Tag: craft fair

Posted in Archive, September 2013

Craft Fundraiser for Dystonia.

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Today I attended a craft fair that was fundraising for a school and for the The Dystonia Society. I had been rather looking forward to it as it was a great opportunity to raise awareness and to restock my craft supplies – I love to crochet. The fundraiser was busy all day which was fantastic and over £200 was raised for The Dystonia Society.

About halfway through the day I got the opportunity to give a speech on what Dystonia was and what life with it was like. I was slightly nervous that I would be useless and just woffle, but have been reassured the speech was ok 🙂 . I drew on my experiences of living with generalised Dystonia, and whilst I tried to only speak in a positive way, I also spoke in a realistic manner, and sadly Dystonia is not a pink fluffy ball of positivity. I found out afterwards that my speech had reduced some people to tears, which I felt bad about, but it had also inspired several people to do their own fundraising for The Dystonia Society which is incredible!

My church has chosen there september mission to be Dystonia. So they shall also be raising awareness this month which is incredible! I feel very lucky that they have taken on this cause. It was a fantastic day today, and I am so thankful that I was well enough to go down and meet such a lovely group of people.

 

Posted in Archive, September 2013

Finding My Feet

Posted on by dystoniaandme

So after a few days of feeling a bit rough due to a viral infection, I am finally feeling more myself. I try to avoid picking up any illness as much as possible as when I get a bug my Dystonia acts up. It is like my little Dystonia alien waits until I’m feeling under whether to kick it up a few notches and go “Haha, so you want to rest? Well I’m going to distort both your legs, try to rest now!”. My alien really is a pain.

I finally feel like I am beginning to find my feet and learn to live life alongside Dystonia. I have accepted that I can’t live life with it in the background because it disrupts things too much, but I can live alongside it, and ignore it as much as I can. I kept my life on hold for a year, and now I’ve taken it off pause and from next Thursday I am shall be studying again.

In life people define themselves by their achievements and what they have done. I was considering this the other day and trying to figure out what I would define myself as/by. My thoughts flicked from Dystonia advocate, fundraiser, Author (My novel is almost finished), and reflexologist (when I qualify). It took awhile before I realised I didn’t have to choose just one, I can choose them all, as each one of them makes me proud. This last year I could have sat at home feeling sorry for myself doing nothing, instead I decided to try to educate the world on Dystonia – an ongoing task, fundraising for The Dystonia Society (I have raised over £1000 so far), started and almost finished my first novel, and found myself a new career path. I am proud of me!

Tomorrow I am attending a craft fair, where half of what is raised will be given to a Dystonia charity. I am rather looking forward to this. I like to Crochet so it shall be interesting to browse whilst helping raise awareness for Dystonia.

I saw this quote below, which has been taken from one of my favourite Disney films. For me it rings true. The path I am now on is by no means easy, and I struggle often, however it will lead me to where I need to be.