Merry Christmas!

I wanted to take the time to wish all of my followers, readers, and anyone that sees my posts a Merry Christmas! 

My fellow Spoonies: remember to conserve your spoons,( energy) , do more sitting than doing, take advantage of all the family in your house this year and allow them to help. Your body will thank you on Tuesday! 

Short encourgement for today.

#health #chronicillness # remainstrong

Autopilot.

Most of us go through our days on autopilot, we aren’t really living, we simply exist. For most of us, we can’t wait for Friday to get here, and then we spend our weekends wishing Monday would delay coming.

 

For others, they rush around pressing time, they simply cannot wait for the next hour to get here, but life is way too short to rush. Life goes by in the blink of an eye and before they know it, they are looking back, wondering what happened to life. What’s worse, pushing time has sealed their fate, where has it taken them, how did they get there so fast, what did rushing buy them. 

 

Today, I choose to slow down and enjoy life.Despite all the illnesses and diseases that I have, I still have presence of mind. I can still live my life, I can still be thankful, I can still enjoy the simple pleasures even if life has dealt me a bad hand. Those things that I truly live for, God, family, friends, community, and even contact with people like you, it is those things that will pull me through the hard times. Though some may not agree, I am blessed and have been blessed beyond measure. Just because I am ill, that will not steal my joy or the memories of what God has done for me and my family.

Here is what I propose; today, right now, slow down, take some time to live your life, enjoy the cool weather, have a picnic with your kids, have some friends over for a BBQ, hang out after dark and see how clear the stars are in the winter. Be thankful for the blessings that you have, be thankful for the blessings of the past and don’t worry about the things that you don’t have or the things you did not do. Don’t let life pass you by and don’t just simply exist, life is too short for that. Live your life to the best of your ability.

 

It’s ok to not be ok…But not for long.

I am convinced, now more than ever, that my childhood prepared me for this battle of illnesses that, simply put, is trying to kill me physically as well as mentally. I have struggled with so many illnesses in the last three years, every time I go to the doctor it seems there is just more diagnosed illnesses on top of what I already have. It should be overwhelming for me and perhaps I should be sitting in a corner sucking my thumb, rocking back and forth, but I am actually at peace. I want to share how I am able to handle and process these things that have been happening to me. 

We all have feelings and that’s a really good thing because that enables us to love others and respect each other but our feelings can also be a very damaging thing as well.  For me my feelings either control my situation or I control my feelings and overcome my circumstances.

It is ok to feel worried or scared, but I have found that in order to control my feelings about bad news I have to consciously tell myself how long I am going to have negative feelings. 

I literally have to stop and think about how I feel about each situation. I cannot group all of my issues together as one big problem, that would be too much, I have to look at things in a smaller scale. I choose not to worry. I choose to keep in mind the some of my situations are overwhelming, but I also search for the best outcome. I try and stay in control of my feelings. 

 I have had to face many circumstances that have been out of my control. I have had to accept that’s it is ok to feel down and confused at times but only for a short period. I have to be responsible to bring myself back out of negativity and control my feelings about the circumstance that come my way. It’s ok to not be ok, as long as I don’t stay there for long. 

How to sharpen your listening skills.

Listening is an important skill to have but a lot of people do not really know how to listen effectively. I have learned over the years that the most valuable thing that I can offer to anybody is to simply be a good listener. If you think about it, a truly best friend is a great listener. Most of the time people are looking for friends who will listen without judging.

When talking about my illness to people I have find that I have run across people that simply do not listen. Although it comes from the right intentions, people will try to relate to my illness with something that they have had before and often will hand out unwanted and bad advice when all I really need is for them to listen. We all have our own story, no one really knows how you and I feel, they can relate, but they do not know how we feel. We all handle our trials, troubles and illnesses differently, we are all unique, our internal make up is different, our feelings are our feelings. Try to never say, “I know how you feel.”

Here are some great ways to begin sharpening your skills on listening to others. 

1. Allow others to say what they are going to say. Let them tell their story, an opportunity will come at some time in the relationship for you to tell your story in relation to their story.

2. Stay silent!

3. Bank information.

4. Be open and receptive.  nod, smile, make occasional eye contact, act like you care.

5. Only give advice if the person asks for it and keep the advice short and to the point.

If you found this blog helpful, please like and share.

 

 

“The Not So Invisible Illness.”

They call Lupus the “invisible illness,” but to me it’s definitely not invisible. It’s a constant fight to keep normalcy in my family’s life, my husband, kids and I know this illness has stolen more than we ever imagined. I haven’t been able to drive since August. My freedom and independence has been taken, with the risk of fainting because of constant arrhythmias. I have nuerocardiogentic syncopede, and Postural orthostatic tachardia syndrome. My heart rate is constantly above 100 and it takes all of my energy to keep up.  I sweat constantly as if I have run a marathon even though my body is cold to the touch. I have struggled with constant migraines for the last week. My body hurts everywhere and it is more than just an ache, it’s pain that keeps me from sleeping through the night and no amount of pain medication can take it away. Although my diagnosis is SLE Lupus, I also have mixed connective tissue disorder. Mixed connective tissue disorder can manifest itself in many different autoimmune diseases. My entire body is under attack from the inside out. To look at me you would never guess the battle that I fight every day.  I put my happy face on and say that I am ok even though I am screaming on the inside, wishing I could feel better for just one moment, just like so many of us do. I take the tiny moments when I get a small amount of energy and try to fit in as much as I can in those moments only to ultimately pay for days, for doing too much.

Although this is the fight of my life, I still hold on to hope for a cure one day for autoimmune diseases in general. I still hope that God will heal me physically. Even if I don’t get my healing right now, I know that one day there is a place where I will be where the pain, the struggles, the fight for life will be gone. There is a place of peace, hope, and happiness waiting.

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Attitude of Gratitude.

Attitude of Gratitude

Adopting an attitude of gratitude and recognizing the things that we are most grateful for isn’t just something that sounds nice at Thanksgiving — it’s a lifestyle and mindset that can change our lives.

 

For changes to happen in our life, we have to decide to change. If we wait for something to shift and change on its own we might find ourselves disappointed when nothing changes. In order to make a switch we must make a decision for change. If we practice being proactive to change, we switch our mindsets. When our mindsets change we change our circumstances.

 Gratitude is stress reliever.

Adopting an attitude of gratitude takes us out of the negativity that surrounds us on a day to day basis and puts us in a correct frame of mind. When we have a different mind-set, we find solutions to day to day problems. When a problem is in front of you try to find the silver lining in every situation; What can I learn from this?

 

Gratitude and a good attitude is contagious.

 

I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t like being around unpleasant, negative, or sarcastic people. I find many times that my mood can set the scene in a room whether it be good or bad. If I am grateful and happy it tends to be contagious to others around me and create a positive energy. Of course, the opposite is true as well, if we have a downcast face or a bad attitude that tends to set the mood in a room. Watch your words. What you say is usually how you act, so be aware of complaining and replace whines with positive words. Be aware of your body language and smile even if you don’t feel like it. You can change your attitude and the people around you by simple body language and excitement in your voice. Let’s start with ourselves, we must be the change and watch the world change around us.

 

 

Monday Morning Pick-Me-Up. You are the salt of the earth.

You are the salt of the earth.

 

Matthew 5:  13

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

 

I believe Jesus about this scripture with all my heart. We (Christians that love and accept and live by the name of Christ) are the salt of the earth. We have been called, ordained, set apart and given the Holy Spirit of God for a reason, a design, a plan and that plan is to show the world the love of God. We are here for a reason and as this scripture says we are here to add flavor to the world. Imagine the world without the love of God in it. It would be like eating a bowl of rice without salt or pepper.

 

So go ahead today, add some flavor to your office, to your neighborhood, to your home and let everyone see your faith in God. Let everyone know that God loves them and someday He wants to bring them home to live with Him forever, but first we have to live life to the full, we have to be the light of Christ to the world. Don’t be just a part of the scenery, be the person that gives flare to the world.

Overcome Evil with Good.

Romans 12: 21
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

This passage from Paul requires action on our part! No longer can we be complacent, no longer can we say, “I just don’t want to get involved.” If we are soldiers of the cross then we need to act like we are soldiers of the cross. Not passive, no apprehensive but confident bold, strong. God told Joshua when he was to take over for Moses as leader, to be strong and very courageous (Joshua 1:7). So, you are the leader of your own surroundings, so I say, “Be strong and very courageous and over come evil with Good in your home, at your work, with your leisure time.” Let the Evil one know you are in the house and he needs to vacate. Today, be bold, overcome evil with good.

 

Monday morning pick me up. (Why do I have to make peace?)

Romans 12: 18-19
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath…”

Do you find it difficult to live at peace with everyone? After all people get on your nerves everyday. Like the guy at the traffic light with his music blaring so loud you can’t even think, or the guy who cut you off in traffic. Perhaps the co-worker that seems to always have an attitude or the boss who continually makes unreasonable demands. It is difficult to keep the peace with people that do not seem to care about you or anyone else for that matter. You cannot control people, especially people that do not share our faith, but what you can do is go the extra mile and YOU create a peaceful environment.
You and I are told to, “turn the other cheek,” (Matthew5:39) “Bless those who persecute you.” (Romans 12: 14) and still we ask, “why do I have to make the peace? Because you are not of this world, you are of a higher calling, you represent Jesus Christ every minute of everyday, there is no day off from Christianity. You live for God to the best of your ability and leave the rest to God, He will judge the righteous and the unrighteous.