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This week fromaparrottsnest – today was new wheelchair day for me. Yay! Yay! New wheelchair day! I’ve been waiting for the updated version of my body’s bestest friend to arrive for about a month now, and today she finally arrived. Now for the fun and/or frustrating part – new wheelchair adjustment time. This is where you spend the next week to month asking yourself, “Does this need to be adjusted?” or “Is this a new feature I’ll need to get used to?”. Either way, considering that we’ll be spending the better part of the next 8-10 years together, I hope new wheelchair and i have a good relationship with each other and get the opportunity to do lots of fun things together. I plan to start things off with an inaugural snack run to the store at the gas station up the street. Crossing my fingers that we’ll have a safe journey and return home unscathed and in one piece as the path there and back isn’t all that pedestrian friendly. I know that’s the case in most areas of this country, but that doesn’t make it right.
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Other than the getting of my new wheelchair – I’ve been feeling tired and my mind is still feeling scattered. So I haven’t felt up to doing much except spending a lot of time sitting in front of the TV enjoying more baseball games and the new season of court shows on Justice Central. Good to find the familiar Judge Mathis and Judge Milian and see some new faces too.
I’ve also been reading a fair amount of articles in a Substack publication I found called Carbon Upfront!. This, and a few other urbanist themed publications I’ve found over the last year have done a lot to help me overcome a pretty hefty load of shame that I’ve been carrying with me since I was 18 years old. Like many people with disabilities who live independently on their own and are not well supported by their families or communities, I inadvertently was plunked into a life of poverty then. Since it was a lifestyle I hadn’t been raised in, I wasn’t ready for it and all the negative stigma and consequence that it came with. It caught me very much off guard and threw me for a loop for many years. But now, with the help of these publications and a few realizations that came with age and maturity, I feel much better able to cope without panicking or feeling bad inside – so much so that I actually feel kinda proud of the way that life has forced me to live all these years because it’s caused me to live more sustainably and comfortably frugal than I otherwise would have – which I now know is something that as many people as possible (both disabled and non-disabled) should be striving for. Some of my favorite articles from Carbon Upfront are listed below if you’d like to read them too.
Wildfires are another reason that every house should be Passivhaus
Kitchen Bloat Is Everywhere, From Tiny Homes To Monster Homes
The Real Problem With Electric Cars
And this article from Culture Study about why our homes make us miserable.
I’ll leave you with a realization I had in reference to my own life some time ago…
“The less you have, the less you have to be responsible for.”
Until next time. Enjoy a sweet week! 👍🥰👍
Juliet
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