Friday, December 22, 2017

2017: Year in Review

2017 has been full of ups and downs, some of which I’ve shared here and some of which I haven’t.  While I didn’t write often in 2017, I personally feel that much of what I wrote was some of the best writing that I’ve shared on my blog to date – and 2018 will mark 10 years of blogging.  How crazy is that?  But before I get all into 2018, I need to review 2017 first.

Philosophically speaking, the post that really sums up 2017 is:


Because that’s really what this year was, personal and political.  So much of what has happened in our government has been affronts to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.  And because I am a member of both of those groups, not only is it political, but it’s personal, too.

Personally, it wasn’t a great year for me advocacy-wise:





And health-wise, it wasn’t, either, because I had to say goodbye to the rheumatologist that diagnosed me with lupus and RA, and had to find a whole new medical team:





And politically, well, let’s just say that I made my voice heard:




There were some exciting things, though, like being part of a book project that came to fruition:


And there were things that happened in 2017 that I haven’t even blogged about yet, like…

I had foot surgery…

AND…

I bought a house…

AND…

You’ll just have to come back in 2018 and find out about that and all the rest!

***

As always, at the end of every Year In Review post, I include a list of books I’ve read over the past year.  This list is much shorter than in the past, but there are some really good ones here:

1.       “Wild and Precious Life” by Deborah Ziegler (NF)**

2.      “There’s No Good Card For This” by Kelsey Crowe, PhD and Emily McDowell (NF)**

3.      “Why Won’t You Apologize” by Harriet Lerner, PhD (NF)

4.      “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F@ck” by Sarah Knight (NF)

5.      “This Life I Live” by Rory Feek (NF)**

6.      “Get Your Sh*t Together” by Sarah Knight (NF)

7.      “16th Seduction” by James Patterson (F)

8.     “Option B” by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant (NF)

9.      “Bath Massacre” by Arne Bernstein (NF)

10.  “It’s Okay to Laugh” by Nora McInerny Purmort (NF)*

11.   “It’s Not Yet Dark” by Simon Fitzmaurice (NF)**

12.  “Alex and Eliza” by Melissa De La Cruz (F)

13.  “My Glory Was I Had Such Friends” by Amy Silverstein (NF)*

14.  “Beyond Powerful” by Lala Jackson (NF)*

15.   “Real Life Diaries: Living with Rheumatic Diseases” (see above) (NF)**

16.  “Fighting For Our Lives” by Heather Choate (NF)*

(F) – Fiction; (NF) – Non-fiction

* Books specifically of interest to chronically ill readers

** Books specifically of interest to chronically ill readers that I highly recommend