Wow -- I haven't been here in awhile -- sorry for my absence!  

     I've been continuing to work on ME -- reducing the severity of symptoms. 

      I've added in acupuncture to my treatment plan.  This has provided improvement in many areas.

       I've also been continuing care with the chiropractors and have experienced significant improvements.  Some of them have been gradual over time, but an adjustment a couple of weeks ago, provided significant improvement which was immediately noticeable. 

       It was nothing short of amazing!!

       This will need to be an ongoing, continual improvement, but I am extremely encouraged and hopeful.  Stay tuned! 

      Other than this, I've been trying to maneuver through all the covid related stuff going on in the rest of the world, just like everyone else.  

       That's all for now.  Hope everyone has been keeping ok!


           Keeping the

                               Balance....despite the chaos!

    

As I scroll through my news feed, I notice some who are  "getting active" and "getting fit" as well as winning awards for doing so.

Their award may be for winning a race, for something as simple as having their participation acknowledged or it may be for something  in between.   

Their commentary is very clear. All one needs is motivation to get up off that couch.

     Plain and simple - Motivation is all that stands in the way. 

     Their subsequent message insinuates those who do not get up off that couch, lack motivation and are, well -- just plain lazy.  

       As a person with chronic illness, one who used to be very active before chronic illness, this mindset frustrates me, on so many levels.        

     When one "gives" (relatively speaking) a small portion out of their abundance -- whether we're talking money, time, energy or any other commodity -- they're still left with more than enough to cover all the other aspects of their lives.  In this case, we're talking energy and the energy they give, is a small piece of the proverbial energy pie.  There is more than enough left over to do their job, look after the demands of their family and their house, for a social life, for doing their hobbies -- the list goes on.  If this was illustrated as a pie chart, the exercise "slice" would be a small portion of the pie.  

        For those with ME/CFS or other chronic illness however, not getting up off the couch to take part in these activities has nothing to do with laziness, lack of motivation or anything else along these lines.  These folks would give anything to be able to get up off the couch, to enter such races, to do anything for that matter.  They struggle every day to do what they need to do, just to get through their daily lives.  They don't give out of our abundance, they give out of our lack. 

       The first group, the one always acknowledged and awarded, give out of their abundance.

      The second group, the one labelled as lazy and unmotivated, give out of their shortage.

     It's easy to give when you have lots, but not so easy when you have nothing or little.

      So why, I wonder, do we award the first group while not even acknowledging the second group?  Relatively speaking, the second group gives far more on so many levels. 

       The folks I know with chronic illness, fight every single day of their life. They fight to learn as much as they can about their illness and how to improve their health, sometimes going backward instead of forward as a result of using energy they didn't have.  They fight to find Doctors who will believe them and listen to them. They fight their illness just to do basic things and get through their daily lives.  Then they fight the next day, to do the very same thing all over again.     

      I would like everyone in this second group to know, you are *my* inspiration.  When I'm having a bad day, I only have to look to you.  You are the motivators and the encouragers.  You are the true fighters and represent real strength. I get so much inspiration from all of you to carry on, to keep on fighting.  I know you're not recognized for this and are most often wrongly labelled as lazy and unmotivated.  I know you give out of your lack not your abundance  and if I could, would award each of you.

       The best I can do however, is acknowledge each of you and dedicate this blog post to all of you. Please know, you're not lazy or unmotivated. You are celebrated, appreciated and looked up to, more than you will ever know!!   

                    An award for all of those who continue to fight on

​                                           in order to keep 

​                                     Balance....Despite the Chaos!

                                                         
                                                          Why, yes! 

                                              In a nutshell, so to speak.  ;) 

     Obviously, my first choice would have been to remain healthy and active but it was not meant to be.  Fighting against it was counter-productive and while I'd researched a lot, worked as diligently as I could to improve my health and improved as much as I could, I've needed to accept I will never be the version of me I once was.

      While this has meant losing a lot of "me" and I am sad at losing those things, I've come to the realization focusing on those things, just makes it worse.  Worse is not where I wanted to be so a new perspective is what I needed.

     With baby steps, I began to look for anything at all that would be positive.  I must confess, at first try I could not find anything even remotely positive.  As I kept at it though, a few things began to emerge.
     

• I'd learned to give up my "talent" of worrying.  So freeing!! 
• I no longer sweated the small stuff
• Perfectionism -- gone!
• I'm more easy going
• I didn't stress about the small stuff (and even some of the bigger stuff!)
• learned the art of saying, "no" (and not feel guilty about it)
• improved ability to advocate for myself
• Improved diet meant improvement in other previous medical issues

  
       (This is a list in progress which I consciously add to as I go)
 
     In many areas, I am in a much better place than I was before chronic illness.    For one (and a big one at that), the unnecessary, self-induced stress I used to endure would have surely taken its toll on me had I not learned to deal with it in a more effective way.  

     I am truly thankful for that.  

     So today, I choose to focus on the positives in order to keep

                  Balance....despite the chaos!

​    (......to be continued!  Stay tuned for part 2! )