This is my fifth yearly digest since my blog began in July 2015, and I really love writing them. I enjoy going through my files, documents, statistics, and photos to relive the last year – it’s amazing how quickly I’ll forget what happened just six or seven months ago.
When I started writing the digests I figured they would mostly be for my benefit, but over 200 people read my 2018 digest. That’s not a huge number, but I’m impressed that many people wanted to read about my year.
Looking back, I’m encouraged to me to see how much I’ve accomplished this year – it’s a lot more than I realized. I learned how to parent a toddler, traveled to Barbados (and took several fantastic smaller trips) and made a huge effort in my health. While I didn’t actually make much progress, I persevered and kept trying new things. So here it is – the 2019 highlights from my blog, travels, health journey, and personal life.
Blog highlights.
I have some really exciting news: I had 100,000 page views in 2019! Just barely – but it happened! This is a 13% increase in views from the previous year and largely thanks to Pinterest.
I wrote 12 posts last year and I’m choosing to be happy with that number (I want to write so much more than I am able to). I stuck to my goal of wanting the blog to be generally 50/50 health and travel – there were five travel posts, five health posts, and two that fall into other categories.
2019 travel posts:
Our Seven Day Barbados Itinerary.
Cozy, Eco-friendly Treehouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Eight Things I Loved About Barbados.
A Day Trip to Klein Curaçao with Miss Ann Boat Tours.
Visiting Shete Boka National Park in Curaçao.
2019 health posts:
Tablift – the Versatile and Comfortable Tablet Holder.
When Your Doctor Quits Unexpectedly.
Baby Meena’s Birth Story.
100+ Relatable Signs of Chronic Illness.
My 2018 Healthcare Costs with a Chronic Illness in the USA.
Other:
Expat Living in Schweinfurt, Germany.
2018 Yearly Digest.
The most popular 2019 post was 100+ Relatable Signs of Chronic Illness. No surprise there – who doesn’t enjoy a relatable (and somewhat funny) post?
My all-time most popular posts changed this year; the post How the German Restaurant Experience Is Different Compared to the US was read 16,000 times in 2019! I almost couldn’t believe it when I went to check my stats. In 2018, my most read post had 5,700 views.
My second and third most read posts were A Day in the Life with Lupus (8,500 views) and 10 Things I Didn’t Realize Would Happen After I Was Diagnosed with Lupus (6,700 views).
These may be rookie numbers to some, but it’s a huge deal for me. To think that my post about German restaurants has been viewed 21,700 times since its publication in 2016 is mind-blowing. I’m extremely thankful for the continuing growth of this blog.
Fifty percent of my traffic came from Pinterest this year and it was my second year using Tailwind to ensure I was consistently pinning (definitely worth paying for the service – here’s my Tailwind referral link that will give you one month free to try it for yourself). Nearly 30% of my traffic came from search engines so I will keep plugging away at SEO (search engine optimization) in my posts.
I didn’t have any sponsored posts this year, for a variety of reasons, but I did host a giveaway for the first time. I was gifted two Tablifts to review and give away. This was exciting for two reasons: 1) it was my first completely unsolicited collaboration (everything else I’ve either sought out or came through the Chronic Illness Bloggers Network and 2) I love the product! I use my Tablift at least three times a week.
In 2019, I was able to cash out my Google ads account for the first time (you have to reach $100 before withdrawing the money). I have very few ads on my site – I only put ads in popular posts and only one ad per 2,000 words – so this isn’t revenue that I count on but it was fun to receive.
My freelance work was much less this year than in 2018 – it consisted of six articles for NewLifeOutlook. While I love getting to write anything I want to for my blog, writing freelance articles helps me to improve my writing skills and focus on specific subjects. Plus, I mostly write about lupus and get to learn a lot about my own health. It’s a win-win.
Travel highlights.
My favorite travel experiences were our week-long trip to Barbados and getting to stay in two treehouses!! Here’s our 2019 travel highlights:
+ Visiting Congaree National Park (April) – it was super green and gorgeous.
+ Spending a week in Barbados (June).
+ My solo retreat to a treehouse in Greensboro, NC (July).
+ Weekend trip to Atlanta for a concert when we stayed in this gorgeous Airbnb and stopped at Stone Mountain on our way home (August).
+ A three day road trip spent driving on the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway seeing fun sights and fall colors – something we’ve wanted to do for a long time (October).
A week later we took a day trip to Asheville in search of more fall colors and were greatly rewarded!
+ Overnight stay at Treehouse Vineyards in Monroe, NC (November) – it was superb. I mean, how could a treehouse in a vineyard not be awesome?
+ Trip to Clemson, SC, to see my brother graduate from Clemson University (December). Plus, the next day was our six year anniversary and we visited our wedding site at sunrise (because we got married at sunrise).
I have to admit I was feeling pretty bummed that we only took one big trip in 2019, but now that I’ve listed all our trips I’m realizing we had some really awesome travel experiences this year – even if finances dictated that we kept it mostly local. We had some great times in our home city (Charlotte, NC) visiting beautiful murals, going to festivals, seeing gardens, trying new restaurants, and going to farms and wineries.
My health journey.
Last year was my third year with my lupus diagnosis. My lupus remained relatively stable throughout 2019. In fact, the hardest part of my year was when my rheumatologist quit.
My primary lupus symptoms were pain and fatigue, which led me to try Benlysta (a biologic medication for lupus). It did help, but it caused so much insomnia and hair loss that I had to stop it after three months. The insomnia pretty much negated the improvements in my fatigue and it also made my chronic neck pain issues worse.
I had 41 medical appointments in 2019 and 25 of them were primarily for my neck pain. Without a doubt, this pain is what has held me back the most. I had an MRI, went to physical therapy (my fourth round), tried dry needling, and tested out lyrica, but have seen very little improvement overall.
In May, my son dropped his morning nap, which made my chronic pain journey more difficult. I used to exercise or do my physical therapy during his morning naps and when he switched to just one nap a day – in the afternoon – this went out the window. I have tried exercising while he plays, but that largely has not worked out. By the time he goes down for his afternoon nap I’m worn out and end up lying down myself. Thankfully, he started going to “Grandma Daycare” in January 2019, which gave me one day a week to work, exercise, rest, or visit the doctor. Later in the year we bumped it up to one and a half or two days a week.
Toddler Meena also started walking in May, which ironically led to me sitting more. This is because once he started walking he would follow me everywhere – so doing the dishes or laundry became significantly more difficult. Many days I would give up and sit or lie on the couch watching him play because it was easier than trying to do things with his “help” – but this was not good for my pain levels or overall health.
Several times throughout the year I’d become motivated to get things done with him despite the difficultly, but I often ended up worn out and going through another period of giving up. It’s an ever-changing balance as his abilities expand and I try to find the strength to be active.
While this year was a very tough one in terms of chronic pain and illness, there were a few positives:
+ I was able to make an appointment with a highly recommended rheumatologist after mine quit (though I have yet to meet her as the appointment is in two weeks).
+ The lyrica has helped my neck pain a little, though the side effects are so bad that I have to take a low dosage.
+ I’ve come to understand more about why I have neck pain and what I may be able to do about it.
+ I got to attend the lupus summit in Charlotte! I’m always happy to meet up with my lupus people and learn about our disease.
+ I got a lot of help from my in-laws and my husband; their assistance has been invaluable in my health journey.
+ I haven’t given up. I haven’t accepted a life of pain. I’m still trying. Even if I have to jump through just as many hoops this year, I’m hopeful that I’ll find a solution to my pain.
Personal highlights.
In 2019 Baby Meena became Toddler Meena, going from seven months old to 19 months old. It was an incredible transition.
He was just barely able to crawl in January, and by December he was running fast enough that I had to jog after him. Sometimes it feels like he’s a different baby/toddler every day, while some habits have lasted throughout the entire year (like his fascination with doorjambs). He has kept me on my toes.
In March, my feathered baby had surgery. My beloved budgie, Koopa, had a cancerous mass removed and then went through three rounds of chemotherapy afterwards. This was incredibly stressful – as surgery on such a small bird is immensely difficult and there was only a 50/50 chance of survival. The chemo was quite risky as well, which why we only did three rounds instead of six – I couldn’t tolerate the stress anymore. It was also very expensive. But I’m sitting here today with my very happy and healthy six year old budgie who brings me incredible joy daily, so it was more than worth it.
We had other large expenses, such as replacing the siding on our house, expanding our driveway, fixing our aging cars, and replacing broken items. Some of the things we replaced this year include: my cell phone, the coffee pot, crock pot, blender, desk, computer, and couch. It seemed like an endless stream of broken items and replacing them drained our travel fund significantly. It was disheartening, but I also recognize that my pain levels were really too high to enjoy much travel and I need to work on that first. (I keep repeating this to myself as I continuously check the flight prices to Costa Rica and Puerto Rico.)
This was the last full year of my twenties and also our sixth year married! Which might have something to do with all the broken items – as several were gifted to us six years ago as wedding gifts. While we watched our money go to our child, budgie, home, cars, and other things instead of travel, I’m very grateful that our health expenses were much lower this year than in 2018 – when they came to $20,000. (I’ll be compiling a report of our 2019 health expenses over the next month or two to share.)
In the end, the Meena family had a year that ping ponged in between unbearably difficult and immeasurably joyful. I think most people can relate, who hasn’t had a year that’s both hard and wonderful?
Sometimes, as a person with a chronic illness, I dread looking back on my year because I spend so much time in pain, but I’m glad that I did it anyway. Writing this digest has helped me to focus on the joyful parts and the achievements, and look forward to 2020 with more optimism than I had before I started this post. It was an uplifting endeavor.
What are some of your highlights from 2019?
great family photo! a solo retreat to tree house? wow
thank you so much, Tanja! Yes, it was only for two nights but it was superb!
This is a great post! I like how you are blogging for you but you are still happy to have growth as you go.
Thanks so much! I am definitely grateful.
Kids grow up so fast – I feel like you´ve just had a baby and he´s already such a little man! Congratulations on hitting 100 000! By the way, I so agree that it´s unbelievable when you check your old posts and folders and realize you had already forgotten things from just six or seven months ago! I check my own old content and can´t believe it was me who wrote it lol P.s I´ve sent you an email
I feel the same way! Thanks so much! 🙂 Haha, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one. It makes me so glad that I’ve written those things so that they are always saved outside of my memory. I got your email. Great to hear from you.