Spoonies United Map.
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The other night something great happened, I met my very
first spoonie friend! I’ve been enclosed with able bodied people for so long
and felt like such an outsider. I never had anyone to relate to or ask advice with
until I found the right places on the internet to start making online friends.
I think we have all been there, not being able to find an active online support
group with people who are in our age group. It was amazing making young disabled
friends because I realized I’m not alone I’m not just making it up in my head
and I’m not this slacker lazy person who isn’t trying hard enough. If you read my blog you know I'm a huge supporter of using different kinds of social apps to make online friends who live nearby. Sadly all I ever came across was relatively healthy people, while I greatly appreciated them in my life I still felt alone and I had a lot of doubt that I'd ever come across an app specifically for spoonies. Texting my spoonie friends and even calling helped but it's not the same as a real life connection.
Tumblr answered my wishes.... It wasn’t the spoonie networking app I was
looking for but it was close enough. It
was a map that spoonies entered themselves on around the world and it was just
my luck that I met someone who lived a few miles away from me. I was in
disbelief and I tried to hold my excitement back. For years I’d literally
dreamed of relating with someone else, I’d grown this excruciating loneliness
that penetrated into my bones because I just felt so emotionally isolated.
Eventually I’d let that dream go and thought to myself it probably won’t ever
happen. But the other day I was
delightfully wronged, I met my spoonie friend after texting for about a month
or so. We talked until my jaw started
hurting and she matched my energy which was fun. We talked about dating with chronic illness and being sick in general,
middle school, astronomy, fashion, and everything in between with spoonie jokes
sprinkled here and there. I couldn’t
believe it, I even asked her something just to see how she'd answer and when she gave me the "spoonie answer" I was just like wow, I really am not alone and I really am not crazy. I never get to
feel comfortable about speaking about being sick. I feel like I either have to filter myself or
that I’m talking to a wall in some sense. My best friend – greatest person on
earth btw is so understanding and empathetic, she will laugh when I make jokes
about being sick and sometimes adds in some jokes with me. But I know she doesn’t
actually understand it the way I do and she's even told me that when I vent about it to her. I appreciate it greatly but it’s not the
same as speaking to someone with firsthand experience. I’m so happy to have met someone who gets it, when I said I drank a huge
energy drink before hanging out she already knew why and that was such a good
feeling.
It was so nice to feel like I was normal for once because I
am always the alien wherever I go. Hopefully I'll get to meet many more spoonie friends.
Anyways, I hope you benefit from the spoonies map and get to
make some nearby friends!!
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