Carole riding her scooter in Lava Lands, OR. On an asphalt hiking path, riding through lava beds. Yellow flowers. She has her hands raised.

Make Time for fun! But Why Should I? How?

Fun and invisible disabilities. Really? On our bad days, that sounds like an oxymoron—impossible to achieve. Maybe during horrible times, you can’t have “fun.” But for a healthy mental state, fun needs to be and can be incorporated into our daily lives.

Fun can be defined as enjoyment or playfulness. It can be something that provides mirth or amusement. It might be as simple as enjoying a joke; maybe as complicated as a difficult craft; or as time consuming as a pet. Outdoor activities. Painting. Crafts. Making jewelry. Mechanics. Landscaping. Limited only by your imagination and ingenuity. And maybe some help.

My journey to fun

What does having fun mean to you? To me, it is crafting.

As a child, one aunt and a grandmother demonstrated how to embroider and crochet. They taught me how to follow patterns and how to create my own work.

During my first two years of incredible pain and weakness, I was only able to do essential personal care, and fun was limited to enjoying my family.  After we moved, thereby supposedly leaving behind the cause of my problems, pain decreased yet weakness remained and limitations increased. I struggled to do housework but soon discovered the stress of using all my energy cleaning and cooking. Realizing the impossibility of cleaning everything anyway, I decided to spend a few minutes daily doing something just for me. My stress decreased, and everyone was happier even though others had to help more.

I added cross-stitch and plastic canvas to embroidery and crochet. I recognized a love for designing, which led to making gifts and household decorations. Considering my problems, being able to sit while having fun was critical.

plastic canvas tissue holder designed by Carole

Using a poem our son wrote, I designed, personalized, embroidered and framed two 18×20” pictures, one for each son’s wedding. My first plastic canvas project was a personalized Kleenex holder for my friend. Through the years, I have embroidered, cross-stitched, plastic canvas-ed, and crocheted decorations for our house and gifts for others. For weddings, I designed pillows and cross-stitched pictures with their names and dates. One Christmas, I made special pillows for each grandchild with names, pictures, and hobbies. All these were accomplished a few minutes at a time!

As weakness increased, my crafting moved from needlework to computer graphics.

Now it’s your turn. What can you do? And why should you?

Your journey to fun

Why bother?

Some dwellers spend so much of their time just trying to survive. Others still have the ability to work, but are wiped out by the end of the day. So why should we spend some of our hard-earned energy on having fun?

Mental health experts recommend doing enjoyable activities to decrease depression and other negative emotions. For myself, adding a few minutes of fun eases my stress levels. That makes me a more pleasant person to be around.

How do you start?

  • Inventory your interests.
    • What did you enjoy before your limitations began?
    • Can it be adapted to your current situation?
  • Take stock of your abilities.
    • Is there someone to help if you get stuck?
    • Can a friend/family member do parts you are unable to?
  • Keep in mind your finances.
    • What can you afford to do?

Others’ Journeys

I leave you with these pictures of what other invisibly disabled people have done:

Left – Esther’s dogs, comfort and encouragement to the end.

Center – Leigh’s Christmas wreath. Now, she makes jewelry and gives some to friends.

Right – Trish’s photo of a magnificent goose at our local park. She’s a professional photographer now. See Tricia Miller’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/JSPhotography3/.

Investigate Further

Mental health expert Paul gives 15 tips for having fun.

Meriah has pulled together a list of Free Stuff for Adults with Disabilities, including ideas for travel and free passes.

Check out Pinterest’s free coloring pages. Or Google it.

Although many ideas on this Pinterest page seem more geared for children, check it out and use your imagination.

Check out what other dwellers do for fun on our Activities page.

Fun and invisible disabilities. 

No choice about the disability.

Your choice about the fun!

 

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2 Comments

  1. Yes!! Love everything about this. It breaks my heart when people give up doing what they loved just because they aren’t able to do it the way they used to.

    • Guess I was just stubborn, but I was so young and determined to do what I could. I searched for any way I could to still do things. Of course, my family supported me in all this.

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