Got MS? GET OUT! Reclaim YOU. (Caution: Unsolicited advice to follow)

What was the first thought that crossed your mind after you heard you had MS? (I mean after:THANK GOD! It's not a brain tumor!) Something like, "What is going to happen to me?"





That is the one question that no doctor or test can answer. With MS, at time of diagnosis, we just don't know. So, let me offer a better question, every time that other question pops into your head, "What am I going to make happen to me?"





Although when cold feels hot and hot feels cold, when your hands stop working and your eyeballs aren't making it over home plate, it sure is easy to feel like you are no longer in control of YOU, in fact you are still in control of most of you. And that is where you begin making your future happen.





Oh, you have that other option, you can let MS make all the decisions, or your spouse, or your doctor, yes, you can do that, but I am suggesting that option is a poor one, especially if you want to live a happy life.





Nobody wants a cure more than me. Nobody wants some association to always "be there" for me more than I do. But I cashed my reality check many years ago. My life is in MY hands. Whether that glass is half empty or half full is MY decision. I suggest you choose wisely, what with the "only getting one life" and all.





The hardest thing to do is to get out of yourself. Let's face it, we all can get boring sometimes. And MYself includes MY family, i.e. my spousal equivalent---get OUT. Meet new people, start helping a stranger, not a big cause, just one person. Writing a check is too darn easy and takes just a minute. Get wholly involved in another person's troubles. Amazing how helping others always makes us feel good about us.





Start thinking about such actions, stop thinking about MS so much. MS is YOU and You are MS (contrary to what you may want to believe---"I am not my MS!" Who IS your MS? You do HAVE MS, right? "But MS doesn't have me!" Oh, ok, when you are picking out a cane...how's that workin' for ya?" Please, just embrace that you have a chronic progressive (in most cases) disease, and GET OUT OF YOURSELF. (While I agree MS should NOT define you, it sure helps explain you!) I am on Face Book, there is NOTHING on my Face Book page that says "MS." (As opposed to many others who have MS ribbons or sayings all around, some proclaiming, "MS doesn't have me!" Really? )





Best advice I ever got was from a book about MS that I purchased right after my diagnosis: "Sharpen your emotional tools." -Pepper Schwartz (I think that was the author...been 20 years ago...sounds like a detective on TV though...) You will need them to dig deep and find all the self esteem, love, compassion for yourself and others, that exists within you.





MS may not be a virus, but your whole family will be a part of your MS journey. Do INCLUDE them. Don't see this as a burden to them, see it as the gift of an opportunity for THEM to get out of themselves.

Now, go have a fantastical day, my MS readers, and same to everyone who took the time to read this missive. It really applies to all of us.