While I was down and out for those few weeks, dealing with the world spinning out of control and increased pain and flu symptoms ~ and the sadness that comes along with it all ~ I was nominated for FOUR awards by my fellow bloggers. The stars aligned in those days to remind me that I have value and to keep fighting. I also had so many comments from all of you (to which I still haven’t replied ~ I’m on the cusp, gaining ground, but making mistakes with pacing and trying not to slip backwards). Please PLEASE know what it meant to me to read your hang-in-theres and stay-strongs and you-are-not-alones. I can’t even imagine the level of loneliness and isolation some of you experienced having this disease before the internet. You are warriors!

Instead of nominating 35 other blogs (the total for all 4 awards), I am going to make this easy on myself and just tell you about 10 blogs that I think you should follow because they are wonderful. Some of them may be written by severely ill people and I wouldn’t expect them to respond. I realise this may be dousing the exponential process that is at the heart of these awards, but I think this is the most sincere way for me to respond without expending too much precious energy. All the bloggers I follow are chronically ill and I like the idea of saying, “Your writing is so amazing, I want everyone to read it. Pay it forward only if you have the energy and want to.”

So, with no further ado, here are my 10 nominees for the Elizabeth Milo Says You Should Subscribe To These Blogs award (especially if you have ME/CFS and/or dysautonomia):

• Dead Men Don’t Snore
• Quixotic: My ME Blog
• CFS Patient Advocate
• Boredsick
• Lethargicsmiles
• Mast Cells & Collagen Behaving Badly
• Fiikus
• Musings Of A Dysautonomiac
• Hayley-Eszti
• Do I Look Sick?

It was hard not to repeat some of the blogs I nominated a year ago and I wanted to especially mention Dreams at Stake, Emotional Umbrella and No Poster Girl ~ these are three ladies that I would love to sit with around a dinner table and talk into the wee hours.

I want to thank Jess at My Journey Thru ME and Marie at CurranKentucky for nominating me for the Liebster Award and for the kind words they said about my blog on their posts ~ I’m very flattered!

Jess lives in London with her husband (boyfriend?) and had to leave her job as a solicitor after coming down with ME almost 3 years ago. Her blog is inspiring, informative and upbeat. She is currently experiencing a bit of energy revival and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.

Marie lives with her husband in Galway, Ireland (one of my favourite places on the planet). ME came into her life about a year and a half ago and, although she used to work, travel, train horses, and run marathons, she has kept a patient, yet fighting spirit through her illness. She also found poetry, which she writes in almost every post ~ one of the many reasons to follow her blog.

Donna at yadadarcyyada nominated me for the Imagine Award. Me? Creative? Imagine! What a compliment. Donna has fibromyalgia, but that isn’t what her blog is about. What isn’t her blog about? Politics, books, movies, TV shows, wonderful rants and interesting images. It is never laborious and always surprising. She has about 10 times the number of followers I do, if that tells you anything.

Jenn at My Fibrotastic Life nominated me for the “I Am Part Of The WordPress Family” award, which I’d never heard of, but the sentiment is wonderful and I truly appreciate the shout out. Jenn has fibromyalgia, but blogs about so much more. She has an Arts and Crafts Gallery, she has an online store to sell her creations, and her blog is upbeat with amusing photos and creative cartoons (she is, after all, the inventor of the Imagine Award). But don’t be fooled, she is also wonderfully honest about the evils of her illness.