Today Felicia once again chats with Leah Churchley. You might remember Leah from episode 16 of the podcast where she talked her about her experiences with anxiety and how she managed it with knitting. That was back in October 2015, so it’s been about 2 years since we’ve heard from her. Since that episode, lots has happened in Leah’s life, including coming to work at SweetGeorgia as our Digital and Educational Media Assistant.
Please join us for this week’s episode as Felicia and Leah catch up and discuss how craft and the community around it can help us face life’s most difficult challenges.
[smart_track_player url=”https://traffic.libsyn.com/sweetgeorgia/062_Leah_Churchley_on_Combatting_Chronic_Illness_with_Crafting.mp3″ title=”Episode 062: Leah Churchley on Combatting Chronic Illness with Crafting” artist=”The SweetGeorgia Show // Felicia Lo” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” ]
Leah’s advice to others struggling with a chronic illness: “I feel like people who already have a chronic illness already have everything they need to make it through… I’m actually really amazed at the human body of what it can handle, of what it can endure and not break… You already have everything you need to keep going because you have already been going… you’ve been battling it every day…” — Leah Churchley
In this episode, we talk about:
- 1:40 Leah fills us in on what’s been happening in her life career-wise since she was on the show 2 years ago
- 3:31 Felicia chats with Leah about her diagnoses with Crohn’s disease in December of 2016
- 7:31 Leah explains Crohn’s disease and the “joys” of steroids
- 10:40 Chatting about how being diagnosed with a chronic illness affected Leah’s career as a web developer and spurred her decision to contact Felicia about a job at SweetGeorgia
- 15:00 How working at SweetGeorgia helped Leah cope with chronic illness and learn what she really needed in a job
- 18:20 Using the crafting community and knitting to combat loneliness, depression, and stress
- 24:16 Felicia asks Leah how she accomplishes all her crafting while dealing with the fatigue that goes along with Crohn’s Disease
- 28:30 What projects Leah is currently working on
- 33:45 Felicia asks Leah what advice she would give other people suffering from a chronic disease
- 36:13 Felicia’s final notes and podcast giveaway!
Links and Things
Here’s where to find Leah online:
- Blog: www.thecraftycolon.com
- Etsy store (a portion of all sales go towards supporting Crohn’s and Colitis Canada): www.etsy.com/ca/shop/TheCraftyColon
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/leelabasiccable
Podcast Giveaway!
Win a free set of star stitch markers from Leah’s Etsy store: The Crafty Colon. Simply enter your info here and we’ll enter you in the giveaway and also subscribe you to our SweetGeorgia updates, so you won’t miss out on any of the fun!
Please Join us at the School of SweetGeorgia!
Check out Felicia’s latest project: the School of SweetGeorgia, an online fibre arts school! We are currently offering 2 courses: Colour Play and Dyeing Intentional Colour. Many more courses are coming your way, so please stay tuned!
Thanks for Listening!
Thank you so much for joining me this episode! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your fellow knitting friends. And if you like what I’m doing here, please leave a rating and review on iTunes for the show. I read each and every email and bit of feedback, whether it’s on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, so I welcome your comments.
Thank you Leah for joining me on the show again!
Music Credits:
The Young and Beautiful – by Ivory Hours
Fallin’ – by Jetty Rae (on Noise Trade)