Most people with chronic illness have experienced anxiety or panic at some point.  It's not always a condition on it's own, but commonly is a symptom of other illnesses that affect the autonomic nervous system. There are many ways to reduce anxiety and stress, but today I will be sharing a fun and creative craft project that will help you restore calm to your world - the Twiddle Muff!

If you've ever met somebody with mental health or even chronic pain conditions, you have likely noticed that they tend to have habits like fidgeting or making repetitive movements or sounds. These actions are called stimming, they are an automatic response to stress or pain and they have a specific purpose. A Twiddle Muff can be a great tool in helping with this need.

After almost a year of severe, chronic migraines, I am happy to announce that I am finally feeling better. I’m not 100% yet, but I have had several pain-free days for the first time in ten months.

I am over-the-moon excited and thankful for the relief.

But as much as I clung to God over the past year, I’m sad to say that my faith still suffered.

For months I was unable to read my Bible (or anything else for that matter), and I am struggling to get back into the groove.

I came across this fantastic list of guidelines for how to live successfully with ME and just had to share it. So here they are, the 11 Rules For Having ME Successfully:

* Do not consider having M.E. unless you have a downstairs toilet.

* In order to have M.E. successfully you should acquire a cleaner, gardener, cook and a general handyman. If this is impossible, you should find a rich, devoted, non-talkative partner with few outside interests.

Welcome to our garden! We have just moved into a lovely new house and this one has a garden! I am beyond excited about being able to see the gorgeous views of nature from different windows around the house. I have always enjoyed bird-watching and nature walks, so this is an incredible joy for me.

We hope to learn more about the inhabitants of our garden, and do our part to support them and protect them year round. I will find and share beautiful photos of them and collect interesting facts about them for future reference.

One of my favourite things about the blogging community are the seasonal tagging events. These blog tags are like a game of "20 Questions" and "Tag - You're It!" rolled into one.

You generally answer a bunch of themed questions or write a post based on a theme or prompt and then tag a few people to take part. It's a wonderful way to get to know each other better and a fun escape from the usual topics we write about. This one is all about Summer favourites!