Resolutions

I often wonder who makes New Year's resolutions. My feeling is that a "resolution" is an intimidating word, and often when we make one we find ourselves breaking the resolution in a short time ....then, feel like a failure. So I prefer to set yearly goals instead and I make sure to make them positive, achievable and something that benefits those I love. Plus, I don't make dozens - I keep it to 6 or less and they are usually rather big ideas.

I'm not sure how many people read the "Spoon Theory" post (scroll down) written by a woman suffering from fibromyalgia. The same principles apply to those with Hep C and many chronic illnesses. To sum it up, when you have a chronic illness, you wake up each morning with a limited amount of energy (gas) to accomplish your daily goals. With each activity, you are using up more gas and if you over-do, you'll find yourself on empty by mid-day. Conversely, if you pace yourself you may find yourself able to reach your goals for the day.

But there's a big catch: We cannot control everything that happens in a day and an event can occur that takes a LOT of our daily allotment of gas all at once. My daughter was involved in a horrible accident last week on her way back to college and we were up most of the night. She was 100% unharmed which was unbelievable. The driver was also not hurt, but the passenger in the back seat had glass shards in her face and was taken to the hospital. We thank God that all three girls were okay. These unforeseen things can understandably cause you to be empty at the beginning of the day!

So, getting back to resolutions (goals is the term I use) I'm trying to pace myself better so that I have energy for my spouse in particular, but also to keep more balance. The problem is that we can only control so much and another of my goals is to let things slide off my back. Negative emotional energy can drain me for up to 2 days. I can only control myself. And when you have an illness, it takes practice to not allow negativity or things people say to you zap your energy. This happened to me yesterday and ....

BAM!

What could have been a horribly negative experience, zapping my energy to zero I was able to keep my goal and take care of myself. The positive feeling I got from weathering what might have been an awful thing actually energized me and I slept well, waking up with a full tank.

I hope your tank is full too. Love yourself and don't let people's negativity get to you. That's the world we live in and take the high road, assess yourself and use positive self-talk and spend time doing things you love. That's my plan for today. God bless all of you who are out there with Hep C and suffering. I hope you find this blog helpful and we can share our journey together.