Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Waiting for the Lilacs to Bloom

Just reflecting how lucky I am to live in a 4 season area.  I love God's colors that show in the Spring.

How have you been talking to yourself lately?  Are you being nice to yourself or saying negative things?  Well, it's time to change your thoughts and words to yourself.  I'm doing a program on this subject at my face to face support meeting next week.  For the past few weeks I've been more aware of what I am saying to myself....

Such as:
*  No body can hurt like this, I must be imagining it
*  I'm  such a pansy, can't even do anything for more than 5 or 10 minutes and then have to sit down.
*  It's probably all in my head.
*  Come on, push a little harder, I can do it  (flare time)
*  Maybe I'm just lazy.
*  She/He is thinking I'm taking advantage of her/his help.  I hate it when I can't do thing myself and she/he helps out so much.  It's not fair to her/him.
And it goes on and on.....

How can I change the way I am thinking?  By turning my negatives into positives....like this:

*  I'm hurting today, what can I do to help it?  stretch, take medication, go for a walk, a stretch shower
*  I'm so glad I can still get my housework done, even though it takes me longer and I need to rest here and there.  What I'm doing today will make a difference.
*  Yes it is all in my head... in my central nervous system which is all out of whack.  I will do what I can to make myself better and not be so mean to myself.
*  I would like to push harder but I need to be realistic.  If I break up my household chores into different days and just work on one smaller area, I can feel accomplishments.
*  No, Carol.. you are not lazy. You love things in order but due to Fibromyalgia it is impossible to be like your old self... You were one of those who liked things done and looking good.  You loved your flowers and your home.  But due to this weird disease, syndrome or whatever else they want to call it you just can't do it anymore.  Look at what you do now...  You still have flowers (in pots) and quite a few of them.  You still can pick up in just a few minutes and be ready for company (they will NOT know just what you've done the last few days, nor do they care.  They are coming to see YOU (ME) and that's what counts.  You still love to cook, you just don't spend hours at it.  You've made some pretty darn good dinners in way less than a half hour.
*  I'm so glad she/he helps me.  I know she/he is concerned that I have to live in pain and is more than happy to help out so I have less pain.  They LOVE me... and I LOVE them...

We have to watch our self-talk... it can really bring us down quick.  When we realize what we have been doing we can turn it around and love our selves 100% in spite of Fibromyalgia...

Think about it, my friends.... catch yourself in action.... 

Have a wonderful day... you deserve it!

7 comments:

Carmen S. said...

Hi carol~ I can't wait for the lilacs to bloom! I'm guilty of the bad talk to myself, I do alot of it and I know I need to stop, that is really is harmful! Hope you enjoy the day!!!

Dianna said...

What a tremendous encouragement your post is to me today, Carol. Thank you SO much for sharing it. I was just beating myself up (with words) because that TO DO list from yesterday still has one thing left on it...and today has its own to do list. I'm thinking maybe I should just quit worrying about the to do list and enjoy what I am able to do today. Thanks for the inspiration!

Carol said...

Welcome Dianna to my blog. I'm glad it helped you yesterday. I don't write as often as I like but guess if you have fibro you know why....

Have a great day.

Carol said...

I'm so glad you stopped by Carmen. Always enjoy reading your blog...

Love Of Quilts said...

You said No body can hurt like this
Oh Yes they can. I finally had to quit work.This is how I do my house work 5 or 10 minutes then rest.If I push my self and work for a few hours I'll be down for days.If you do find a answer to this... please let me know.God Bless Trish

Carol said...

Trish, with our "invisible" illness people the pain is not understood. We look ok but don't feel ok... No, I take that back, those close to us recognize the signs, the pinched face, the fatigue and more. I read on someone's page recently it is like "ping pong pain". You know exactly what that means. We live it, so we understand, even if others don't.

I agree, pacing ourselves is a real #1 key to daily living. I'm glad you are doing this.

Sorry you had to quit work, so many of us have gone through the same thing. Jobs we loved but cannot do.

Thanks for sharing

Rochelle said...

I miss your posts. :( Hope you are doing okay! Prayers & gentle hugs!