This week’s inspiration came from a reader’s blog. Kimberly‘s blog is full of inspiration; however, her most recent post really touched off on something that I’ve been facing over and over again – dealing with life when things don’t go as planned.
Are you ever so tired, depressed, achy, and miserable that you feel the day is a total loss? Do you ever get so caught up in plans not working out that you fail to see the beauty around you?
It’s funny my life is a series of events that happened while I was planning other things. There’s an old saying something about “life is what happens when you are making other plans”, we acknowledge it with a laugh, but when life actually gets in the way of our plans we can’t really see the purpose right away.
I planned to have a degree 20 years ago, but then life happened. I stumbled into a career that I loved that allowed me to pursue my passion without the need of a degree. Then I decided I wanted more so I PLANNED and got my real estate license and decided to sell real estate. I did pretty well with that for a couple of years before life got in the way again and hit me with TMJ. I recovered from that and thought I’d return to my original plan and go back to school. That didn’t last long before life hit me with Fibro. I’m starting to see a trend here. Perhaps my plan wasn’t the direction I needed to go?
Since I became sick with Fibro I’ve had many people tell me that there was a purpose and that the purpose for me was probably to write, to share my journey with others in some way, and from there to help others. I’ve always believed that every “negative” thing we go through in life is there for a purpose. It’s there so that we can learn from it, and so that we can share what we’ve learned with others. I hope that what I share helps others. The feedback I get tends to make me feel that it does.
Last year a lot of things happened that I didn’t plan for, or that just really “screwed up” my plans. I didn’t plan to be offered a on opportunity to actually get paid to write, but it happened. I turned it down at first because I didn’t think I could do it. My husband pushed me to pursue it and I did. I’m glad I went against my plan in that situation, because doing so allowed me to see options that I never knew existed. We were planning to go to Mexico last January, but life got in the way in the form of a screwed up neck/back that forced us to postpone the trip. I was pissed when it happened. I was mad at life, I was mad at my body, and I was mad at my husband (because damn it I’d have gone even though I was hurting). But, after rescheduling our trip and having the trip of a life time, I know that had we go when we’d “planned” to it wouldn’t have been the same, and likely not nearly as fun and full of memories as the trip we took.
Life always has a way of getting the way of our plans. Fibro and chronic illness seem to do it on a daily basis. It leaves us mad at the world, mad at our bodies, and sometimes even mad at those we love (for no real reason at all). But, if we stop to think about it we can maybe remember that that’s just life, and that perhaps there’s a really good reason our plans got diverted. Perhaps we were heading down the wrong path and had no idea, we may not have had any idea another path existed. Sometimes life just has a way of putting us on the right path, whether we like it or not.
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Melissa says
I wanted to cry last night. The boyfriend and I went out to eat and then we were supposed to hang out in his house. While driving back to his house after dinner, I developed a stabbing pain in my right eye. By the time we walked into the house, I was shivering from chills. Within minutes, my lower stomach went to hell. I had a full blown migraine. I was stuck in the bathroom, praying I wouldn’t become nauseated, getting and sending texts to him, and watching the time. My 14yr old Lab needs my help getting into and out of the house and only I can lift his rear end. I was hoping I wouldn’t come home to an accident.
After a long time stuck in the bathroom, I got into bed, wearing my coat and gloves (the chills hadn’t subsided), the bf turned up the heat for me, made me tea and brought salted pretzels for me to nibble. I had some tea and pretzels and fell into a deep sleep.
I felt decent enough to leave at 11pm, got home ASAP to get the 2 dogs out before an accident could happen and then I had more tea and went to sleep.
Lovely Saturday night, right? This morning I woke with the post-migraine residential headache. Within a few hours, the migraine was back. And about 15m ago, my stomach feels ‘off.’ If crying wouldn’t make the migraine worse, I’d bawl. Between the wasted Saturday date night that I looked forward to all week and the fact that this is a brutal multi-day migraine, I’m having a little one person pity party.
The temperature is supposed to go up and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. I’d REALLY like to stop being affected by barometric pressure. ASAP. I hope you’re doing well or, at the very least, ok.
Kim says
Melissa, I’m so sorry to hear about your miserable evening. I think the one thing that I would try to focus on is the way your boyfriend took loving care of you. It sounds like you might have great support from him.
I also have a horrible time with the barometric changes. I’m in Michigan and the temp is in the 50’s today but it’s going to be dropping this week into the 30’s. I get really anxious thinking about the pain that I know is coming. I’m going to have to take care of some things on Tuesday since I know I’ll probably be down for the count on Wednesday!
Hang in there! You’re definitely not alone my friend!
Julie says
I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough weekend. Sounds like you do have a great boyfriend though and he’s showing you just how great he is. I hope your migraine has passed by now. I do know how bad those can be.
Melissa says
Thanks Kim and Julie. The migraine is still going. It poured all night and morning. Sun is out but, it’s still muggy. I was grateful he took care of me and didn’t make me feel bad for ruining the night.
I’m hoping to not ruin Thanksgiving. If the migraine doesn’t lift by then, I’ll stay home with my dogs and try to nap through it.
At this rate, Advil’s maker could make a killing off of me. The Botox seems to be wearing off, well in advance of my December neurologist appointment. I hope everyone feels well for Thanksgiving and is able to relax and enjoy the day.
Julie says
Be careful with over-doing the advil, can reek havoc on your stomach. Might want to see if Neuro can get you in early. I do hope you feel better for Thanksgiving, and if not, don’t worry about how others may take it. I’ve missed so many holidays in the last few years. You can’t help it if you aren’t feeling well.