Inspirations from Michael J. Fox

I try to have a positive point of view and do the glass half full thing, but nobody can be upbeat and happy ALL the time. If they are, you just want to grab them by the throat and shake them until they feel as lousy as you, thus brightening your own day.

Anyhow, not to say I've been down or anything... just a little stressed out. My entire family had the flu that dragged on for 2 weeks, followed immediately by my youngest going back to school for a day or two just long enough to catch Strep Throat. He topped it off with Scarlet Fever. So for nearly 3 weeks I have been taking care of someone who was ill, including myself for a 3 day stretch over our first nice weekend of the season. All I could do was lay around aching and feverish while looking at what a beautiful sunny day it was through the window.

So I have been feeling stressed and worn out lately. Wondering if that's what's bringing on the gut craps (stress) and just not feeling very cheerful or finding any fun in my life lately. Then last night I sat down and grabbed the latest Reader's Digest with Michael J. Fox's smiling face on the cover. I flipped through to find his story.

As everyone knows by now, unless you have been buried in a time capsule and are still shaking off the dirt, Michael J. Fox has been diagnosed with young onset Parkinson's Disease. He's had it rough, to say the least. And being one who has another chronic, debilitating, incurable disease of the nervous system, I have always feel a camaraderie with him and looked up to him for how he soldiered on through life with a smile on his face.

The magazine included an excerpt from his new book titled "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Future". In the excerpt I found a very poignant point he made that was so very zen-like that it made me stop and think. It reads...

"So let me make this suggestion. Don't spend a lot of time imagining the worse-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine it will, and if by some fluke it does, you will have lived it twice."

and a quote from the interview itself...

"...if I stand apart from the moment and say 'In this moment, I am struggling and I can't do what I want to do,' not only have I not had a good moment, I've missed the moment completely, just by standing outside it and judging it."

That man would make an incredible friend. He is so positive and he "gets" it. He knows what to appreciate and why you should.

So many able bodied people go through life complaining about this or that, never realizing the gift they have of just being healthy. I know. I was one of those people. I remember lamenting my boring life.

Now, with the help of my medication, I lavish in boring where the drama of MS is gone from my mind.

I thought it worth blogging both of those quotes as everyone needs some positive perspective. In my eyes, Michael J. Fox is a heckuva role model. Thanks, Michael, for spreading your positive message like sunshine. :D