Squad Goals

Kicking off my first blog post of the year a whole quarter of the way through it, but with good reason; I needed the break more than I knew at the time.

My last blog post was about self love and me feeling like I was about to embark on a journey. Where that journey would lead me was what I needed to take the time to figure out, or so I thought. Actually though, I needed to take that time out for myself because I came to realise that I wasn’t in a good place.

There are countless unspoken issues that arise when you live with sickle cell, many of which I feel get silently brushed under the carpet and ignored in the hope that they never get brought up. However, toward the end of last year I found myself tripping over decades of mess that had been left under said carpet and feeling overwhelmed with trying to deal with it all… Again.

Some old wounds never truly heal, especially when you become a pro at convincing yourself and everyone around you that you’re fine; the lines between whether this is the truth or not become blurred and mentally, that becomes dangerous. I do plan to delve deeper into this and how I’m dealing with all the mess left under the carpet, but for now I just wanted to share my gratitude and how important it is to have the right people around you to support you through the temporary turmoils of life.

“It’s not just about picking you up when you fall, it’s about keeping you going when you feel like you can’t go any more.”

You can know hundreds of people and have thousands of followers but it’s those that are there when you need them the most that are, as they say #SquadGoals.

• The friend that does your food shopping for you without you even asking.
• The sister that brings you dinner when you just don’t have the energy to cook.
• The friend that comes and cooks you a meal big enough to last a few days because you have no strength to stand up.
• The big sis who sits with you while you cry, understanding that you don’t need comforting, you just need to let it out.
• The friend who face-times you every morning without fail and makes you laugh about the silliest things.

I could go on but without seeming boastful, these are the kind of friends and family you need in your squad. Without mine, I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today mentally and emotionally. They picked me up and kept me going, probably without even realising. Essentially, they each played a part in guiding me out of the low place I could feel myself slowly getting lost in. Sometimes you don’t know what you are going through until you get through it but my squad were there through it all and I just want to say thank you.

It is a fact that sickle cell can bring you down no matter how hard you try sometimes, so the people that are there to bring you back up are more valuable than they will ever know. x