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WHEELY Blown away - Burntwood Spoonies connect

Facebook group header for Burntwood Spoonies Connect. Bright blue background with jellyfish imagery. White text reads "BURNTWOOD SPOONIES CONNECT — Powered by Tea, Sarcasm & Naps". A winged decorative spoon is illustrated below with the words "Chronically Amusing". The group is private with 189 members, created by Sha Taylor.

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY NINE OF YOU LOVELY SPOONIES have changed my life. I want you to know I mean that with every single spoon I have left. Today, that's about two and a half, but they're yours.

🎉189 of you have made this group a community. In under a month. UNDER A MONTH. 🤯 That's faster than my last NHS referral or even an appointment with my favourite GP (which I actually don't mind waiting for because he is awesome). I will refrain from ranting about ‘the referrals’. 🥄

When Paul and I set up Burntwood Spoonies Connect, our grand vision was simple: the two of us, a bag of Wotsits, and the desperate optimism that hits at 2am. You can’t sleep, and you've already scrolled Instagram seventeen times. We thought maybe—maybe—we'd get a few local spoonies together for a virtual moan and a biscuit. If we got lucky, maybe even coffee with someone who already knows what a bad day looks like and doesn't need a PowerPoint about it. Possibly something stronger than coffee. We're not fussy. 🥄☕🍸

And then 189 of you arrived. 🥄🥄🥄

WHERE DID YOU ALL COME FROM?! Not complaining — absolutely not complaining — but I am slightly overwhelmed, and I do need a lie down, which, to be fair, was already on the cards as always. It's fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine. (fans self-as frantically as my Ellyions will allow with the latest DWP letter).

Dramatic? Me? Absolutely not. Never. Not once in my life. 🙃

This IS the dream. Exactly this: a private, safe space where we can all truly be ourselves—on good days, on terrible days, and during those 3am nights when your mind won’t rest. In moments, the world feels smaller and quieter, like it's closing in on you.

Here's what I love about this group: someone is always there or awake at some unearthly hour. When you or I post, someone responds. Not to fix things or suggest turmeric, but simply to be present. Someone will meet you where you are—even if it's the kitchen floor at midnight, talking to yourself. No judgment. Just company.

Some days, the only response to a brown envelope from the DWP is unprintable—and that's okay here. Forty-seven minutes on hold is a hate crime; someone should say so. If one more person tells you to try turmeric, there will be consequences.

We see you. We are you. We can rant, swear and despair together — and then dish out virtual cwtches like they're going out of fashion, make each other laugh at something ridiculous, and know that no matter what, in this space, we've got 189 people in our corner who get it without having to explain a single thing. 🥄💜

A massive, spangly shout-out to Aimee — my partner in crime. We have become a duo with a hive of ideas that keep coming, despite the brain fog, pain, and fatigue doing their level best to convince us otherwise. The variable but fierce energy levels of a true spoonie don't stop us. What started as "do you fancy helping with this group" has turned into one of my favourite things this year. Meanwhile, Paul, bless his purple-bearded heart, has been gently relocated to his natural habitat as Tech Support. It's one clearly defined role—no juggling required. If you know anything about AuDHD, you'll understand it's genuinely a gift. A comfortable chair and a cold cider didn't hurt either. We suspect he may have got the best deal out of all of us. He's absolutely fine. 🖥️💻🍺

And then there is all of you. We built the walls, but YOU turned it into a home and a community. Every comment, every "me too," every 3am check-in, every gloriously unhinged rant about the state of it all—these are the moments that define us. That’s not us. That’s you. We are absolutely gobsmacked and grateful in equal measure. 💜🥄

Reading your posts, your comments, your 3am check-ins—it doesn't feel like we are running a group, more like we've all just found our people. 🥄💜

Because that's what we're here for. The laughs AND the hard days. The rants AND the virtual cwtches. All of it, no judgement, no toxic positivity—just a brilliant, chaotic, gloriously human bunch of exhausted reprobates, keeping on together.

If you haven't said hello yet, please do. We are genuinely the loveliest group of knackered, occasionally furious, deeply wonderful humans you'll ever meet. 🧡

Thank you. Every single one of you. Bloody hell, we're proud of this place. 😊

✨ Three Good Things Today:

  1. 189 spoonies found their people. If that's not magic, I don't know what is. 🥄
  2. Someone in this group, right now, feels a little less alone than they did yesterday. Worth every second.
  3. We built something real. From scratch. With chronic illness and dodgy Wi-Fi, and Paul as tech support. 💜

💜 Today's Mantra:

"We don't have to do this perfectly. We just have to keep on keeping on — together."

KOKO. Always. 💜

With love and solidarity (and mild bewilderment),

Sha 💜 aka The Wheely Happy Aardvark

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