Women of Courage Series. #50. Anon. 63/2020.
A series of blog posts on Denyse Whelan Blogs to be found here from mid-May 2019: Wednesdays: each week until the series concludes in 2020.
Here is the introduction to the series.
Courage is strength in the face of pain or grief. It’s doing something that frightens you. We face situations that demand courage every day. These situations provide us with choices, and the way we respond to those choices determines our future. Dayne Shuda.
Anon, who is 60, and I first met via social media and then, totally uplanned, in person. Just a quick catch up but it was good. When I asked Anon sometime later if she wished to share her story as a Woman of Courage she replied “yes”. That said, this story may not be ‘as in the five questions’ but it is ONE woman’s story and done her way! Thank you Anon.
As with others who have shared their stories anonymously, there will be no replies from this Woman of Courage, but I know she will be reading with appreciation.
- It changed me in many ways. Prior to this happening, I probably thought I was somewhat entitled to a particular lifestyle but what could have been a very negative situation, proved to be a huge turning point in my life.
- I learned just how strong, capable & self-sufficient I was. I was friendly with the neighbours but didn’t typically socialise with them, as we mostly had different values.
- When my youngest child was 2yrs old, I attended the family law court to obtain a divorce & the following day commenced my first day in the very first intake of college based (now university) Nursing education.
- I excelled in this environment, especially on practical placements/6wk blocks within various hospitals around Sydney’s West.
- At the end of year 2, the college asked me to consider returning there as a lecturer once I had attained my degree.
- Through-out these years my ex-husband, had maintained a close relationship with our children & me, whilst working on getting himself together.
- As I was to learn 20yrs later, he had quite a few demons from his childhood, none of which were of his making but which are things we now know a lot more about. That was over 30yrs ago now.
- We managed to get back together, many people we met in later years have no idea we’re actually divorced.
- Unfortunately I never finished my 3rd year of nursing, I had a major seizure, which was never explained but I think I was simply trying to do too much.
- I did however, go on to a very exciting career, in which I travelled the world for many years.
- My ex-husband & I seem to have a somewhat envied relationship which makes me think to myself… if you only knew.
- I do say to people, we’ve had our fair share of bad times, we were just lucky to get ourselves back on track but I doubt they’d ever imagine just how bad things once were.
- There have been many bumps on the road in my journey, the worst of which concerned my children.
- These things really rocked me, not to mention them.
- Things that I thought might initially break me but in reality they only made me tougher, stronger and more resilient
There is nothing that frightens me these days.
Thank you Anon. I do hope that sharing has helped you as readers will see what happened over time.
Denyse.
The following information may be helpful to you or another. These are Australian-based.
Your Family G.P. can be a helpful person to listen and make referrals.
Gambling help NSW. Here.
Lifeline on 13 11 14
Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
Phone 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for 24 hour assessment, referral, advice, and hospital and community health centre contact details
Qualified Psychologists can be found by visiting https://www.psychology.org.au/FindaPsychologist/
Australian Counselling Association is on 1300 784 333 to find a counsellor
Joining each Wednesday with Sue and Leanne here for Mid Life Share the Love Linky.
On Thursdays I link here for Lovin Life with Leanne and friends.
Copyright © 2020 denysewhelan.com.au – All rights reserved.
I Want. 33/51 #LifeThisWeek. 66/2020.
I Want. 33/51 #LifeThisWeek. 66/2020.
Last week I wrote this post: Why Did I Start A Blog?
Today I conclude the ‘Why I Blog” series with ‘I Want’ because that is essentially the ‘why’ of blogging for me.
I want:
It’s been a very big learning curve to be a blogger.
I say that because, for me, it was quite foreign to my world of work in education. Yet, as determined person who does not eschew hard work, I did my best to blog for what I had found was my way:
Conversational
Informational – based on experience
Photo-centred
Stories shared
Difficult Topics Which May Be Helpful
Creativity and Art
Health & Mindfulness
After a huge move (literally) in our lives, from Sydney to the Central Coast at the beginning of 2015 I set myself a goal. To keep me focussed on “doing this one thing EVERY day”…. I wrote a blog post Every.Single.Day. of 2015. No-one read the posts bar me, until, I re-visited the best way to connect more broadly and that was:
L I N K U P S.
Hosted by fellow bloggers.
Yay for that. I linked up posts for some time on the Annoyed Thyroid’s link up each weekend , Kylie Purtell’s on a Tuesday and Kirsty Russell on a Monday. Great news! I was meeting up with old friends and new. Right into 2016 and I continued…slightly decreasing my posts and relieved to do so.
I found I needed a good refresher of how this blog looked and made contact with an old Sydney friend, Tanya, who enriched the look and settings of the blog already set by my techie guy and that meant 2016 was even better. I made a commitment to blog almost every day under these topics:
I was having a good time, connecting and meeting new bloggers. Lots had just started blogging, others had left and there was talk of a linky being retired and I asked if I could, perhaps, with permission take over the Mondays with Life This Week. I got a lovely approval from my friend and in September this LINK UP kicked off….and is now #202!
I was also delighted to know there were link ups happening here (co-hosted) on Wednesdays (sadly for me, this one is finishing up soon) and here on Thursdays. Thank you for your link ups! They are great places of connection.
I Want: to write my memoir.
I had been postponing the idea of writing a memoir of my life until a friend and blogger encouraged me to try writing the chapters in blog-type posts. I did this. Here is the first one. I was not to know it would be a while before the next one!!
I Want: to share awareness of head and neck cancer.
Those who have been here since then and before will know that things changed very fast for my life and priorities when I got a head and neck cancer diagnosis in May 2017. I did think long and hard before pressing publish on this but the love and support which came back to me proved why I love to blog and love my community. The post is here.
I Want: to promote and encourage education- self and others always.
I also told the story of how I like to learn…this was because as a life-long educator I was placed in the role of student at an adult crochet class and because of how poorly my needs were understood I never went back!
I Want: to feel well within myself and portray that confidently.
As an anti-dote to cancer treatments and letting myself be positively impact each day, I began a daily routine some 4 months into my cancer and started to ‘dress with purpose’. This became a photo on instagram each day…and then over time one big boost to my self-confidence when I had no upper teeth and was still in cancer-treatment mode. Here’s what this was about.
I Want: to have women share their stories of courage.
From May 2019 I introduced a series to the blog for women I invited (or who self-invited) to share their stories: answering 5 questions. This series, Women of Courage continues….I am so pleased this has been a success. Many women have told me what it meant to share.
I Want: to show my appreciation to you, my readers, bloggers and friends. Some even joined me for my 70th birthday morning tea late in 2019. Many of you I may never met but already feel you are good friends. This blogging business is a great way for me, a relatively isolated retiree, to connect.
I Want: to continue blogging. Writing a post up to 2 times a week is good for my health and for my connections. Over time, I expect with fewer Women of Courage stories, my Wednesday posts will be a way to make some changes of direction if that’s what I choose.
This Is Why I Blog!
Thank you all. You have made a difference in my life.
Denyse.
Link Up #202
Life This Week. Link Up #202
You can link up something old or new, just come on in.
* Please add just ONE post each week! NOT a link-up series of posts, thank you.
* Feel free to go with the prompt for the week to add your ‘take’ on the prompt. Or not.
* Please do stay to comment on my post as I always reply and it’s a bloggy thing to do!
* Check out what others are up to: Leave a comment on a few posts, because we all love our comments, right!
* Add a link back to this blog in your post somewhere, or on your sidebar or let others know somewhere you are linking up to this blog’s Life This Week.
*Posts deemed by me, the owner of the blog & the link-up, to be unsuitable for my audience will be deleted without notice. These may include promotions, advertorials and any that are overly religious or political or in any way offensive in nature.
* THANK you for linking up today! Next week’s optional prompt: 34/51 Self-Care Stories. #5. 24.8.2020
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter