It’s hard to believe, but we’ve been sharing stories on Doublevisonblog for 11 years now! Due to life, some years included more sharing than others. But every year, no matter the amount of posts, we’ve grown from processing our stories aloud and connecting with readers. As a result, we’ve met some of our closest friends, chatted on podcasts, been recruited for reality tv shows (which, in retrospect, thank God did not pan out), met with families who have children with RP and maiden-voyaged retreats with the amazing Daring Sisters. Like life, Doublevisionblog has ebbed and flowed through various seasons, and as we reflect on the past 10 years, there is a sense we are on the precipice of a new season.
What does that mean?
We’re not exactly sure, but here’s one idea: Extending our support beyond blog posts to some small groups of connection for emotional support for people with vision loss and their families. We’ve created a short survey to gauge interest in these groups. Please click here to complete this survey, and if for any reason you are unable to fill this out, you may email mail@doublevisionblog.com.
And now, a quick story from Joy:
Go Joyful: Let’s Work Our Bodies, Minds and Spirits
I did something completely out of my comfort zone yesterday, and I’m hoping many of you will benefit from it.
I recorded “Go Joyful SEL Workout”
What is that?
Well, it is basically a 30ish-minute workout that takes listeners through a progression of pop songs overlayed with some insights to move our minds and bodies through the emotional highs and lows of being in a body. I’ve referred to my daily “Go Joyful” routine in recent posts, and it is basically like your morning cup of coffee. Or in my case, my morning cup of warm lemon water. It’s funny how an action that you spontaneously begin on a random day can morph into a daily habit that your well being depends upon.
It all started the summer of 2020, while I was staying with my parents when we were between houses, and the world was very much shut down. My mom came home one day with this rickety old elliptical that she had bought from a garage sale for $50 and placed it on the back patio. I created a playlist of songs that make me feel happy, which resulted in a lot of Taylor Swift songs. As I listened to the songs, I noticed they each had something to teach me, and over time, I began arranging them in an order that allowed me to process some challenging storylines and emotions that were causing me a lot of anxiety.
While the playlist of songs is something I listen to with earbuds, the internal dialogue has always just been, well, very internal, and definitely not anything I ever imagined sharing aloud with others. But then a couple months ago, I was in a silly mood and pretended I was teaching a workout class and realized I have a lot to say. It was as if all my years of studying growth and emotions through books, podcasts and self reflections were pouring into the workout.
I started wishing I had students I could teach, especially those with disabilities such as vision loss. And then I turned my head to the right side of the garage and remembered my eliptical is situated directly next to my husband’s recording studio. “Hey babe,” I said, “how hard would it be to record an audio workout that I could share with our Doublevisionblog community?”
“Piece of cake,” he said.
Actually, that’s what I wanted him to say. Instead, he launched into this two-month long debate about whether I could legally post anything with copyrighted music and presented me with several hundred options on the various ways to record such an audio workout. In the end, I sat down yesterday on a fuzzy yellow chair and spoke words into a very professional-looking microphone while wearing large headphones with crystal-clear sounds of Taylor Swift and crew. Thus was born “Go Joyful SEL Workout”.
Due to copyrights, this isn’t something I will sell or even post. However, I can share the link via email with anyone who would like to give the workout a try. Simply add your email address to our main list here. If you already subscribe to Doublevisionblog, you can send your name and email address to mail@doublevisionblog.com and title your email “Go Joyful SEL Workout”.
I have also commissioned Jenelle to create a yoga cool-down that can be done after the workout or anytime you’re in the mood for some calming movement. So once Jenelle records the cooldown, we will email both the workout and cool-down links to anyone from our mailing list who would like to listen. We only ask that you do not post or share the link. If you have a friend or family member who you think would benefit from this, you can give them our site address or email in order to request the link personally.
And finally, our question for you…
Is there anything you need? Whether it’s specific words of encouragement, posts on certain topics and/or resources, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to leave comments below or to email mail@doublevisionblog.com.