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Living With Disability and Starting A Business: It Can Be Done!
I live with disability. I receive government benefits. I work and own two companies. I am not the stereotypical face of “Benefits Britain” * but I am a part of its reality. My business is my story. Those who have been following me for a while have seen the beautiful growth of the Trail Blazing Wellness movement. From struggling to live to actually being able to – and then allowed! – to work (my first business email was titled, “I’m Legal, Celebrate With Me”) and finally, managing my professional business load with a fluctuating condition. It has been a long, arduous, yet wonderful journey, one that is still new and different every single day. (Click to…
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Dealing with the DWP (and Benefits Agencies in General)
In light of the recent High Court judgement regarding the ‘Bedroom Tax’ and the campaigners decision to press onwards…Today we are discussing coping with benefits agencies. Tweet: We you first encounter #benefitsagencies it may feel like Alice down the rabbit hole. Tips to get you through http://ctt.ec/ehRrE+ #dwp I’ve heard stories of people literally sick with fear when the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)* envelope comes through the door, and people too scared to open their letters. Forms can be hard and scary, but there are things that can make the whole process easier. I’ve made a list of essential strategies just for you: 1. Don’t drown in the paperwork. Get…
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Embracing Choice To Evoke Change: Breaking Old Habits With A Simple Approach
You know those old habits you can’t break? The patterns you go around and around in? We’re going to look at those in a new way today. Today, you jump off that merry-go-round, and into something better: Real, actionable choice. I know how frustrating it is when every shift you make seems to fail. When it’s one step forward, two steps back, when everyone around you seems to be surging ahead on their paths, and you just aren’t privy to the secret (though it “may be yours for $10,000 in 3 easy payments” according to that always-present infomercial!) The real secret? It’s YOU. It has always been. Cue self-awareness! This…
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EmBodying Freedom With Chronic Illness
I have stood before a crowd and spoken my story into each waiting, listening heart. I have lain on my belly, on a sun warmed blanket, playing scrabble in an ancient woodland, sunlight dappling my face….with blockaded diggers roaring just ahead. I’ve been the headline story on the 10 o’clock news. I’ve been stood up, forced down and vilified and sanctified. I’ve been held down, tied up and trapped – in a tiny cell, and within my own body. Now, I’m fighting to free myself. When I first began this journey, I was just 18. Sunburned, laughing, carefree…and then, suddenly, my body stopped working as it always had. Everything fell…
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Being Type “A” With Chronic Illness: Slowing Down to Survive
I was never one of those girls who had a racy life pre-diagnosis. Nope. It was utterly, boringly free of sex, drugs…even rock ‘n’ roll. I listened to punk, actually, ate vegetarian (then vegan) organic food, and spent my time climbing mountains, swimming, and working to rescue animals. All very worthy, so what went wrong? Some days I wake and feel pellucid, like I’m held together not with bones, but with vibrating golden wires. Transcendental! Then, there are other days when just breathing is an effort. Everything moves painfully. Slowly. When living with illnesses that include chronic fatigue, when you are literally forced to slow down, how do you manage…
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