Category Archives: Being a Spoonie

More Excellent Things To Do While Social Distancing

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Since we’re all still social distancing and will be for a while, I wanted to make another, even longer resource list, with some fun ideas, some helpful links, and some resources that can help you through this scary time. I know I’m finding similar lists really soothing to click through, so I hope that my own version finds you well.

-Read one of these 100+ great travel books for the armchair traveller.

-Learn about the history of toilet paper.

-Check out The Calm Place.

–Visit the zoo, virtually.

-Create a vision board. Where do you dream of going as soon as you’re able to? What will you do there?

-Order takeout or delivery from a local business.

–Learn how to disinfect your phone (if you haven’t already).

-Colour! Here are some fabulous famous women, and some cute colouring postcards.

–Relax with these meditations from Calm.

–Visit more vacation destinations from your couch.

-Call or FaceTime your loved ones.

-Make friendship bracelets.

–Declutter your brain.

-Make DIY masks for yourself, loved ones, or to donate.

-Take up journaling. Here are 20 prompts to get you started.

-Read the opening lines of 10 classic novels, rewritten for social distancing. I think Jane Eyre is my favourite!

–Use Netflix Party to watch a movie or show with a friend in real time.

-Create a care package for a friend.

-Learn to draw a Doodlecat.

-Do some gentle stretches.

-Try “distractibaking”. Yum!

-On the topic of yum: Make something delicious with the beans in your pantry.

-Watch a movie made in another country. Bonus points if it’s in a foreign language. A few of my favourites are Amélie (France), Spirited Away (Japan), and Let the Right One In (Sweden).

-Dive into your TBR list. I know mine is sky high…

-Start a gratitude journal

–Livestream the Aurora Borealis in your living room!

–Make working from home more joyful.

–How to build a well-stocked pantry, from an expert.

–Free printable Sanrio paper crafts, colouring pages, and more. I love the Hello Kitty ones!

-Explore museums across the USA and get free themed colouring pages inspired by them from Color Our Collections.

–Sea Otter Cam!

–Ever wanted to go to Hogwarts? Now you pretty much can!

-You can make these crispy baked quesadillas using whatever you have in your kitchen! And they look incredible. Totally doing this this weekend.

–Get the best at-home manicure. (The co-founder of OPI would know).

–A massive list of virtual tours to go on!

-Watch Instagram’s favourite tulips bloom.

–Remember it’s okay not to be productive right now.

Sending you lots of love and spoons, friends,

Becca

Get cozy with a warm blanket and a nice drink

12 Fun Things To Do While Social Distancing

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Covid-19 is very serious, especially for us chronically ill, immunocompromised, immunosuppressed, and disabled people. 

So travel is off the table due to social distancing, but here are some other things to do without even leaving your home:

-Try your hand at cooking a favourite regional dish, or one you haven’t tried before

-Create a bucket list. I’m writing up my 101 in 1001 right now and will share soon.

-Take a nap, save up some spoons. Life will probably be this way for a while, but you’ll be ready when it isn’t.

–”Visit” a museum.

-Watch a movie that’s streaming early, like Frozen 2 or the new Star Wars. (I saw both and loved them. Adam Driver is dreamy. There, I said it).

-Take up a new craft, like sewing masks for fellow spoonies and doctors, or latch hooking like Chrissy Teigen, who’s making a unicorn carpet for her hamster’s house.

-Video chat with your loved ones.

-Watch John Oliver’s videos about Coronavirus so you’re more informed, but also laugh a lot.

-Order takeout from your local Chinese restaurant. Support local businesses!

-Take a free class from Brit + Co (use the code SELFCARE at checkout) or Uncustomary or Coursera.

-Be an armchair traveller. No need to go anywhere when there’s Google Earth. And beautiful travel blogs online. Get cozy and start searching!

-Watch movies using Hoopla or Kanopy. Just sign up using your library card and stream for free.

How are you spending your social distancing time?

12 fun things to do while social distancing for covid-19

Colourful plastic straws

Yeah, We’re Still Talking About Straws.

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I wrote most of this post in mid-June but kept putting off sharing it because I kept hoping (out of both desperation and optimism) that the straw debate would end. But it hasn’t. So two months later… here we are.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on 10 June that the government of Canada will be banning the use of single-use plastics– including plastic straws– as early as 2021.

The Hon. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change said: “[O]ur government intends to ban harmful single-use plastic products where science warrants it[…]” (emphasis mine). 

Here’s the thing: Science has proven multiple times that people with disabilities require single-use plastic straws to drink, that any other kind of straw will not suffice (see infographics), and can even cause fatal injury, and that a “single use straw upon request” system isn’t good enough. (Countless disabled people have reported being denied plastic straws because they “didn’t look like they needed one” or “weren’t disabled enough”). 

Chart explaining why plastic straws are almost always the only viable option for many disabled people
Helpful chart about straws by “Hell On Wheels aka @rollwthepunches on Twitter.
This is why we can’t “just use a metal straw”. (Other than the fact that someone with much stronger joints than mine was just impaled by one).

s.e. smith wrote last year, “straw bans are just part and parcel of the environmental movement’s long legacy of devaluing disabled lives — despite the fact that we are environmentalists too and often have more directly at stake”. 

Yet the fight continues.

We’ve seen how plastic straw bans didn’t work in numerous cities in the US and the UK. Why is Canada pushing for this now, too?

Instead of a country-wide ban that will hit disabled people the hardest, why not offer incentives for people who can and do use alternatives to single-use plastics? It works at Whole Foods with reusable bags (and plastic bags are not, y’know, saving people’s lives because water is necessary for survival).

And more importantly, let’s focus on the corporations who are profiting off of polluting our oceans and air and force them to take responsibility for their actions: Tax these companies, put a quotas in place, and get them to plant trees and donate money to local environmentalist organizations to offset the damage they cause.

Pollution and climate change hurt everyone, but corporations have an infinitely larger impact than individuals: It’s time for these wealthy companies to be held responsible, and for governments and society and large to stop ganging up on disabled people and telling us to just stop using plastic straws, as if it’s that simple.

Am Disabled. Will Travel.

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travelling while disabled

I sometimes wonder if I’m really cut out for a life of long-term travelling. I’m largely a homebody, my frequent medical treatments keep me in a near-constant few mile range from the hospital, and travelling  when you’re not an able-bodied white person who’s at least middle class has its challenges.

But then I remember the rush I get when a plane takes off, or when I see palm trees for the first time in a long time, or exotic birds, or food you can’t eat anywhere else. I love meeting new people. I love soaking up all the things that make each place the same as home, and everything that makes it different, and then writing about it later.

I can’t give up on a travel, no matter how hard it gets. Aren’t the things you love worth working for?

How To Do It All (Really!!)

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You can do it all.

I know that sounds a little unrealistic: You have a business, a job, a social life, a family, some hobbies. Lots of responsibility. So little time. And, if you’re a regular at The Spoon In the Road, you probably have a disability. How are you supposed to juggle all this stuff? (I know my cane means literal juggling is out of the question for me!).

As a sufferer of ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), I have very few ‘good’ hours each day, before I have to rest. With so many things on my plate, how can I possibly get things done, and still have time for fun?

Enter How To Do It All: The Revolutionary Plan to Create a Full, Meaningful Life, by Linda Formichelli. Linda introduces the radical idea that a little stress is actually good for you. You have two choices: go through life as stress-free as possible, but have little in the way of memorable moments and funny stories to share. Or, set out to achieve something special, go on wild adventures, and just accept that stress is part of a life well-lived.

As spoonies, we’re already pretty well-acquainted with stress: We have to count our spoons, measure what little energy we have and make educated guesses about how tired and sore we’ll be tomorrow versus how happy and accomplished we’ll feel today.

In a way, we’re already living the “D.I.A.” lifestyle, without even knowing it.

How To Do It All offers concrete plans for making time and finding energy to do what’s important to you, explains how stress is actually your friend, and inspires you to go out and make your desires reality.

My only complaint about this book is that it doesn’t take into account that some of us don’t have 24 hours in a day (so to speak). While the average person can sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours, and spend the rest of their time on their goals, a spoonie needs to take things slower. We might not get through the entire book’s 12 desires within 12 months (as suggested in the book’s introduction). We simply can’t go at the same speed as our able-bodied counterparts, and that’s okay.

How-to-Do-It-All-High-Resolution-188x300

No matter your ability, you can do it all. Just go at your own pace, and enjoy the outcomes as well as the ride.

How to Do It All: The Revolutionary Plan to Create a Full, Meaningful Life — While Only Occasionally Wanting to Poke Your Eyes out with a Sharpie by Linda Formichelli is out now. Buy it in print or kindle here.

Full disclosure: I was a beta reader for this book and received a complimentary copy. However, this has not impacted my opinion.