Reflections on the 2019 A-Z Blogging Challenge

The 2019 A to Z Blogging Challenge didn’t go as expected for me.  spent the months of January and February writing posts for both, Facing Cancer with Grace and Heather Erickson Author/Writer/Speaker. I scheduled them to publish automatically, as I have done in past years, planning to use April to comment on other A to Z bloggers’ posts. In past years, this has been extremely helpful. This year A to Z would take a back seat.

In March, my husband’s cancer took a dramatic turn for the worse. By the end of March, after repeated visits to the hospital, including a couple of extended visits, he returned home to begin in-home hospice. That month was so intense. There wasn’t a minute that went unaccounted for.

My beloved husband died on April 26^th.

Then, we began funeral preparations. His funeral was Saturday, May 4^th. Now, we are trying to figure out how to live without him with us.

In regards to A to Z…

I did a pitiful job of commenting on other sites this year. Hopefully, I can call a mulligan. I did get to about 100 sites, in the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, near the end of the challenge, I realized that my Jetpack plugin stopped working for me in the beginning of April, so my posts no longer auto-post to my social media accounts as they have in the past. This hurt my readership. I’ve looked into other plugins, but as of now, my site is “http”, rather than “https.” In order to authenticate my site with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, I will need to pay the added cost to change to “https.”

So, to sum up my reflection on this year’s A to Z,

It didn’t go so well for me, but it was also really low on my list of priorities. I do enjoy visiting other A to Z Bloggers throughout the year, so I plan on participating in the road trip, and even publishing a book based on my posts from Facing Cancer with Grace.

If you would like to read any of my A to Z posts from Facing Cancer with Grace, here are the links:

April                       Topic

1              A             Asking for Help

2              B             Begin your day right

3              C             Clear the Clutter

4              D             Date Night

5              E              Eliminate one Obligation

6              F              Financial Help

8              G             Give up the Caregiver Guilt

9              H             Hug Someone You Love

10           I               Imagine You’re on a Beach: Visualization

11           J              Journal to Avoid Burnout

12           K             Keep Yourself Accountable by Seeing a Therapist

13           L              Lift Someone’s Spirits by Listening

15           M            Mindfulness to Avoid Burnout

16           N             Say No to Avoid Burnout

17           O             One Thing a Day to Avoid Burnout

18           P             Having Pets for Stress Relief

19           Q             Quit a bad habit

20           R             Respite Care for Burnout Prevention

22           S              Sleep Hygiene

23           T              Thankful for the Gift of Gratitude

24           U             Unload 3 Things: Should’ve, Could’ve, Would’ve

25           V             Vacation to Avoid Burnout

26           W            Walking to Keep Burnout at Bay

27           X             X (10) Ways to Cope with Stress

29           Y              Your Self Care Plan to Avoid Burnout

30           Z              Zip through Your Household Chores

May 6                     A to Z Reflections

What Are Your Thoughts?

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ABOUT HEATHER ERICKSON

In 2012 doctors diagnosed my husband, Dan, with stage IV lung cancer. Since then, our family has been learning what it means to face cancer. I’ve focused my writing and speaking on helping cancer patients and their families advocate for themselves and live life to the fullest, in spite of their illness. My goal is to help people face cancer with grace.

My book Facing Cancer as a Friend: How to Support Someone Who Has Cancer, is available on Amazon.com

Also, check out Facing Cancer as a Parent: Helping Your Children Cope with Your Cancer.

Also, put your memories into words with The Memory Maker’s Journal.

I also blog at Heather Erickson Author/Writer/Speaker