Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) describes a sense of exhaustion and post-exertion malaise, even when you have gotten enough rest and sleep. The disease is characterized by six months of incapacitating fatigue experienced as profound exhaustion and extremely poor stamina, and problems with concentration and short-term memory. The cause is unknown, but it is a...
LIFE.. AS I KNOW IT, IS OVER!
There.. I said it. Discovered the term CFS in December, started working on acceptance in January. Acceptance make sense really, for 5 years I have stubbornly clung to the vestiges of my old life, but I have been slowly forced to release them. I grieved for my old life, I denied, I got angry, I bargained (and begged and pleaded), I have been in and out of depression .. acceptance is a work in progress.
I AM NOT THE PERSON I WAS BEFORE
Acceptance would have been easier for the old me. I was fearless, welcomed change, never backed down from a challenge. I had a strong sense of my own capability and a strong faith to back that up. Change never bothered me because I always knew I could get through it with hard work, perseverance, creativity, faith, gratitude .. I honestly believed I could do anything I set my mind to.
WHO AM I NOW?
I spent the first 20 years of my life just surviving in a hostile environment. I spent the next 20 defining ME. I set a vision of the person I wanted to be. I determined the life I wanted to live and then I went out and created it (with a whole lot of blessings along the way). I worked hard and planned and sacrificed and had just settled into my really nice life, expecting the next 20 years to solidify my position and prepare for the next phase .. then came CFS
I have no vision for my future.
There.. I said it. Discovered the term CFS in December, started working on acceptance in January. Acceptance make sense really, for 5 years I have stubbornly clung to the vestiges of my old life, but I have been slowly forced to release them. I grieved for my old life, I denied, I got angry, I bargained (and begged and pleaded), I have been in and out of depression .. acceptance is a work in progress.
I AM NOT THE PERSON I WAS BEFORE
Acceptance would have been easier for the old me. I was fearless, welcomed change, never backed down from a challenge. I had a strong sense of my own capability and a strong faith to back that up. Change never bothered me because I always knew I could get through it with hard work, perseverance, creativity, faith, gratitude .. I honestly believed I could do anything I set my mind to.
WHO AM I NOW?
I spent the first 20 years of my life just surviving in a hostile environment. I spent the next 20 defining ME. I set a vision of the person I wanted to be. I determined the life I wanted to live and then I went out and created it (with a whole lot of blessings along the way). I worked hard and planned and sacrificed and had just settled into my really nice life, expecting the next 20 years to solidify my position and prepare for the next phase .. then came CFS
I have no vision for my future.
I bought a little place in the country and - whooda thunk it - discovered I had a talent for gardening. I am in the process of turning lawn into a fruit orchard. There are gardens now where there used to be just weeds. This is my new purpose, and I find it entertaining and intellectually stimulating. Its become a passion. I even grow plants that actually don't grow here, heh heh heh. For me, this like creating a painting, a piece of art - only the paints I use are living plants.
Something inside me has changed since ME/CFS. I have become more interested in the natural world than I ever was before. Its been a bit of a spiritual transformation, with Mother Nature showing me the way. I am building my own Garden of Eden here on the windswept Canadian Prairie. Before I got this illness, whooda thunk it?
Wep, I get where you are...unfortunately. Hope things begin to look up.
This site always makes me feel good, except when people use it as a platform to spew their vile anti- women views. But people are who they are; their loss, not my worry. How does insulting women's worth relate to CFS?
You know, when you consider it, having no vision for the future is rather liberating!
No expectations, no stress of meeting goals.
Why not just roll with it for a while and when your spirit is ready it will show you the path you are intended to take.
That being said - all philosophical and everything - I agree that it's SO hard when you think life will be one way and wham...it hits you that it just isn't. I won't be the Gramma that runs around with my grandsons, playing ball and such in the yard. But I can be the Gramma who reads, does crafts, and on good days teaches them to cook like nobodys business. I can be the one helping the singer to sing because I once could. I can be the one to help the sporty one appreciate a good book. I can be the one to just sit, with the little one by my side and let him lean on me when it's a sad day. In a way, being People with CFIDS gives us a gift in that it gives us more time to be spiritual...peaceful...instead of the run around hectic world that got us here.