Boxing day 2022

I got through an extended family get togethe today and ...enjoyed it. This is usually one of my biggest social difficulties in the year. It's the first one since I was diagnosed in lockdown. I tried less, took more breaks and left when I'd had enough. Still masked my *** off but the breaks were on a bit this time and alowed me to be myself a bit more.. I understand my limits more now and know not to push through regardless. I felt in control of the situation for once and did things on my terms. A massive improvement on years gone by. 

Christmas 2020 during Covid before my diagnosis was the worst ever here in the U.K. as the Irish travel restrictions were the strictest in Europe, far stricter than here in the U.K.  - in my home Parish in Ireland the Priest was celebrating Midnight Mass and Christmas Day Mass in the church on his own, with everyone else in our village tuning into the Parish webcam - we heard later on that those Irish from our village unable to get home to Ireland had tuned in to the parish webcam from all over the world, including America, Europe, U.K., Australia, Eastern Europe, even South Africa 

Thats so lovely, its amazing how people can still be brought together like that even when they cant get home. That really warmed my heart. Whereabouts in Ireland are you from? My family is from Kerry 

I’m originally from Co. Meath - but since my diagnosis and given the uncertainly of travel since Covid and related to climate change, unchaperoned travel by any method for any distance over 20 miles is now a total no-no - living alone, I’m hoping to get a live in carer, preferably a priest, friar or nun - I’d ended up being stranded in Holyhead for 2 days during the train strike in early October 2022 and not only did this prove me wrong in many respects in the opinions of others, it was also a massive wake up call to me to “cop myself on” and stop trying to do things without help and stop living alone, as my biggest faults are disobedience and creating a (false) sense of intelligence (arrogance) and excessive self-will, as I’ve always been the type that needs to be put in my place and knocked back a peg or ten for my own good, as my condition was caused by lack of proper parental discipline in childhood as per traditional Catholic social teaching 

I’m originally from Co. Meath - but since my diagnosis and given the uncertainly of travel since Covid and related to climate change, unchaperoned travel by any method for any distance over 20 miles is now a total no-no - living alone, I’m hoping to get a live in carer, preferably a priest, friar or nun - I’d ended up being stranded in Holyhead for 2 days during the train strike in early October 2022 and not only did this prove me wrong in many respects in the opinions of others, it was also a massive wake up call to me to “cop myself on” and stop trying to do things without help and stop living alone, as my biggest faults are disobedience and creating a (false) sense of intelligence (arrogance) and excessive self-will, as I’ve always been the type that needs to be put in my place and knocked back a peg or ten for my own good, as my condition was caused by lack of proper parental discipline in childhood as per traditional Catholic social teaching