Allergy Season Plays Havoc with Blogging

This week here in Georgia has seen pollen counts that are off the chain. I have spent over a month trying to find the combination of medicines to find relief from the constant pressure and pain of chronic sinusitis, including prescriptions drugs and over-the-counter drugs prescribed by my primary care physician. I have allergies this time of the year every year, but this year is much more severe. My mind seems to have stopped functioning, and each day, I can’t seem to find the energy or the words for blogging.

This is a loss for me, as writing has been my sanctuary since I retired from teaching in colleges and universities full-time. I miss the work of encouraging and motivating students to think, so I transferred that desire to impart knowledge to blogging, especially through stories and poems. Although I created this blog as a bible study site, I realized quickly that my stories, with messages of hope and which are meant to inspire, were better received than simply another blog site that taught the Bible messages as if in a classroom.

What has been most surprising for me as a blogger of almost three years, and I wonder if this has happened to other bloggers, is that the blog posts that have received the most notice and brought me more followers lately are not my posts on the Bible or my fictional stories and poems, but my writings on the struggle to loss weight and stay fit in a world ravaged by a virus. I wrote on this weight loss journey as a way of letting someone out there in the world know that they are not alone and that losing weight isn’t a protean experience.

With these allergies, I haven’t written anything in a few days. Douglas has bought two air purifiers, one for the bedroom and one for my office, to help me breathe better. I am thankful for his concern, because I am a doer, accustomed to working every day, and this lack of a desire to read, watch television (although with Britbox, I can binge to my heart’s content and never come up for air), or write. But, today, I refuse to give in to the habit of having a pity party, and I will write!

I wish we could travel to Portugal or Spain, because I don’t have allergy problems when we are in Europe or near the ocean. I can enjoy outings and oh, I take so many pictures for Pull Up A Seat or Thursday Doors or Flower of the Day. We have both been fully vaccinated, but many of the places I want to go in Europe are on lockdown, so maybe the Caribbean would be a good choice. But the problem is my fear of still contracting the virus on a plane. Will we ever be complacent about getting on planes again?

Sending my condolences to my friends and followers in the United Kingdom on the death of Prince Philip. My heart goes out to the Queen and her family in the loss of her husband of 73 years, and it should remind us all that, in spite of titles, we are all human and need each other in times of deep loss and grief!

Fandango prompt is Complacent. Word of the Day Challenge is Habit. Your Daily Prompt is Protean. The Daily Spur prompt is Craft.