About This Week’s Workshops

Monday is officially the first day of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. In past years we have featured a 5-day virtual conference with special guests who help us learn to live better lives even though we also deal with the day to day struggles of an unpredictable chronic illness.

This year we will be featuring some of these exceptional workshops. Each day we will provide links to 3 or 4 podcasts we think you would enjoy. We hope that you find the information valuable and helpful and please feel fre to share it with a friend,on your favorite social network, or even in your own blog (you can actually get the embed code at blogtalkradio.com)

You can find them all podcasts here on Blog Talk Radio or, if you use itunes, enter “invisible illness” under “podcasts” and then download them to a music player to listen to anytime. >More instructions here

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Invisible Illness Week Online Virtual Conference Registration Now Open

You don’t even have to get out of bed for this virtual conference!

Will you be attending at least one Invisible Illness Awareness Week Workshop?

Here are the details about the seminars of Invisible Illness Week:

• This year, 2010, we will have one seminar each day, 90 minutes long, with guest experts on panels
• M-F, September 13-17
• They will be held online, for free
• 10:30 AM Pacific time, USA
• Go to www.blogtalkradio.com/invisibleillnessconf at the time of the conference and the program will play out of your computer speakers
• If you miss it you can listen to it later, and within a few days they are also imported into itunes if you listen to podcasts on an ipod.

Here is a time zone converter.

Register below. It’s free. We basically just need your name and email, but if you’d like to share anything with us (including a web site address if you blog about your illness), we’d love to get to know you better. Leave any comments in the “bio” section if you’d like.

If the form does not work for some reason, just email us “yes, I am coming/listening in!”

http://invisibleillness.eventbrite.com

Are on Facebook?

If so, be sure to RSVP there too . Why? It helps us spread the word by popping up the little Facebook ad in the right hand column. Plus, we have a better idea of how many listeners to expect.

Remember, you can listen to all of the programs from your computer. They will be broadcast via Blog Talk Radio. If for some reason you can’t get it working, within moments of the program being complete, you can listen to it archived at Blog Talk Radio and later on itunes.

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Laurie Edwards Reflects on Invisible Illness

Laurie Edwards, author of Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties is a gifted writer. Her blog posts are both friendly, but also written with a professional tone that makes me feel as though my blog posts are the ramblings of a thirteen-year-old’s diary.

She didn’t disappoint this week, taking time to write a blog post called “On Invisible Illness.”

She writes,

…all I can do is write about where I am right now.

Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Exhilarated. Optimistic. Anxious. Trying to plan for the unpredictable, willing my body to cooperate for me and not let me down, and trying to squash the voice that’s whispering Haven’t you learned anything yet?

I’m adjusting to some new work changes and client load and embracing the opportunities with gratitude. It is a precarious balance, though, and while I loathe cliché, it does seem like all it will take is one slip and everything could tumble down like a house of cards.

I mean, all I have to do is stay as healthy as possible, right? (Insert cynical tone here.)

But I cannot indulge the what-if’s and the doubts. It does me no good, and it flies in the face of my reason thoughts on hope.

And really, in the middle of a lot of changes and decisions and pressure, what this tension is about is identity. It’s an ongoing evolution; just when I think I’ve established a groove, I need to re-calibrate.

Take a moment to head on over to her blog and read this post in full. She is encouraging as she shares her own experiences, but will also make you smile and also reflect on your own situation.

-ljc

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RSVP That You Will Attend an II Wk Workshop

Will you be attending at least one Invisible Illness Awareness Week Workshop?

Be sure to RSVP today so we have an idea of how many will be coming!

Are you on Facebook?

If the answer is yes, be sure to RSVP to our Events. It helps us spread the word by popping up the little Facebook ad in the right hand column. Plus, we have a better idea of how many listeners to expect.

Remember, you can listen to all of the programs from your computer. They will be broadcast via Blog Talk Radio. If for some reason you can’t get it working, we have space for a few callers to call in on the phone number provided and listen. And then within moments of the program being complete, you can listen to it archived at Blog Talk Radio and later on itunes.

So even if you WONT be attending LIVE, if you plan to listen to any programs at some point, please RSVP “YES!”

(You never know who we may get the attention of out there in cyber world!)

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Tweets! 20 Things to Say to an Ill Person

We’re Tweeting these for 20 days!

Thank you for tweeting any of them any time! Oftentimes people are told what not to say. This is a great help in giving them an idea of what to say! Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below. We’d love to hear them!

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #1 I don’t know what to say, but I care about you #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #2 I’m going to the grocery, what can I get you? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #3 Do you just need to vent? I’m all ears! #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #4 If you need a good cry, I’ve got plenty of tissues and a shoulder #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #5 I really admire how you are handling this. I know its difficult. #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #6 I’m bringing dinner Thursday. Do you want lasagna or chicken? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #7 Can I get your kids 4 a playdate? My kids R bored. #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #8 I cant sit still. Got any laundry I can fold? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL -Things TO SAY to an ill person #9 What can I pray 4 you about that no one else is praying 4? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #10 Can I bring a few friends over 2 clean your house fast? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #11 I don’t have any idea what U R feeling, but I will always listen #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #12 I saw these flowers & thought they’d cheer you 2day #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #13 How can our church encourage those with chronic illness? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #14 Tell me what it is really like to be you for a day #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #15 I made too much dinner for our family. Can I bring U some? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #16 U R amazing. How has your illness given you appreciation 4 life? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #17 Do U want me 2 come over while U wait 4 test results? #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #18 U listen 2 me better than any other friend. Thanks #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #19 I have Monday free if you need me 2 run some errands or take you #iiwk10

http://ow.ly/h2tL Things TO SAY to an ill person #20 – Tell me about this God who gets U thru 1 more day? #iiwk10

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