I had a lovely response from yesterday’s post – thank you to those who took time to comment. This got me thinking about gratitude. My recent work and health situation has taken a lot of my energy and it is all too easy to forget that for 90% of the time, life is just fine.
Like mindfulness, it is about taking pleasure in all things in the present moment and being grateful. It means not dwelling on perceived hurts, slights, comments. They have happened, they are the past. To drag the past into the future is to set yourself up for failure.
So today, I want to give myself a kick up the backside and jot down everything I have to be grateful for:
- My family – they are incredible and give me an enormous amount of strength and confidence.
- My friends – who have been so supportive through this difficult time. They are always there for me.
- The NHS – especially the MS team. I don’t know where I would be without their help, advice and shoulders to cry on.
- My health – strange to be grateful for this. I have MS, but it could have been worse. Much worse. I still walk, I still have my sight, I am still independent.
These are only the main points. I also have a lovely house, a comfy sofa, a huge stack of books to enjoy and a firm belief that life will get better. My MS is almost under control with medication, bar a few hiccups. The work situation will be history soon enough. The Teenager is growing up to be a darn fine young man. A fantastic friend made me a Shepherd’s pie and cake at the weekend when I was poorly. Seems to me I’m actually very fortunate.
Sure, we all get dark days. I know I do. Days when the situation seems hopeless. And that’s fine too – we’re all entitled to feel sorry for ourselves now and again. But when the bad days start to outweigh the good ones, that’s when you have to act. The famous phrase is that we don’t regret what we have done in life, but what we didn’t do.
This situation will pass. Life will move on. Will it all matter a year from now? I doubt it.
For a few years I have been known to proudly walk (after not being able to do so without a walker,cane, brace or scooter) in heels 5 inches or higher 🙂 Put on a pair of flip-flops and you can bet that during that day or the span of having them on, I am sure to trip, flip or slip on a totally flat surface. So when your blog was suggested on Twitter, I thought it was not only a God-send, I knew it was the truth. I am not the only one who falls wearing flats, lol. I often tell people, it’s heredity because my mother who did not have MS could probably run a mile in her stilettos! I’m grateful for your blog and my 17 year old son’s jokes about me,lol
Hi Leelo!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment – means such a lot. Us MSers have to find comedy in pretty dire situations, don’t we??
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