A month ago I wrote about getting to know me. I resolved that I no longer knew the me in the mirror. Chronic illness changes you, if I am being fair life itself brings about changes that may render you a stranger to the reflection in the mirror. So do I blame it all on chronic illness? For the sake of my blog, I will focus on one culprit. Chronic illness changes you. Changes how you view the world. When you are hit at an early age like myself with a life threatening illness you take stock. There are really two roads that people normally take. 1. You let it define you or 2. You define it! I choose both. How can one choose both? I have allowed Lupus and Fibromyalgia to define me only by allowing me to see life for all of it’s beauty. I see life much differently. I allowed my fear to catapult me into stopping and smelling the roses…. If your reading this blog, well you know how I am making it my bitch!
Now, back to the topic at hand. I ended the last blog about getting to know the new me, still engulfed with questions. So great! Ground zero was the realization of feeling like an alien in my own body, now what? So here we go. It took me about a month to gather my thoughts on a strategic plan. So today I am here to discuss step 1!
Step 1: Do what makes you happy and find peace.
Now don’t you scoff. The characteristics that make, well us… “US” is still ingrained. So finding what makes us happy or find peace is something within us. As an example, I feel no greater peace then when I am at the beach near the water (Ironic given I can not be in the sun for all of 5 seconds). So take a moment and think about the last time you smiled or felt that calm feeling in the pit of your stomach. It could be something as simple as eating your favorite piece of chocolate. Have you found it?
From there, think of another. Have you smiled yet? Filling your emotional bank with things that make you happy and that bring you piece is the first step to remembering or redefining who you are. How do you know who you are if you do not know the things that make you happy? So, Step 1… Find these things.
Simple enough, yes? No. It isn’t that simple. We make it harder than it needs to be. It is not easy dealing with the continued sucker punch of a chronic illness or better yet multiple chronic illnesses. No matter the person, it wears on you. We are in fact human for heaven sakes. So make sure to check yourself before you wreck yourself, my peeps. Try doing one thing a day that makes you smile!
Until Next Time…
Undefeated Diva
UNDEFEATED DIVA 