The shops are full of chocolate and cakes, magazines are stuffed with recipes, we’ve got two bank holidays and the kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement and e-numbers. Easter is rapidly turning into Christmas Mark II.
I’m not complaining. I love Easter. So much so that I put up my Easter branches (in lieu of a tree) weeks and weeks ago. I’m looking forward to lazing on my sofa watching ‘Gone With The Wind’ for the 27th time, pausing the telly only to hunt out more chocolate.
(Handy hint for MSers – don’t bother buying those teeny-weeny chocolate eggs wrapped in foil. If your hands are dodgy, like mine, the teeth-gnashing frustration really isn’t worth the effort. Just buy several large ones instead).
Anyway, The Teenager is away for a week, so it’s just me and the cat rattling around the house. The laundry basket is empty, the fridge is fully-stocked and I am going to use this time as a period of quiet reflection. I have decided to re-hash my New Year’s resolutions, giving myself another chance to fail at unlocking my true potential.
My resolutions, in no particular order, are: eat less, exercise more, try new things and learn how to make a decent Hollandaise sauce. My emotional resolution is to stop being so hard on myself. I get frustrated and angry when MS fatigue drives me to the sofa yet again, when I bale out on friends or have to go to bed early. I still raise my son, study, work and run a house, so maybe I should cut myself some slack.
It’s strange, but sometimes I forget I have MS. I just think, oh, that’s the feet buzzing again or here comes the fatigue and whoops, nearly fell over there. It’s become such a part of my life and it brings me up with a sharp shock when I think, ‘oh yeah, I’ve got multiple sclerosis.’
So this Easter, with The Teenager away, I am going to indulge myself. I will be meeting up with friends (fingers crossed), reading trashy novels and magazines, trying out new recipes and chilling. I am going to be kind to myself, something I have really neglected to do recently.
Happy Easter!
