Hello friends. This month’s guest blog I'm interviewing Arjaye. I met her through Instagram. Though her feed is primarily artistic, we will discuss illness and how they can affect our daily life. Illnesses can stop us from pursuing our passions and dreams. And there are people who still follow their dreams despite their mental and physical illness, like Arjaye. Now, let’s give her a warm welcome.
Tell us about yourself.
Arjaye: “My name is Angela, but I go by my nickname, Arjaye. I’m married, and we’ve been together for nearly seventeen years. Now, there’s an eighteen years age difference but we don’t notice it. We have sixteen children, two earthside and fourteen angels in heaven. I love homeschooling, which we started last year and being a Christian homemaker. I live in rural Auckland in New Zealand with our cat, Mischief. She’s usually found getting into something or sitting on my basket of yarn, guarding it. I’m an author currently writing my first two books, a fiction book based on a fairy tale and parts of my life, and a nonfiction book about endometriosis. I’m also a chronic illness and endometriosis advocate who is passionate about helping other people with endometriosis and chronic illness. Amongst all of that, I’m a therapeutic knitting designer and design patterns inspired by God and nature."
I think it is cool to have a nickname. My family called me Hava like from the Fiddle on the Roof movie. And I’m sorry for the loss. I can’t imagine how hard it must be. But I’m glad you have two kids here and being a mom. Homeschooling your kids is nice because they can learn at their own pace, and you can let them be creative, yet teach them skills they will need when they get older. Now you are currently working on some stories. When did you write?
Arjaye: "I started writing as a teenager and loved to write children’s stories. I wish I still had them, but unfortunately I don’t. I haven’t tried to write children’s stories since then, maybe I’ll go back to it sometime. For now, I’m enjoying writing short stories in between working on my books."
That’s funny. I started off writing fairy stories to kids when I was a teenager. And then things changed for me as I got older. But I hope one of these days you can try to write them again. Aside from writing children’s stories, you are working on a book talking about illness. Why?
Arjaye: “I want to help people with endometriosis and chronic illness. With endometriosis, there is so much misinformation around including by medical professionals, which makes it hard to get the right medical treatment and the help that you need and deserve. Some doctors and specialists use outdated definitions of endo. As endometriosis is caused by retrograde menstruation is the wrong definition of endometriosis but some surgeons think it’s the correct definition then they wonder why patients aren’t cured. It often starts with teenagers. Especially females. There are only a few cases of this illness in men that have been reported in the literature. In most cases, it takes nine years from the onset of symptoms to get a diagnosis. It took nineteen years for me to be diagnosed prior to that. I was told it was normal. The pain is not normal and should only last a few days and be able to be managed with panadol. I started sharing my story after I was diagnosed with helping others feel less alone and just wanted to help people along their journey, too. It’s a fight to find help and it shouldn’t be there needs to be better care worldwide for endometriosis.”
It is a courageous thing you are doing. Your voice matters. And I hope your story will encourage others to do the same. What other fun hobbies do you like to do when you aren’t writing?
Arjaye: “I love to knit and I’m usually never not knitting even when I’ve been in hospital and unless I’m feeling really unwell. You’ll find me squishing yarn or laying with something knitted over me. It brings me peace and comfort. Another thing I love to do calligraphy and my favorite pen to write with is with a goose quill without the nib. I also use fountain pens and dip pens. And I love making wax seals too. They can be quite fun to make and add things like flowers and a touch of gold with a pen, etc. Besides knitting and calligraphy, I like to read a lot–mostly Amish, Christian fiction, and some non-fiction books, too."
They sound like fun hobbies. I like to crochet (I have tried to knit–we don’t work well together) and draw or read books too. I have seen you do calligraphy and they look really nice! I find this kind of stuff creatively impressive. Some people have different views about creativity but I’m curious what it is your thoughts are about being creative?
Arjaye: "Creativity is a world of possibilities. It’s co-creating with God. And it’s just amazingly beautiful yet hard to describe at the same time. Creativity is something that brings me so much joy and even on days dealing with chronic illness is bad, I can still be creative. I learned to knit laying down and to cross stitch laying down too. It’s also finding creative ways to do things in a body that’s in pain. I’ve knit Continental years before, but I wasn’t as good as I am now with it. It uses the left hand too. I would not stop my hobbies due to it and yes, some days it’s harder than others with focus."
I agree with you fully! We all have creativity in our DNA. God has given to us and uses it for His glory. Well said. Now, I saw you have recently released a business sharing your knit pattern, etc. What led you to do that?
Ajaye: “My passion for knitting and teaching others to knit started out as me sharing my knitting with learning to knit Continental with my left hand after I’d been knitting for over ten years with my right hand. Then I decided to turn it into a business and started teaching people to knit in group classes. It was so much fun. I started designing knitting patterns around the same time too. Then things changed to therapeutic knitting and the health benefits of knitting. It helped me through the tough times in my journey, particularly the five months where I was pretty much bedridden. It gave me something to focus on, something I could complete."
If someone wants to start a business while dealing with an illness, what advice would you give them?
Ajaye: “You have to start research and have plans in place. Seeking advice and business groups can be helpful too. It’s difficult, but it’s more flexible than working for someone. You don’t have to worry about sick days either or someone being annoyed while you wanted to do XYZ. You do nothing or little because it’s all you could do. With each thing you do, it is a step forward in the direction you want to go. You can make your plan flexible like I do when days are rough. I mean on days when it is stressful for you and feel you have to achieve things by the deadline when it’s not always realistic. You can work from the couch or your bed. I do most of what I do from my couch (and yes, I’m SERIOUS!)."
That is great advice. It is important to make the time and goals you want to achieve, yet try to enjoy the process and do it at your own pace. Ajaye, I had a pleasant time talking to you and hopefully the readers find your story inspiring.
Arjaye: "Thank you so much, Havelah, for having me. I’ve been so excited about our interview and being here!"
If you like to see more of her stories and other artistic crafts you can check her website www.cozywoodlandcottageknits.blogspot.com or follow her on Instagram @cozy_woodland_cottage_knits, Pinterest @cozywoodlandcottageknits, and Facebook @cozywoodlandcottageknits.
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