In the first two years, when RA knocked me flat overnight, I put life on hold. I stopped running ‘until I recovered’, I retreated and isolated myself, planning on re-starting my life when I was better.
It was a huge mistake. The longer you isolate yourself, the harder it is to return to the world. The longer you’ve not exercised, the harder it is to get your strength and your function back.
One day some guy knocked at our door and tried to sign us up for karate. So very much NOT my thing, but I went for it. I used it to get fit, I met new people. I met my first friend who also had arthritis. It turned me around, and I changed.
I realised that I was missing my life by waiting until I was better, and I had to start living NOW, in whatever way I could.
Accept. Adapt. Fight.
If you stay the same…you stay the same.
Things don’t just get better on their own, you have to make them better. And time goes on, life goes on, YOUR life moves on, and you miss it.
This isn’t the life I dreamed of, but its the life I have. Its filled with pain and often loneliness. Rejection, derision and disbelief are common reactions to my story. There are many things I wanted to do that I will never be able to do, places I will never see. But its my life and I am not giving it up for anything. Medically, I should have died, but I didn’t. Because I’m stubborn and determined and pigheaded. This is what I have, and I’m making the most of it. Even life from the couch, too weak to make it to the bathroom, is whole lot better than the alternative.
Life starts now. It’s as simple and has hard as that #hurtingbuthappy
We start where we are today. Yesterday only exists in the past, tomorrow is future and today is where we are. Indeed accept, adapt, fight we have a great chance to start today.
To stop fighting is to give up. To give up is to die. We each have a date with destiny. I don’t know when my date is, but I’m sure going to fight right up to the last breath. Like you, twice now, I’ve fought back from the edge, even my doctors said I should not have walked away from the PE back in November. My Rheumy said “do you know how blessed you are??” I said “Yes! Yes I do! When can I go home?” LOL. Good to hear the fight coming back in you. You are here, you are alive, the future is open for business 🙂