MS forces us to accept this.... eventually

[Juleigh21]

I think most MSers mourn the loss of the person we once were. I look back now at what I use to accomplish in a day and miss the "superwoman" I once was! If only I would have appreciated that "superwoman" then! BUT even though we're limited in what we now can do, we still have value and wisdom!!!!! That's something we must NEVER forget.

[jimeka]

Juleigh21 i totally agree with you. Oh to be superwoman again. At least we have the memories of what super women really can do, now it just takes alittle longer. It's like having to take a back seat. Blessings Jimeka 🦋 🌈 🤗

[mrsmike]

You're still superwoman!

[Juleigh21 in reply to mrsmike]

mrsmike we are superstars!! Everyday we get out of bed and face this dreaded disease and still try to have a productive day-- even if that's just taking a shower, we're showing what super strength we have. We are all super strong individuals!! Thanks for reminding me. 🤗

[Morllyn]

Right on Juleigh21 ! 😄

[Doubled51]

I can't speak for superwoman but superman sure misses who he was. Everyday I miss him more. But yes wisdom and values are more important than they've ever been.

God bless us all.

Donnie

[mrsmike in reply to Doubled51]

Sorry didn't mean to ignore all the supermen out there. Every day you prove that you're supermen!

[Doubled51 in reply to mrsmike]

mrsmike haha. Thank you. All you ladies that have raised kids I know from experience are truly superwoman. From a father I salute you all.

God bless you all.

Donnie

[mrsmike in reply to Doubled51]

And to you as well.

[mrsmike]

@juleigh21, you are so right! It makes my heart smile when I know someone gets it!

[erash]

Juleigh21

So true!

Yet, as much as I miss my super woman powers, I have been able to see the downside in trying to be so perfect and am enjoying the ability to accept myself, simplicity, and slowing down to see the beauty around me 🌈

[Iona60 in reply to erash]

erash Juleigh21 I think the slowing down has been the best part. I'm able to see and appreciate the beauty around me.

[Gjs333]

Seems there is a "new normal" very frequently in my life. Acceptance of change was a hard but necessary lesson to learn. This is my lesson to learn. I will continue this journey with as much wisdom and grace as I have in me, learning and teaching and looking for the "pony in all this minucha ". I know there must be one here somewhere!

[Sukie427 in reply to Gjs333]

Hi, Gjs333 . I used to practice before a federal judge (now deceased) who had a favorite saying. It was: "If you take a bucket of manure and keep stirring it and stirring it, you're just liable to find a pony in it." I think I found the pony in having MS: time--to make changes, smell the roses, heal relationships that we damaged while trying to be superpeople, and do what we want to do. Good luck on your journey. It took me 10 years to "get it." Sukie427

[SlmHarris]

Amen! I totally agree with you! I would Love to be able to hang with my grandkids!

[Sukie427]

Juleigh21 . I sometimes miss those days as well. I spent my life running through airports in designer suits and 3 inch stiletto heels yelling "Hold the plane" as I used to do the 5 cities in 3 days deposition trips; or in a courtroom somewhere slicing and dicing witnesses.. Sometimes I wish that I was still doing that, especially when I am in an airport being taken to my gate in a wheelchair and a woman walks confidently and self-assured, wearing a nice business suit and high heels and carrying a briefcase and/or a rollerbag, looking straight ahead, very intent on where she's going. That was me 10 years ago. Now I feel old and broken and there's no denying that I get depressed thinking of the way things used to be. But I am working very hard with a therapist to try and let all that go so I can just live in the moment and accept and appreciate where I am right now. And I am letting go of a lot of who I was; it's a good thing because I will never be back there again and I am learning to embrace my new normal. I believe that I am becoming a kinder, gentler person and I can say that life has become fun again, although obviously more difficult. After 35 years, it's time to let that woman go. I almost think of the MS being a gift in that it has given me time to let go of feelings and emotions that have been poisoning me since childhood, and while they may have served me well as a litigator, I don't need them any more. And now I have time to enjoy my children and grandchildren and my husband, time which I didn't have during my kids' childhoods. With this transition, I have the time to let them all know how very much I did and do love them, and to make them understand that I was a different person then and didn't always have my priorities straight because working mothers had no role models and there simply weren't that many of us, especially at the beginning. It took me years to learn how to do the things I had chosen to do and still be a feeling person, too, but I am learning. Not an easy journey, but one well worth taking. Good luck coming to terms with this most difficult effect of the disease we all share.

[Hidden]

The grief experienced with the gradual loss of function, one new normal after another, like the landings on a terraced landscape. I've realized the quicker I accept the things I cannot change, the sooner I move past the grief to focusing on what I CAN do with my new normal instead of what I can no longer do. It has worked for me so far. I hope I am able to continue to do that as life moves on. I often find I have to be more brave than I thought I could be.

[Gjs333 in reply to Hidden]

I read that somewhere! Don't let what you can't do get in the way of what you can do. Maybe reading this here will save another one of us from having to reinvent that wheel.