#roadtododie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello, again!

Welcome to part 9 on the Road To Dodie; a blog dedicated to mental and physical health with the aim to see Dodie perform live in March. It’s been a pretty uneventful week on my end, but I’m looking forward to the concert which is just over 2 weeks away.

This week, I wanted to talk about something exciting that might be happening in the summertime. If everything goes to plan, I will be flying out to London, Ontario for about a week to attend a convention! It will be the longest trip that I will take and it will be my first time to Canada. A really good friend will be at that event too, so I will be spending time with them. It will be something to look forward to after the concert. It will be really interesting experience spending about 9 hours travelling, with a 2 hours layover in Toronto. There is so much that I want to try there, such as poutine, root beer and a pierogi. My friend was surprised that I never had one before so he’s making sure to show me what they are like.

With that being said, it’s amazing to think that my physical health is somewhat under control at this current stage. I’m not in the extreme where I’m in an absurd amount of pain. The only issue that I’ve been having (which I mentioned in previous entries) is that my appetite is very low and I have trouble sleeping at nights. Apart from those, I’m in a rather good state. I really hope that it maintains like this until the day after the concert. I really don’t want to get sick the day of again and be forced to unattend. It’s happened twice already. I don’t want it to happen again.

That’s it for this week’s entry! I want to thank everyone who has read and followed the blog recently. I was able to hit 50 followers which is a really big deal to me! I never expected so much support from this project. It’s really helped my mental health slowly improve by making something to look forward to. I keep saying this in every entry, but I want to interact with everyone more. Feel free to shoot me a DM and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello, and welcome to this project!

My name is Jamie and I wanted to talk about myself for a bit to give context on what this page will be about. Firstly, a little bit of who I am, and why this page exists. (Also apologies on if this page isn’t looking good, first time really customizing a tumblr page like this.)

I’m a 22 year old student in the UK (specifically Northern Ireland) and I’ve been a fan of dodie’s music, vlogs and kind spirit for the last 4 years. Throughout those years, I was also diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease which has caused me to miss out a lot of stuff over those time, including dodie’s concerts. Not being able to go because my health declined at the last minute for both Belfast shows broke my heart every single time. However, I want to make a change to that. 

My Crohn’s story is a bit vanilla. Got diagnosed in 2015, operated on to remove part of my bowels the following month, and been slowly climbing and falling both physically and mentally. However, it links into the aim of this page really nicely.

In short, this tumblr page is to document my health recovery journey and hopefully end at her concert in Dublin in March. I was able to get a standing ticket meaning I will be putting in the work until then to make sure I can go. It’s going to be an interesting few months, and I would be glad for you all to join me! It will be a MASSIVE milestone for me to even be there with the surgery, different medications taken and emotional events unfolded since then. It’ll mean to me that I’ve somewhat fully recovered to live my life again without any anxieties.  The plan is to write a post every Friday starting in 2019, giving updates, thoughts on situations that I’ve been through. I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and I will see you all in the new year! All the best,

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello, again!

Welcome to part 11 on the Road To Dodie; a blog dedicated to mental and physical health with the aim to see Dodie perform live this Sunday. It’s really hard to believe that the concert is this week. My excitement and anxiousness is at an all time high. I know that I have been wanting to see Dodie perform for a few years now and this is the closest I have ever been to the concert both mentally and physically. I know that all I need to do is push myself on the day to travel the 2 hours to the venue. However, doubt is always crossing my mind. I thought it would be a nice topic to mention on the penultimate entry.

Everytime I plan to do something which is months away, I make sure I cover every basis. I plan what route to take, where to go eat before and afterwards and how to get home. However, when the week hits my nerves kick in and I start to self-doubt myself on every small detail. I just try my absolute best to keep calm and ensure that everything is in order. I even have my ticket to the venue on the phone table so I don’t forget to take it with me. When I get anxious, I start to get stomach pains (similar to Chidi from The Good Place). It’s odd to know now that my Crohn’s affects my anxiety. I never would have guessed that was why my stomach pains were almost unbearable.

Regarding the stream that I mentioned last week, it went really well! I did split it up to different days so I didn’t get too ill before the concert, We were able to raise $200 for the Children’s Health Foundation in London, Ontario. I really enjoyed the experience and I’m considering doing it again in the near future.

That’s it for this week’s entry. I need to mentally and physically prepare to head to Dublin. That’s so crazy for me to actually say. I might be seeing her this week! Next week will be my final entry in this blog, so I’ll try to make it as special as I can.

Have an amazing day!

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the second installment of the “Road to Dodie”, a blog dedicated to my mental and physical health aiming towards seeing one of my favourite musicians perform live in March; Dodie. 

This past week hasn’t been good on my physical health. I’ve been taking steroids since the start of December, which can be good and bad. Good meaning I can eat somewhat normally, but it affects my emotions severely. This Thursday will be the day that I reduce to a number of medication that will completely remove my appetite and will cause the abdominal pains to return. They’ve slowly been building up which sucks, but I want to look on the positive side. Music has been an amazing way to me to lose myself in a moment, to forget anything that’s going on with my life and to just feel the music.  With Dodie’s music, it’s been a big help for me to unwind. There have been times which I have locked myself in my bathroom, put on my headphones in the middle of the night to just cry while listening to her songs on Spotify. Last night, I was in a bad spot because of the amount of stress my health has been causing me. When it comes to my Crohn’s, the more stress I’m under, the more intense my symptoms become. I didn’t want that. I just couldn’t.

On the more positive side, I’d like to talk about what songs are my favourite. It was really difficult to choose which ones resonated with me the most, but I narrowed it down to two. Firstly there is “If I’m Being Honest”. I put off listening to it for the longest time because I wanted to wait until the Human EP came out, so I could listen to the majority of the tracks for the first time one after another. However, I had a bad night 2 weeks ago. I couldn’t wait. I did the routine. Bathroom; locked. Headphones; on. I listened. I cried. There was something about the vocal harmonies that just broke me down. It takes me a while to process lyrics within music, but the composition of songs instantly click with me. They can tell a story about anything from someone’s dream to someone at their lowest low. Music is beautiful like that. 

Secondly, there is Instrumental. I was honestly surprised whenever I listened to this song for the first time. It links nicely to what I said about stories. Whenever I listen to this, I close my eyes. I see someone sitting on a park bench under the moonlight. They are reading a book while thinking about someone they care about deeply. They wonder on what could’ve been. They look up and see the stars. While doing so, they shed a tear. Music is so funny on how people playing instruments can cause a story like that in someone’s head.

That’s all I really have to say this week. My head is all over the place. However,  I want to be more interactive within this community, so I’d love some suggestions on what to add with this blog. I have my DMs open so if you ever want to message me, please don’t hesitate to message me and I’ll respond as soon as I possibly can.  Thank you for taking the time to read this entry. I hope everyone is having a good week so far, and I’ll see you in the next entry.

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello!

Welcome to part 10 on the Road To Dodie; a blog dedicated to mental and physical health with the aim to see Dodie perform live in March. It’s been a pretty stressful week. Since the concert is next Sunday, I’ve been trying to find a way to get to the venue with no avail. This led me to making this week’s topic about the one thing that can sneak up on me and ruin my emotional and physical wellbeing; stress.

Whenever I get stressed, I get abdominal pains which I’m used to right now. However, when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s, it was an absolute annoyance to deal with. I still have issues with mobility but it isn’t severe. I just need to sit down and take it easy for a few hours. I was thinking about if I get these pains during the concert, I have no idea how to sort it out on the day.This in itself was making me consider skipping this week’s entry.

I find it kind of funny that I was doing somewhat okay last week, but the stress just snuck up on me. In lighter news, I’m actually going to stream for 24 hours this Friday for Extra Life. Extra Life is a charity organisation which focuses on children’s hospitals. I’ll be playing the game Warframe for the Children’s Health Foundation in London, Ontario. I’m going to go live around 2pm EST so I’ll leave the link to my Twitch account here.

That’s it for this week’s entry! I wanted to keep this somewhat short since I’m a bit under the weather. Luckily this stream will be a fun way to distract myself for the time being. I hope you all have a great week and tune in next week for the penultimate entry of this blog. It will be followed by my overall thoughts on the concert experience on the 20th.

All the best,

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello!

Welcome back to the Road To Dodie! This is week 5 of a series of entries where I document my mental and physical health journey in preparation to seeing Dodie perform in Dublin in March. This week has been a bit of an odd one.

With my medication almost being reduced to zero, it’s starting to show in my emotional state. I’ve been more insecure about everything that I do which isn’t the best way to spend your nights. Thinking about every bad decision you’ve made. I wanted to focus on advice that I’ve learned from these experiences as well as from friends who have passed it onto me!

With the concert fast approaching, I didn’t know how I was going to be mentally strong enough to attend after being unable to go to Dodie’s concerts previously. I asked a group of people I know on what I should do to gain the courage on the day to go. I asked this because I was convinced that my anxiety and self-doubt would make me unable to go. My friend Karli gave me wonderful advice on how she hyped herself up for a concert. She told me on how she took it easy that morning, get a good meal, how she got earplugs and a face mask (the concert she attended was at a festival, and that was to help with smoke/ loud crowds.) She also said getting there early helped. “ I feel like that was good for me to become acclimated to the venue, so if I wanted to leave, I could have” she told me after I asked her on how she gained the courage. Those words alone showed me that it’s alright to be anxious about something you’re looking forward to. Doubt is a natural thing that happens with everyone. As long as I am comfortable beforehand, I don’t think I should have an issue with travelling to Dublin.

That’s it for this week’s entry. I’m really sorry that the blog was slightly shorter than previous entries! My mental health has seemed to have caused a writer’s block, so this is all I can really come up with I’m afraid. I’ll try to make it up next week by writing something special. If you have any suggestions on future topics or want to talk to me, my inbox is always open!

I hope you are having a great week so far!

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello everyone!

This is part 7 on the Road To Dodie; a blog dedicated to mental and physical health with the aim to see Dodie perform live in March. With the concert being on the 17th, it means that there is just over a month left before the concert! I’ve been thinking of writing a letter to Dodie and try to give it to her on the day. It’ll be a thank you on the positive impact that she’s had on my life since I found her a few years ago. The only issue is that I’m not 100% certain on where to hand it in.

Today’s entry will be somewhat short since it will be more focused on the halfway point of these entries. I might continue after the concert if my passion for writing isn’t just a phase. To be honest, I had 12 entries planned, with the twelth entry being my thoughts of the concert and what I plan to do for the future. We’ll see what happens.

So in order for get mentally and physically prepared for the big day, I have to have an idea on what time to get to the venue to be able to lean against the rail at the front. My energy levels aren’t good to be jumping around for the entire show and being the dumbass that is me, I bought a standing ticket. Whoops! The issue with leaving at a decent time is that I live about 3 hours away from the venue. It’ll be quite an experience trying to find where the concert is held. ( I just tried to find it on Google Maps and it seems to be quite difficult since the maps show the place to be closed. I have no clue where the entrance is. Honestly I feel like it’ll be a fun experience nonetheless! I get to learn about Dublin’s streets in order to find the place! It’s always important to find the positive aspect of every negative situation.

My health is in a bit of an odd state currently. My steroids are completely out of my system and I’ve felt pretty rough since they did. Whatever physical energy I had has just been drained and I find it hard to stay awake most days. I’m hoping that on the day the sheer adrenaline will be able to keep me going.

That’s it for another week! I want to thank everyone who has followed the last 7 weeks! We are almost at 50 followers which is so surreal to me! My inbox is always open so feel free to message me here or on Twitter if you want to talk.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Jamie

[roadtododie-blog]

Hello, again!

I want to thank everyone who has followed the blog so far! I want to be more active within this community so I’m trying to follow as many accounts as I can/ make as many friends as I possibly can.Any help to make new pals would be wonderful!