Embracing Change
We are in the midst of making a lot of changes.
We've always embraced change and only a complete fool would waste precious energy on fighting change. Embracing change is good for learning, for growing, for evolving, for reaching one's potential and beyond.
Embracing change does not mean you should live your life like a leaf being tossed about in a raging river. Embracing change doesn't mean we should just blindly go with the flow. Embracing change is about prioritizing, decision-making, problem-solving and effectively adapting based upon the changing environment around us so we can effectively grow.
Fighting change is a complete and utter waste of time and energy. As with anyone struggling with a chronic incurable illness, energy is of very short supply. Even when I was perfectly healthy and at my strongest, I refused to waste time and energy. I made decisions, I actively participated in life and I grew. I never wasted time and energy fighting change. Fighting change is like walking into a brick wall, over and over again, in the hope that you might somehow magically walk right through the brick wall on your next attempt. No... I have always been smarter than that. When change occurs and I find that my path is blocked by a brick wall, I embrace change and find a different path.
Struggling with an incurable illness consistently presents change, one right after the previous, but we have now plunged into a period where it is time for a lot of changes all at once.
My health has diminished enough over the past few years that I am no longer able to keep up with our lifestyle. Our house continues to deteriorate and renovation plans get put on hold time and time again. In order to get back on track and to allow myself a reasonable amount of control over my life, we've decided it was time to welcome and embrace a lot of changes happening at once.
My primary care doc was in on some of these discussions and, for starters, we decided to drop my specialist in Boston for someone local. I never liked traveling to Boston anyway... I really don't care for the city... I definitely don't like the hospitals there... I definitely do not agree with the medical practices and laws in Boston hospitals... and one single visit would wear me down for weeks. It was time for a change.
Although some tests may still require some travel, I'm now seeing a doctor only 30 minutes away rather than three hours plus realistic allowances for traffic. Realistically, we've had to plan for five to six hours to get to Boston for appointments to ensure we make it to my appointment on time and to allow time for a little food. Then... a few more hours for the appointment and tests... then another three hours for the brutal drive home. For me, I am sighing with relief... I truly hate Boston and I feel even more negative about my medical trips to Boston.
We met a new local doctor a week ago and both Sheila and I like him. He has set me up with a bunch of invasive tests since I sort of ignored and avoided all rather invasive testing for the past few years. I've continued my regular blood testing a few times each year but avoided all the regular testing which is invasive. Getting back into a routine of a never-ending barrage of invasive tests is a change... one I am not looking forward to and not a very pleasant change at that. This, no doubt, will further diminish my overall energy level so it is past time to change up our lifestyle so I can adapt to this new medical schedule as well as my diminishing health... while also living my life as best as I can.
This new doctor is changing up my cocktail of medications slightly. He said, "There is no magic pill with this illness but I want to try to make things a bit easier when it comes to your medications." So, another change is a change in my cocktail of medications. We'll monitor my health through this change just in case my health deteriorates further. The doctor is not looking for an improvement in my health with this change... he's just hoping to make things a little easier on me in my daily life. This is a change to make things a bit easier but a change nonetheless.
Something which is very important to us is that our renovation plans have slipped so far behind schedule that it feels absurd even mentioning that we have any sort of "renovation schedule". Although we do have a plan for each room, over the past few years we've really only been renovating each area of the house when a problem arises forcing us to address the problem while pushing everything else to the back burner. Since energy is diminishing and is now very limited, it is time for a more realistic yet more aggressive renovation plan.
There are only two options to remedy this problem... The first option is that we could hire someone to do all the work required on the house. That won't happen since we watch every dollar we earn (and there are not a lot of those dollars). I'll need to do all the work myself. Besides, I actually want to do all the work myself. The second option and the path we will be forced to take is we could cut some other things out of our life that wear me down. This will allow me some energy and time to accomplish more renovations. So, in short, we'll be cutting more things out of our life and focusing on medical appointments and home renovations for the foreseeable future.
On this same topic of the house, we both would really enjoy having the option to move. Preferably, we'd like to move to another country but, considering my poor health, that is probably just a romantic dream. More realistically, we'd like to move to a better home (better for us) while Sheila retains her career. Ideally, we'd both love to buy a home on a nearby lake. If not a home on a lake, then perhaps moving to a zero-maintenance home of some sort would be nice as well.
Of course, realistically, in order to be able to buy a new home, we first need to finish renovating this home so we could sell it. Naturally, changing up our lifestyle so I can fit in more renovations is definitely one of the first and most important of the changes which are in order.
We've also been putting off and canceling a lot of long weekend trips because of my health. My energy level is so low that I cannot afford to add more things into our schedule and Sheila's available leave time is limited. We use up a lot of time and energy with the lake house each summer so, although we love our time at the lake house, we decided it was time to give it up so we can do other things while we can. Actually, the lake house uses up so much of my energy that I never get to do more than 10% of what is on my wish list of things to do while at the lake house. To say that this is disappointing and frustrating is an understatement.
There are many things we love about the lake house and our vacation time there but there were also many and significant issues related to my health, energy and time. We decided it was time to put the lake house behind us for now. In time, there is always the chance that we'll buy our own lake house and live on the lake year-round but, for now, there will be no more lake house.
Dropping our time at the lake house means we will have more time and energy for other shorter duration trips we have cancelled in recent years. It is time to embrace this change.
The priority right now is home renovations. So much is dependent upon the home. Of course, we'd both love to have a newly renovated home to live in each day... a comfortable home... in our style... in our tastes... a home which is clearly 'our home'. This is just as important for my bad health days as it is for everyday living.
In the coming months, I'm sure this blog will showcase renovation after renovation. We've already spent a lot of time and money on ordering building materials and appliances in the past few weeks after adjusting our priorities. (I have no idea where I'm going to store all these things in the meantime, however!) As these materials arrive, I'll be demolishing and rebuilding. Of course, I'll shoot a lot of photos and share them here.
Embracing change is beneficial for everyone but it is something which is especially important for those with failing health and limited energy. Embrace the changes and grow... don't waste energy fighting it and stagnating.
For us, today, change is in the wind...
We've always embraced change and only a complete fool would waste precious energy on fighting change. Embracing change is good for learning, for growing, for evolving, for reaching one's potential and beyond.
Embracing change does not mean you should live your life like a leaf being tossed about in a raging river. Embracing change doesn't mean we should just blindly go with the flow. Embracing change is about prioritizing, decision-making, problem-solving and effectively adapting based upon the changing environment around us so we can effectively grow.
Fighting change is a complete and utter waste of time and energy. As with anyone struggling with a chronic incurable illness, energy is of very short supply. Even when I was perfectly healthy and at my strongest, I refused to waste time and energy. I made decisions, I actively participated in life and I grew. I never wasted time and energy fighting change. Fighting change is like walking into a brick wall, over and over again, in the hope that you might somehow magically walk right through the brick wall on your next attempt. No... I have always been smarter than that. When change occurs and I find that my path is blocked by a brick wall, I embrace change and find a different path.
Struggling with an incurable illness consistently presents change, one right after the previous, but we have now plunged into a period where it is time for a lot of changes all at once.
My health has diminished enough over the past few years that I am no longer able to keep up with our lifestyle. Our house continues to deteriorate and renovation plans get put on hold time and time again. In order to get back on track and to allow myself a reasonable amount of control over my life, we've decided it was time to welcome and embrace a lot of changes happening at once.
My primary care doc was in on some of these discussions and, for starters, we decided to drop my specialist in Boston for someone local. I never liked traveling to Boston anyway... I really don't care for the city... I definitely don't like the hospitals there... I definitely do not agree with the medical practices and laws in Boston hospitals... and one single visit would wear me down for weeks. It was time for a change.
Although some tests may still require some travel, I'm now seeing a doctor only 30 minutes away rather than three hours plus realistic allowances for traffic. Realistically, we've had to plan for five to six hours to get to Boston for appointments to ensure we make it to my appointment on time and to allow time for a little food. Then... a few more hours for the appointment and tests... then another three hours for the brutal drive home. For me, I am sighing with relief... I truly hate Boston and I feel even more negative about my medical trips to Boston.
We met a new local doctor a week ago and both Sheila and I like him. He has set me up with a bunch of invasive tests since I sort of ignored and avoided all rather invasive testing for the past few years. I've continued my regular blood testing a few times each year but avoided all the regular testing which is invasive. Getting back into a routine of a never-ending barrage of invasive tests is a change... one I am not looking forward to and not a very pleasant change at that. This, no doubt, will further diminish my overall energy level so it is past time to change up our lifestyle so I can adapt to this new medical schedule as well as my diminishing health... while also living my life as best as I can.
This new doctor is changing up my cocktail of medications slightly. He said, "There is no magic pill with this illness but I want to try to make things a bit easier when it comes to your medications." So, another change is a change in my cocktail of medications. We'll monitor my health through this change just in case my health deteriorates further. The doctor is not looking for an improvement in my health with this change... he's just hoping to make things a little easier on me in my daily life. This is a change to make things a bit easier but a change nonetheless.
Something which is very important to us is that our renovation plans have slipped so far behind schedule that it feels absurd even mentioning that we have any sort of "renovation schedule". Although we do have a plan for each room, over the past few years we've really only been renovating each area of the house when a problem arises forcing us to address the problem while pushing everything else to the back burner. Since energy is diminishing and is now very limited, it is time for a more realistic yet more aggressive renovation plan.
There are only two options to remedy this problem... The first option is that we could hire someone to do all the work required on the house. That won't happen since we watch every dollar we earn (and there are not a lot of those dollars). I'll need to do all the work myself. Besides, I actually want to do all the work myself. The second option and the path we will be forced to take is we could cut some other things out of our life that wear me down. This will allow me some energy and time to accomplish more renovations. So, in short, we'll be cutting more things out of our life and focusing on medical appointments and home renovations for the foreseeable future.
On this same topic of the house, we both would really enjoy having the option to move. Preferably, we'd like to move to another country but, considering my poor health, that is probably just a romantic dream. More realistically, we'd like to move to a better home (better for us) while Sheila retains her career. Ideally, we'd both love to buy a home on a nearby lake. If not a home on a lake, then perhaps moving to a zero-maintenance home of some sort would be nice as well.
Of course, realistically, in order to be able to buy a new home, we first need to finish renovating this home so we could sell it. Naturally, changing up our lifestyle so I can fit in more renovations is definitely one of the first and most important of the changes which are in order.
We've also been putting off and canceling a lot of long weekend trips because of my health. My energy level is so low that I cannot afford to add more things into our schedule and Sheila's available leave time is limited. We use up a lot of time and energy with the lake house each summer so, although we love our time at the lake house, we decided it was time to give it up so we can do other things while we can. Actually, the lake house uses up so much of my energy that I never get to do more than 10% of what is on my wish list of things to do while at the lake house. To say that this is disappointing and frustrating is an understatement.
There are many things we love about the lake house and our vacation time there but there were also many and significant issues related to my health, energy and time. We decided it was time to put the lake house behind us for now. In time, there is always the chance that we'll buy our own lake house and live on the lake year-round but, for now, there will be no more lake house.
Dropping our time at the lake house means we will have more time and energy for other shorter duration trips we have cancelled in recent years. It is time to embrace this change.
The priority right now is home renovations. So much is dependent upon the home. Of course, we'd both love to have a newly renovated home to live in each day... a comfortable home... in our style... in our tastes... a home which is clearly 'our home'. This is just as important for my bad health days as it is for everyday living.
In the coming months, I'm sure this blog will showcase renovation after renovation. We've already spent a lot of time and money on ordering building materials and appliances in the past few weeks after adjusting our priorities. (I have no idea where I'm going to store all these things in the meantime, however!) As these materials arrive, I'll be demolishing and rebuilding. Of course, I'll shoot a lot of photos and share them here.
Embracing change is beneficial for everyone but it is something which is especially important for those with failing health and limited energy. Embrace the changes and grow... don't waste energy fighting it and stagnating.
For us, today, change is in the wind...
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