My Blog Has Moved On

As you have probably noticed, this blog has pretty much died. After many years of regular blogging, in the spring and summer of this year, I experienced a huge lack of motivation that caused me to neglect my blog for several months. I have now decided to try to make a fresh start at a new, self-hosted blog. The content is going to be similar to what I’ve been blogging about over the past few years here, and I may republish soome old posts from here over there. I also started a Dutch blog for those who speak that language. I hope to see you around on my new blogs.

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Has WordPress Become Inaccessible?

I’m writing from m.wordpress.com, because the regular WordPress site doesn’t work well with my adaptive technology since they implemented the new “fresh” look. A disadvantage is that the mobile site doesn’t automatically publish to Twitter and such, and that I have to type in the categories rather than select them. I also notice I’m having an extremely narrow text field, which kind of sucks. I hope there will come a way to reset the WP site to “classic” mode. Then maybe I’ll be back to blogging soon.

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The August, Blog Carnival of Mental Health Is Up

It is already September here in the Netherlands, and I forgot to post the link to the August Blog Carnival of Mental Health. OccasionalWallflower put together a nice collection of posts on the theme of personal journey. Check it out and get touched.

No-one stood up to host the September carnival, so I will be hosting it here at Astrid’s Journal. The theme will be treatment. Please get your submissions in, via E-mail or comment, by September 28, and I’ll post the carnival on September 30. I am also looking for volunteers to host the carnival from November (its one-year anniversary!) on. If you’re willing to host, please comment here or send me an E-mail.

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The July Blog Carnival of Mental Health Is Up

The July Blog Carnival of Mental Health is up. Willfindhope put together a large collection of posts on the theme of stigma and discrimination in all kinds of areas of life. The August carnival will be hosted by OccasionalWallflower. She hasn’t yet posted an annoucnement, but she has told me her theme will be personal journey. More details later.

ETA: OccasionalWallflower has posted the announcement for the August carnival. As she says, the deadline for submissions is August 29.

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The June Blog Carnival of Mental Health Is Up

It’s the end of the month again, so here is the June edition of the Blog Carnival of Mental Health, on the theme of hope and despair. Pandora nicely put together the largest carnival we’ve ever had so far.

For the month of July, Willfindhope will be hosting the carnival, on the theme of stigma and discrimination. Please submit your posts via a comment or E-mail by July 28 and watch out for the carnival before the end of the month. Please realize that Willfindhope lives in Australia, so your post likely needs to get in early on July 28 for her to receive it at night.

Remember that I’m still looking for volunteers to host the Blog Carnival of Mental Health from August on (except for September). If you have a blog that is at least partly about mental health, and you are willing to host the carnival, please leave a comment here or send me an E-mail. Hosts get to choose the theme for their carnival edition, of course.

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The May Blog Carnival of Mental Health Is Up

This is just a note to let you all know that the May Blog Carnival of Mental Health, themed patients and professionals is up at The Madosphere. It is a nice collection of posts, so check it out.

The June carnival will be hosted by Pandora from Confessions of a Serial Insomniac, and the theme will be hope or despair. Please submit your post by midnight British summer time on June 29, and check back the next day for the carnival.

Also, I want to let you all know that the Blog Carnival of Mental Health has slots open for hosts starting the month of August – I seem to remember Mental Fool wanted to host in August, so please let me know if you read this if this is still the case. Otherwise, anyone who has a blog that has at least some content on mental health is free to host the carnival. You will choose the theme, deadline within your destined month, and how bloggers can submit their posts. If you are willing to host the carnival in an upcoming month, please leave a comment here.

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May Disability Blog Carnival

Welcome to May’s Disability Blog Carnival, on the theme of care. I’m two days early, but I was finished compiling the posts already. We have a very small carnival, but it is beuaitful nonetheless. Most people have written about interactions with professionals, but there is a good post on self-care, too.

Carl Thompson of Working at Perfect writes Dear Surgeon, I Have a Name:

Surgeons and specialists are extremely important in society, they save lives and make people feel better. They also usually drive swanky cars. Qualities such as persistence, enthusiasm and intelligence are common amongst these medical practitioners. What is not common however, and entirely absent in a large proportion of cases is emotional intelligence. But who am I to cast aspersions on, and make generalisations to an entire group of diverse individuals?

Cara of Butterfly Dreams writes Self-Care Is a B*tch:

I never thought too much about self care before I went to college.  Sure, some aspects of self care were more difficult for me, but I had been completely independent in all my self-care activities since my mid teens. Surely self care wouldn’t be difficult for me in college, after all, I took care of myself every day. I didn’t need a personal assistant like some of my friends, I could do everything on my own. Taking care of myself in college would be a breeze;
in fact, I barely thought about it before I left.

Lastly, Sharon Wachsler of After Gadget submitted two posts on the same encounter with a docotor. The first is Waspish Wednesday: Yes, I DO Know How to Operate My Power Chair. The second is Waspish Wednesday: Yes, Lyme Did Cause This.

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Blog Carnival Announcements

First, the April Blog Carnival of Mental Health, themed self-care, is now up at Nyx’s Journal. The May carnival will be hosted at The Madosphere, on the theme of patients and professionals. Submit your post in a comment there by May 25 and check back to see the posts a while later.

Second, I am hosting the Disability Blog Carnival this month. The theme for this month’s carnival is care. This could be health or social care, but also the care family members provide each other or self-care, of course. Please submit your posts in a comment here or E-mail me by May 25. I will post the carnival on May 29.

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The March Blog Carnival of Mental Health Is Up

The March Blog Carnival of Mental Health, on the theme of relationships, is up at Some Assembly Required. It’s a small edition – in fact, I’d expected there would be more submissions on this theme -, but a fine one.

The April carnival will be hosted by Nyx, and the theme will be self-care. Get your submissions in preferably by the 27th, and check back on the 30th for the carnival.

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New Blog on Living with DID

I have started a new personal blog, where I and all my parts can write about our life with dissociative identity disorder. It is called A Multitude of Musings, which is not too original a name, but better than any other I could think of. This blog is mostly public, but some entries will be password-protected due to privacy. If you know me online, you can send me an E-mail and request the password. I still have my boundaries and plan not to talk about the nature of my trauma, as on this blog, because I do not want to hurt the people involved. If anyone feels their privacy has been invaded anyway or they have another reason to feel offended, you can also E-mail me. Your experience being different from mine, does not count, since with this personal blog, I don’t deny that anyone else’s experience is real.

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