Saturday, January 12, 2008

Resolution #11 and #12

Yesterday was crazy - I went to bed at midnight and I couldn't remember for the life of me what my resolution of the day had been...well at least I am not going crazy because I hadn't written one so that is a really good reason to not remember what it was.

So now I have to come up with two and make one of them retro-active. So here goes with Resolution number #11 - Since this past year has been a very rough year with my diagnosis of MS, I have had to process a lot of things...infact I am still processing a lot of things. There are days that I feel like I have come to grips with it and there are days that I just struggle to understand why. One of the hardest parts about the disease is that it is so unpredictable and it affects different people differently. One of the challenges of the disease is that many people don't really understand it (sometimes I don't understand it and I have it) but it can be awkward for people to not know what to say. It is also hard when people tell you that you look like nothing is wrong but you feel like someone put a 100 brick in your body and you can't really move and if you do it takes excessive amounts of energy. So what is my actually resolution after this disertation.... well, I am resolving to educate myself with the disease, to read books, research, and stay up to date on new findings. Also with this I will educate my family and friends, so they can better understand my struggles and my need for independence despite my also needing their assistance. I have actually already started this one, at Christmas - I gave all of my siblings a booklet about MS since no one ever talks to me about it, I figured it would be a nice way to open the lines of communication. So if you are out there and you would like to know more about MS, please don't be afraid to ask me I would be happy to share, suggest books, or maybe even let you help me on one of my "bad" days.

Resolution #12 - Many times in my life I see someone do nice things and think to myself - wow that was really cool that they did that, but they it just slips my mind and no words of encouragement are ever shared or sent. I don't want to do that, I want to do a better job of letting my kids, my friends, or maybe even strangers know that I noticed something cool that they did and I just wanted to let them know about it. I mean think about, I love getting random letters in the mail thanking me for doing something that I didn't think twice about. So this resolutions is called Catching Random Acts of Kindness! So I resolve to do one of three things when the thought go through my mind that someone did something cool that stood out to me. I must give a call, send an email or send a note to let them know. And the first person that is going to get a note of encouragement is our superintendant - I have thought on several occasions that I should write him a note to let him know that I admire his integrity in the midst of challenging situations, but I have never sat down to do that - so on Monday - that will be my first note of affirmation.

1 comment:

Ashley said...

Did I tell you I have a good friend who has MS? I think I did. She is in one of the final stages though... I wish I lived nearer to you so we could talk about it. I'm sure you know much more then me, but I do know it totally sucks and doesn't make any sense. You are normal in feeling the way you do about it. Anyway, I wish I could make it go away for you. Life is NOT FAIR!!!!