What's your Passion?

What a great post. Of cource the children in my life, a niece and three nephews and the rest of my family are right up there.
I am incredibly luck as my job as a behavior specialist is one of my great passions. When I was in a lot of pain and very sick from the RA and only had limited energy I did not begrudge spending that energy trying to make a living but was delighted to spend that energy doing a job I love.
Sj

This makes for a nice diversion.

I love reading and I guess it is my 1st choice and read anything I can get my hands on.

2nd would have to be camping and yes even a CPP can go camping per say and yes I dont do it like I did prior to CP but have just as much relaxing fun, I love the peaceful outdorrs and the sunshine and air do wonders for my health and mental well being not to mention how it is effects the "well being" of my kids! Lol, There are days we have to part company for awhile for both our needs. Raising 6 kids over the years I think justified me for this especially since that meant 6 teenagers right?

3rd I would have to say coming here to the forums but I veiw this more as a treatment option then a hobby as i know not where I would stand in this life of pain without the support I gain from boards such as this one.

Thanks for the fun and interest.

Thank you Chutzie...just what we need...validation as to who we STILL are & can be (almost) again:

1. Teaching (when I can return, hopefully in Aug/Sept if all heals well)

2. Rose gardening---only need to use flexion to tend to them--no extension needed, unless I drop a trowel behind me, ha!

3. Playing my piano--yes, hard to sit long, but hve been dusting off some shorter Mozart/Schubert pieces--maybe they had back problems too when they wrote them? :)

4. Reading--I have started "War & Peace"  -- a new translation, much easier to follow & totally engrossing.  With 1268 pages, if I read 3.5 per day, I'll be finished by my 1 year check-up next January.  Imagine being able to say "I actually read "W & P"!

5. Our lovely granddaughter, EmmaBee (6 yrs) whom I haven't been with much lately---but she is a total joy & day-brightener. Thinking of her always lifts me up (even tho I can no longer lift HER up!)

6. Walking our beach (we live right on Lake Michigan, 75 feet from the water) or just lying in the sun, looking at the eternal majesty of the Lake...best medicine for those days when you need to clear the mind & feed the soul

And many other things, which I'll probably recall once i can stop the dilaudid/valuim combo---but I am thankful, also, for the partial relief they afford me, too.

This is a great thread!  Blessings to you all today, may our pain be balanced by these passions, or at least diverted for awhile.

~Lakeside, enjoying the taste of Spring between the NE winds that keep re-appearing...but hey!  The sun is out! :) Little things like that help, also!

It really is fun to talk about other things besides our misery. I too am a teacher. What's with this??...lol I teach adults...don't have the energy it takes for children and I admire you who do.

Hugs,
Chutzie

I have been reading this thread and finding it difficult to respond because it presents such a bittersweet quality for me - and I suspect for nearly everyone else. But it is helpful to read and see some excitement and even though I don't understand much about cameras and such I could feel 03Mach's passion! I especially loved his passion for his wife! How great to read!

One thing this thread has trigged is memories of my childhood love of reading. And I have started to read a bit more of late. Because of chronic neck problems for decades, curling up with a book the way I used to love to is no longer possible - not without dire consequences. So I kind of gave up. But I do have a reading stand and lately have started using it a bit. The other thing I started using was our little small-town library, the same one I used as a child. In my adult life I've bought most of my books -had the resources to and needed them for work reasons. I type now in a room surrounded by my own mini-library, mostly from my years of teaching college. But I realized lately I don't need to own every single book, and it's sort of a waste anyway as I'm not using them for teaching or research, so I dug out my library card. This small little building I used to crave visitng as a child is a bit must in appearance. The few computers almost look out of place alongside the heavy wood bookshelves. But as I child I would take out books every week and even hide under the covers at night with a flashlight to continue reading so my mother wouldn't see I was stil awake! I went through every single Nancy Drew book, at least those when she wasn't hooked up with the Hardy Boys! I wanted my heroine independent! Anyway, I thought I'd throw my two cents in. Even though I don't yet feel the same passion for reading, or for anything at that moment, that's mostly because of the pain. But this thread reminds me I need to keep searching.

Right now I'm reading Richard Cohen's book Strong at the Broken Places. Prior to that I read his autobiography, Blindsided. And also the book Left to Tell written by a woman who survivved the Rowandan genocide. Obviously not light stuff, but inspirational. I know I'm searching now for clues as to how others cope with serious, long term illnesses and other overwhelming situations.

You are indeed fortunate to have your wife. I am alone and would say that combined with the financial strain, being alone makes everything a million times worse. I'd give anything to have the "love of my life." I'd better not get into that on this thread, which is meant to be upbeat. I'll save it for another time.

I've also poked around at writing, and have like many wannabe writers several started novels which haven't gone more than a couple of chapters. Maybe that will be something I'll return to after I've found a "new normal" for my life. I think I'm toying with writing a book about living with chronic pain. Maybe. Not yet though.

By the way, I didn't get the bleep about salt water?

As I'm thinkning, I guess I could also add that I am a political junkie! Now I'm not going to get into this from a "taking sides" standpoint here; in a lot of ways to me it's irrelevant. I'm just hooked on the process, and while many of my friends or family want to turn off the tv and tire of it, I feed off the ups and downs of the whole thing. I actually think it's great to see democracy in action, even when I disagree and it gets annoying. Beats what a lot of other countries have.

But the bittersweet part for me is that I used to be heavily involved in campaigns. Even ran for County Council once in the late 80's (lost, which was fine with me, but I learned a lot!). It pains me right now to not be able to be as involved as I was, with all my physical limitations I can't sit or walk...well, you know. Four years ago I was working the presidential campaign on a Tuesday night. At headquarters, at the party for workers late into the night. Three days later I took the fall which changed my life. So come November I will be reminded of my "anniversary". But I really get a kick out of watching all the coverage that everyone gets sick of!

Sorry for the late response!! Been sick and busy as heck lately.

The Salt Water bleep, is because the forum uses word sensitive censoring. It picked up the T in salt and then the first 3 letters in water !!!

I was actually talking to my wife last night about starting to do photos of peoples pets. I first have to get some more practice under my belt. This new camera is crazy with functions!!! Plus I only have 1 lens, and new ones run more than the camera itself cost!! We do have some things in the works though.

Wow, everyone has such interesting passions, I too love my family and have a teenage daughter!
Hey, 03 Mach if you get good at the people and pet picture let me know, I would love to look at them....
Thanks for letting me but t in here, hope y'all don't mind.......
Oh and hope your feeling better soon 03Mach, get your rest, okay.....

Wow! It seems most of us that read like the same kinds of books and Authors! I read Nora Roberts as JD Robb in her Eve Dallas series as I love all the in the future stuff but it isnt far fetched either. I also love Patricia C,and Robin Cook. Lawrence Sanders is another with his Lucas Davenport series and If you like Patricia you will want to catch a Bass book about the body farm series as they are great reading too!

I read about anything but try to stay away from the historical romance kinda thing as it seems to depress me. Also want to add reading can take us places we cannot go and it can allow us to be someone else even for a little while. You can learn from any kind of reading as every Author researches places and events and even in fiction parts become fact.

As for all of you and the how to cope with all the losses and inability to do the things you use to love this is where in the thread where this road leads we share the how to.

I sat here and read each of your words and felt the passions you had for the things in your life you think are lost to you and instead of seeing those as losses I simply was seeing opportunity,the ways each of you can still utilize those passions in a constructive and meaningful way to accomadate your failing health issues.

Like many suggested to Mach with his new camera,a love he has that can be turned into a profit we all could use and folks do love their pets dont they?

PAlady I have gathered from previous reading your love of the lobby and politics and you have no idea how needed you are in this world we live in CP. Gramps has hit at you and hit at you about using your experience and passion in a way that could be forever beneficial to CPP's, the letters you could send,the band wagons you could lead,the soap boxes you could develop,well they are too numerous to count but even if you can get one letter a week out or contact one Congressman a month,who is to say your words based on your experience on how to reach these folks and who exactly to reach would be priceless.

Those who love to read? The literacy programs in each town and city beg for folks to help others learn to read,you cannot imagine how many people cannot read one word and with the number of illegal immigrants entering this country each day those numbers are growing by leaps and bounds. One day or a few hours a week or month can change someone's life by opening a whole new world for them by teaching them to just be able to read a price label or their kids report cards,things most of us take for granted.

WmNa, that love of gardening can spread from you to many many others and since you already have a computer your one step away from getting your experience and love for just that out. Many places like Yahoo have free web pages you can set up and design and then asign you a link to your web page and anytime anyone does a search about gardening guess what will pop? Yep your web page with all kinds of questions and answers and advice on how to and what is the best pesticides for what climates and so forth as I am definately NOT a gardener! Boy wouldnt it be fun to open your web page each day or however often you can get there and have someone out there somewhere use your experience?

All of the teachers here is inspiring and I know alot of you try to hang on to working for as long as possible and that is great but for those of you forced to retire your options for helping others and finding a hobby are boundless! How great a many young adults could use your experience and knowledge to encourage them to stay in shcool or help them to study for their GED and again with this new age of computers you never have to leave your home and remaining anonymous is easy and essential if you want. Web pages can be set up with a link for folks to get to you and ask for help and assistance with subjects that they are having trouble in and many many of these people work and have families and it isnt feasible for them to get to the learning centers during hours of operation and I dont know how many people I have seen begina dn not be able to finish the study part because they couldnt get to the cnter or have time to go there and if they could get that kind of help with a keystroke? Wow how many would finish?

These might have been better put in Where this Road leads and I am going to make a post so we dont lose that thread and I know it is difficlut for some to read there since alot of folks pass thru stages at differeing times can be uncomfortable thinking your not doing as well as you should be or as well as others are. One point in the thread is we all go back and forth thru the stages and I dont think any of us ever get to a safety point and not regress,it would be nice to have that kind of acceptance but I cant see it as possible with our every changing needs.

Didnt mean to highjack the thread here Chutz but I hate to see so many hurting in so many ways but especially in self esteem and self worth! CPs are some of the strongest,compassionate and caring folks I have met in this world and not one of us is a throw away! We all have meaning and value left in us and finding ways to utilize it is the issue.

 

Hi all...

I've been watching this thread very carefully and have had quite a bag of mixed feelings. First I was so thrilled people were sharing about their 'passions'. Then it seemed to turn so sad when people are mourning what they no longer can do. I hesitated posting at that point but felt so sad and almost wished I hadn't started it.

But the more I read the more I think only good has come of it. We need to talk about our sorrow and loss of our former life. It's very healing. And as PAlady said...it reminds you of what is possible.

Yes, you can have a very meaningful life with fibro and all of you are proof of it, even if you don't feel it. Just the fact that you participate in this forum is proof. How many are out there not even connecting with others. How many only read and never post. We are letting them know that yes, there are sad times, but if we choose we can have happy times back.

Hugs around,
Chutz

Warren,

You are so wise. Your post just blew me away. Bless your heart.

BTW, would you send me an email? I need to chat with you...

CHutzie