The Silver Lining

Remember that *rush* you felt, when you were 16, and you'd just passed your driving test?  That license -- still warm from the laminator -- fresh in your hand, gave you a new-found freedom.  You could DRIVE! I remember the day I got my license in 1972.  The examining officer in our town had a reputation for NEVER giving a 16-year-old a license on their first try.  I was nervous when my mom took me to the little white cinder-block building that served as the Highway Patrol Office.  Sure enough, there was Officer P. -- sitting at a cluttered desk, typing rapidly with his index fingers only -- which I thought was absolutely absurd, and stifled a giggle!  He growled at us to sit down and wait, he was busy.  I wiped the snicker off my face and did as he ordered.  Rat-a-tat-tat went the manual typewriter -- pounding on my 16-year-old nerves.  Then another officer came in the building.  He looked at me and my mom, smiled, then said, "Hey,...

The past several days I've found myself in conversations about "Self-Care" both from the perspective of one who has a chronic illness AND from the caregiver's point of view.  Either route is not easy. As one who is being cared for, sometimes I realize that I may be "needier" than I've ever been.  I've also been dealing with some fairly depressed feelings, which I am sure add to the "pity party" in my head.  I try to practice some self-care to shake out the cobwebs in my head:  prayer, find something to smile about in every day, get outside in the sunshine a bit each day, push myself to do things on my own -- when I succeed, I get a good feeling of accomplishment.  At times, I have to remind myself to be kind to ME.  If I don't complete a task, it is really no big deal, I can finish it another time -- I don't have to berate myself or call myself "lazy," I just need to adjust my expectations.  I also know when I need to...