(This is an excerpt from a bloggy post for patrons first .) Image by Seth Boehnke The Art of Thriving. It’s a full-time job. Wellness and self-care require making a harmony of discernment, difficult choices, honest self-awareness, deliberate community knowledge, and compassion which sets the tone for truly thriving in place with authentic connections. Living with a permanent injury & its consequential conditions, chronic illness, physical limitations, cognitive impairments, or being a caregiver for a person working to manage any of those situations redefines the terms associated with quality of life. The impact of which comes in waves that can result in an unchosen marginal existence.
[...]
Solitude nourishes the mind, body, and soul. Isolation cripples them.
“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”
― William James
[...] The Cost of Employment Income
[...]
Residing in a county well-stocked with abundant resources to support Independent Sustainable Wellness, I made an informed decision to step outside of my comfort zone to find out what else I could contribute while I learned what could be gained.
[...]
In alignment with my own interests in expanding equitable access to wellness resources, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the launch of a local pilot project to implement a free virtual connectivity program designed to reduce the impact of social isolation for older adults and caregivers residing in Allegany County. Because of my own lived experience as a socially isolated resident here, I recognize the valuable wellness potential of the Thriving In Place project at Ardent Solutions, Inc. and I am truly thankful to see it begin to expand to reach the members of our community and adjacent counties who need it most. During the months that we worked on creating this program, I eventually discovered that I, too, am a pilot project.
[...]
Restricting the project to the limits of my Reasonable Accommodations would not allow it to expand as it needed to. It was time to go. "I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by It."
~Maya Angelou Returning to the accommodations that are right for me in my studio, this month I look forward to re-discovering wild space for rest, recovery, and thriving in the creative processes which make Me. While I breathe in the Now, I learn from yesterday and gather seeds for tomorrow.
[...] READ THE FULL POST. IT'S FREE ON PATREON HERE
....................................................................................................................................... "It's focus. It just feels like magic." ~ Instinctive Archery | 
