reddit - finding comfort and resources in an online community

I want to preface this post by reflecting on how I am tweaking my blog as we progress into this course. Some of the ideas I adopted from seeing my classmates' blogs, such as using labels. I have decided to use a new label for posts with bits and pieces of my personal life. I tend to tie in prior knowledge and experience with what we're learning in class because that helps me "anchor" my learning and retain it much better. Although this post is about Reddit, there is a personal experience tied to it.

This week, we were encouraged to explore the realm of Reddit. For some time, I had just been a lurker of subreddits...usually, I would google a question that would lead me to a subreddit. 

"A subreddit is a specific online community, and the posts associated with it, on the social media website Reddit."

Eventually, I decided to make an account to "upvote," join communities and comment on certain posts. Some of them are for learning purposes, like r/InstructionalDesign, while others I purely use to read for fun or entertainment, like r/LifeProTips and r/cats. Usually, you will have suggestions of other subreddits related to the one you're visiting/exploring. 

My mother-in-law will move in with my husband and me this week. Her physical and mental health is declining and we are the only ones able to care for her. We both are clueless about how to help get her insured and what the next steps are. These are one of the life events that life doesn't prepare you enough for...or correction - at all. My solace this past week has been reading through the subreddit r/AgingParents. I have found comfort and resources through this online community, and it's led me to research the local and state resources offered to elders/aging folks and caregivers. It's also encouraged me to seek help from my in-person communities. Both have been very helpful.

Here's a pretty cool podcast regarding caregiving from LifeKit - 4 pieces of advice for caregivers, from caregivers. Hope you can share with someone you care for!