Interview with Laurie (Guest Post #24)

Hi everyone, Today’s blog post comes from my friend and fellow blogger, Laurie. Be sure to check out her blog and follow her on social media.

1. What is your name? Laurie
2. Age? 55
3. What is the name/cause of your visual impairment (or other disability that you may have)? Mental health issues such as chronic depression and anxiety. Invisible illnesses such as Celiac and autoimmune diseases such as microscopic colitis, also sleep apnea,chronic fatigue syndrome and osteoarthritis among many dx.
4. How does your visual impairment (or other disability that you may have) effect you on a daily basis? It makes it difficult to function on some days between the fatigue and pain. Brain fog can make keeping up with my blog a struggle. I look at others blogs and have a really hard time not judging mine but I am not going to give up.
5. What do other people feel about your visual impairment (or other disability that you may have)? Because it is not visible to them it is hard to know or remember that I have a chronic battle that I struggle with daily. It gets frustrating at times.
6. If you had to give one piece of advice to others about having a visual impairment (or other disability that you may have) what would it be? Don’t live your life based on what you think others think of you. Make sure you take care of you no matter what. We need to break the stigmas and show them that we are more than our dx. We are people with feelings and can live a full happy life in spite of our disease or disability.
7. Who has inspired you the most in life and your blogging and or YouTube channel? My youtube channel inspiration was due to watching my daughter with her having fun with her animal channels. My blog is something I have always wanted to do but struggled with the confidence to really go for it. Then Ruth Soukup started using the “Do It Scared” motto and it keeps me going.
8. Besides writing or making YouTube videos, what do you like to do in your spare time? I love to read. I don’t have a specific genre of book. I like many types. I also like to watch movies with family we sometimes have family craft nights too.
9. Name a bad habit that you have? Emotional eating
10. Name your best quality?   Empathetic
11. If you could interview anyone living or dead who would it be and why? That is a tough question. Maybe Mother Theresa. She did so much good and I want to know how she did it all.
12. What is your college major/Minor? Bachelors arts liberal studies with minor in early childrens services and minor in psychology
13. What school (college or university) did you go to? UMA~ University of Maine at Aug
14. What is the title of your blog or YouTube channel? SEEKING SERENITY AND HARMONY

    

     

     

     

    1. When and why did you start your blog or YouTube channel?
15. BLOGhttps://seekingserenityandharmony.comI dabbled with a few random blogs off and on but didn’t really get into it until early 2018. My goal is to spread awareness about mental health and invisible illness issues and stigma. I also have a strong interest in advocacy for children as I am watching the mental health rates in our youth rise instead of decline in the last several years. Youth are also showing signs of mental health issues at much younger ages now than ever before.

    YOUTUBE CHANNEL

    It started out as just a place that I posted some bird videos of my poultry so I could share them on Backyard Chickens where I am a member. I have utilized it some during It’s a Lovely Life’s Blogging Challenges but don’t utilize it as much as I should. I want to do a lot more videos this year and hopefully some much better quality ones. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRDPiiXB_K0NemU4cHy42qg?view_as=subscriber

16. Where do you see yourself in five years? In 5 years I hope that I will have more time to write and focus on the projects I want to spend time working on. I would like to think that in 5 years I will have improved my health issues and not have such a daily struggle.
    1. Where can other people find you on Social media (Please list and provide links)
17. https://www.instagram.com/seekingserenity2001/https://twitter.com/harmony2001https://www.pinterest.com/SeekingSerenityandHarmony/

    https://www.facebook.com/seekingserenityandharmony/

    https://www.facebook.com/SeekingSerenityandHarmonyHomestead/