Here is Me! Hello! Dia dhuit! Hola!
A long overdue introduction, a fist of a few as I try to summarise who is Sheila.
Inspired by Emma who writes I thought I’d introduce myself. This was planned to be released in the New Year, but since we’re now creeping through March I don’t think I can call it new anymore.
The delay was the realisation that summarising the person Sheila is somewhat difficult, I kept going off on deep dive tangents.
Have you given it a go? I’d love to see what you wrote, share me a link in the comments below.
Hello! Dia dhuit! Hola!
I’m Sheila, the human behind Sheila is writing Substack.
I’m English Irish with a strange amalgamation of accents. My brain is a sponge for them, and as such I pick them up wherever I go, like collectables or souvenirs. If you spend too much time talking to me, you might even find your own accent reflected back at you. But it’s mainly midlands English, with occasional northern vowels, Irish grammatical and vocabulary undertones, subtle Australian intonations and peppered with Spanglish-ism that hurt my ears when I hear them.
My base
I live in the sunny south of Spain, albeit in a region that gets nippy in winter. It gets close to that zero mark every year, yet it is not at all prepared for it, making it even colder than it needs to be! No central heating and hard stone floors make the houses like brick igloos. So imagine me like the Michelin man, wrapped up in various layers as I write to you.
Although it shocks many a Spaniard, I feel the cold, a lot. I would say I’m nesh, a north midlands word, or friolera, a Spanish word. I constantly have cold hands, when I shake hands with someone they exclaim ‘Your hands are freezing!’, to which I reply ‘Cold hands warm heart!’ or poor circulation, likely the latter.
Why the name
I chose the name Sheila is writing, as a play on what you see when someone is typing on Facebook or WhatsApp. I write from the heart, either about matters of the heart or of the world I observe around me.
Although I haven’t got a routine yet of writing, it’s a new project and I’m still finding my rhythm, I love writing and the community I’m getting to know here. So watch this space!
The Holy Trinity of Infertility
I suffer from a trio of illnesses; endometriosis, adenymosis and fibroids. A combo I call the holy trinity of infertility. I’ve recently been told I am unable to have my own children. After 25 years of longing and working towards a family in my own possibly unconventional ways, it’s been devastating news. I would consider myself in a period of grieving, it’s a loss I am struggling to carry and a theme that seeps into all my writings.
Jobby McJobby
I’m a writer by day and an English as a second language teacher by night, well technically evening. I specialise in the wee ones but I’m not currently with the teenie tiny ones and my immune system is grateful for that.
I do dabble in attempting to teach teenagers or an adult or two, really I’d rather teach the latter but where I live it’s the youngsters that bring in the monies.
I consider myself a good teacher, and do enjoy teaching. However, unfortunately, it’s difficult to find a job where I get to be the teacher I would like to be.
It has also proven incredibly difficult to hold down a job as I find myself in four years having had two surgeries, two cancelled rounds of fertility treatment and a weakened immune system during a worldwide pandemic. That’s not to mention the baggage that comes with my chronic health conditions.
As such, I’m on the edge of burnout, panicked I’ll be fired after losing a job with no warning or reason two years ago and trying to figure out what I’d like to do next! Yikes!
Wanderlust
Remember when that word became fashionable? You’d see it all over Instagram and people got it tattooed onto them.
I do have it though, wanderlust. I think I have traveller blood in me and struggle to settle down in one place. Arguably having never done it, with one foot on either side of the Irish Sea, then later bags packed between mum and dad. I even chose to live abroad, adding another country to my hopping around.
Getting sick meant I couldn’t travel for a while and that pandemic, you might have heard about it, meant I didn’t travel for a few years. Well, my idea of not travelling is still travelling within Spain, going home to Ireland and England (when it was legal and safe to do so). 2023 I felt finally well enough to do a trip and it felt so good! It fills my soul with joy.
2023 was a year of travel! I managed to travel to 4 towns in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands (ish we drove through it), 3 places in Italy, 2 locations in Greece, Sofia, Inishbofin (an island of Ireland), 4 counties in mainland Ireland and trips in Spain too. My itchy feet went a wandering and it felt good.
My favourite style of travel is slow, in with the locals and a dabble of off-the-beaten-track. Of course, sandwiched with the more touristy attractions, they’re popular for a reason.
I remember a friend asked me years ago what did I want to do with my life and I said ‘I want to live in another country and experience a different culture. I’ve done it, I’m doing it. I’ve now lived in 5 different countries, and albeit settled of sorts here, I dream of doing one (or few) more.
Hopalong Cassidy
I took a bit of an epic fall last week while walking to work, a migraine was giving me jip as I hurried along to work. Someone had mopped the pavement ahead of me and to avoid slipping I decided to cross the road, it seemed that day I was going to go down as it was at this moment I hit the decks.
I think that pesky migraine affected my brain processing, causing me to misjudge a step and then fall hard onto my left knee. My hands must have been in my pockets, them cold hands, and to try and catch my fall I pulled my hands out flinging all my possessions across the road and slid head-first into an unsuspecting man who was walking along.
So the Sheila that’s typing today is hopping along trying to get used to using crutches. I watched a video today to try and get the technique right as I’ve been finding it mighty hard lugging my almost 6-foot-tall, not-so-skinny-bean self around. I have a newfound appreciation for knees and have unleashed new levels of empathy for crutch users. It’s been 30 years since I used crutches last, I think it was easier to hop as a six-year-old and I was probably much lighter to carry.
Irish Eyes
To finish my hello I’ll leave you with this song which my auntie sent me last summer. I feel like this song is written about me, so take a listen and let me know what you think.
As I played it to add to this feed my partner said ‘¿Cómo te gusta esta canción?’ (How you like this song), yeaaaaah. I’ve listened to it on repeat for months, I’m trying to learn all the lyrics off by heart or drive my fella crazy. I’ll let you decide.
Please say hello in the comments, it’d be nice to meet you or hear from you if we’ve met before.
Do you have a spongy accent?
Where are you based?
What are your favourite local words? (nesh or friolera are two of mine)
How did you chosse your substack name?
Do you suffer from any chronic health conditions?
Are you an ex-teacher? How did you get out?!
Do you experience wanderlust? What other specific words help describe a feeling for you?
Have you experienced crutches as an adult? Did you struggle as much as I am? Any tips?
Is there a song you resonated with and felt was written for you?
Thank you so much for this beautiful introduction! I think you've put together a really wonderful summary of "the person Sheila" :)
The name for my substack came in the early meditative sleepy hours of one morning. Though it’s come to me recently to share about what Warrior Within means to me because it’s not the fight/battle type that the word warrior can be associated with. Here is the intro post I shared nearly a couple of years back about the truth of who I am (as spilled out of me in that moment in any case):
https://warriorwithin.substack.com/p/best-introduce-myself