-30 will get a pair for everyday use that helps to lessen background noise and cope with overlapping sounds.

Silly putty, slime, anything squishy/soft and pocket sized even a tiny stuffed animal keychain, a scarf or headband, anything that can be carried around conveniently for sensory needs.

Gift cards for convenience services such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates, Instacart because executive dysfunction and sensory or processing overload makes everyday tasks such as getting to work/school/appointments, grocery shopping, etc much more difficult and requires more significant effort.