Hello Everyone,

Welcome to The Invisible Vision Project’s blog, and welcome to another episode of Guest Blogger Interviews #7. Today’s interview is with a lovely chronic illness and mental health blogger, her name is Laura, and her blog is called Laura Spoonie Blogs. Without further ado, let’s welcome Laura and get to know more about her and her blog!

1. Please briefly introduce yourself.
   Hi all,
   My name is Laura, and I’m in my early twenties.
   Laura = middle name, Spoonie = Someone with a Chronic illness, physical and/or mental.
   I suffer from multiple Chronic illnesses: Fibromyalgia, CRPS, Asthma, to name a few. I’ve also had a long time battle with mental illness and been a young carer since the age of 11.
2. What are your hobbies and interests?
   My hobbies and interests include art (drawing & painting), listening to music, blogging, being amongst nature.
3. Name your strengths? And your lacking?
   My strength is the ability to use words and connect with others, not verbally but in writing. Apparently, my writing is touching and thought-provoking.
   I lack in the ability to make sense whilst I’m speaking, I don’t know if it’s because my mouth moves faster than my brain works or because of my cognitive issues Lol most probably both, welp!
4. What is the highest level of education you have completed so far?Vocational Level 3’s and A Level was my highest level of education:
   Music
   Business Studies
   IT
   Hairdressing
   I never went to University or had the desire to go, I’m more so a practical person and learner although my physical health impacts and restricts this greatly.
5. What is your current occupation?
   I’m technically still employed as a youth worker. I work for a charity called Young Carers Project – I wrote a blog about this HERE. The charity is for children ages 5-18, who care for family members with physical and/or mental illnesses. During half-term and school holidays, I would help to chaperone them on day trips, residentials or after school club sessions. As it’s a 0-hour contract I work as and when available and fit enough to go in, but I haven’t done so since October 2018 when I had a panic attack and was in awful chronic pain during work, my manager is very understanding about my health and situation.
   If anyone reading wants to find out more about the charity or donate to the organisation you can read up more – HERE
6. Where do you see yourself in five years?
   In all honesty, I have no idea! I didn’t think I’d even make it to this stage in life, to see age 24. There have been so many ideas that I’ve had since I was young and so the thought of where I’d be in 5 years has kind of always been uncertain.
   Wherever I am, I hope I’m happy and able to connect and touch peoples hearts because if not my time here on Earth is in vain.
7. Describe one of your proudest moment in your life.

   

8. What is your biggest fear in life?
   There’s a few; creepy crawlies getting stuck in a lift by myself, fear of abandonment (Borderline Personality Disorder), but top of the list and actually most important is fear of God.
9. Please tell us about your blog: What is the title of your blog? When did you first get into blogging and Why did you start?
   My Blog Title is – Laura Spoonie Blogs with the slogan, ‘One Spoon At A Time 🥄’
   I identify my blog as a chronic illness & mental health blog + everything in between, I created my blog in April 2018 but got a little more serious about it in June 2018.
   I created my site to encourage my fellow Spoonies, showing that no matter your circumstance you can always set goals and accomplish things you may have always dreamed of doing. I started blogging my struggles, victories, language learning, photography, product reviews and art so I can share it with the world and take you on my journey of growth and self-development.
   I hope to inspire and uplift whether you’re a part of #SpoonSquad or not, so feel free to subscribe and join me on this journey.
   I also adore Sunflowers so if you ever wanna share any sunflower pics with me then you are more than welcome.
   Check out my, ‘Lessons from a Sunflower’ post and leave some feedback if you like.
10. How would you describe your blogging style?
    My blogging style is erm, DISCOMBOBULATED. I still haven’t gotten a grip on blogging (or life haha), I think it’s more so a somewhat ‘organised mess’ because I really do aspire to be an organised human but it’s a real battle and blogging is no exception to things that I find challenging.
11. Who has impacted you the most in blogging?
    I have a few that come to mind
    Nancy Mulligan – My Everyday Challeneges
    Because she really believed in me and saw my potential right from the start, she’s genuinely a beautiful human and so kind. Her blog is about getting through life despite everyday challenges that come in the way.
    Johnzelle Anderson (my blogging big bro.) – Perfectly Imperfect
    As soon as I found his social media, then his blog I connected with him in a click of the fingers. He speaks on his experience as a young man living with mental illness whilst being married is a psychotherapist, does book reviews and is on a mission to get out of debt (trust me he’s inspiring). I learned so much from him not just as a blogger but on different levels like you would with a big brother I guess.
    Rachael Hope – Rachael Hope Media
    She’s awesome! First of all, she’s a Spoonie like me and suffers from Fibromyalgia (not the best thing to have in common but wait for it)… She’s an outstanding artist (I LOVE art), a Girl BOSS, her heart is rosegold not only has she reached out to me in times of rejoicing but more so in times of need, she’s just so lovely, has a cat named Yuna + she’s a British Las (Lol I’m just stretching it out now).
12. How active are you on your blog and approximately, how much time do you spend blogging?
    I really would like to get the hang of typing a few blogs in advance and then scheduling them to post but I just can’t seem to do so. I try to think of what I want my point to be but sometimes it just doesn’t come when I want so I just have to work with my foggy brain. I take anywhere between a few hours to a few days to write a blog post. Depending on the topic and how in depth it is.
13. Have you ever faced a challenging moment in your blogging journey so far?
    The most challenging moment in my blogging journey so far is definitely when I was trying to type my – The BRAVE Butterfly blog in September 2018, if you take a read you’ll understand why it was so challenging, just thinking about it brings back the same feeling and pain that I had whilst trying to type it up.
14. In the future, where do you hope your blog will take you?
    Hmmm, I hope I can get a paid partnership with a disability company, mental health charity or an organisation that specifies in a charity that assists people in their well-being. I would love to connect more with People of Colour, men & women and delve more into the topic of mental health as I truly believe this is an area that goes unspoken of so much.
15. What would be one piece of advice you would give to first time bloggers?

I actually wrote some advice for new bloggers in my,

Blogger Recognition Award🏆 post – Take a look 😊

• Please Provide Contact Info and Social Media Links below:

I’m an artist so you can check out my work at Etsy – Follow @LauraSpoonieArt
You can support me via my Ko-Fi page: https://lauraspoonie.blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraSpoonie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraspoonie/
Website: https://lauraspoonie.blog

Here we have it! Thank you so much Laura, for participating as a guest blogger on The Invisible Vision Project and thank you all for reading! This series has been a really popular one, so if you are a blogger, or you know a blogger friend that may be interested in doing something like this with other bloggers, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

By: The Invisible Vision Project