Lyme Life Monday ~The Dash

Our pastor asked an important question this week. What are you going to do with your dash?

The dash,

the line that separates the date we were born from the date we die. Having been so sick for so long, I always found a way to push through and get stuff done. The past 18 months, I was not able to.

It’s a special gift to think your death is imminent, especially when it lasts so long.

For those who are not aware, having Lyme is like having a flu, except it doesn’t go away. Headaches, stomach problems, skin problems, fevers, weakness, joint and muscle pain, sensory disturbances, and more, day in and day out.

Surviving is a game of 24/7 symptom management for Lymies. Thankfully, the problems wax and wane. Many Lymies are able to resume normal functioning. Many others are not able to get back to previous levels of activity.

We need to find a way to thrive in the new normal. The losses are significant, but they need not keep us from the rest of our lives. I feel like I missed a big portion of my life to this illness, but I’m not dead yet! If you are reading this, neither are you.

Whether you are in the throws of a bad spell and basic self-care is tremendously difficult or you’re getting stronger and things are easier, you are valuable. Please don’t give up. Keep telling yourself that it will get better. If all you can do is breath for a while, keep doing that. Try not to make yourself worse by denying the potential that you can get better.

People don’t have expiration dates.

Your dash is open ended.

So is mine. We have purpose.

Remind yourself of the things you can do. I kept a log for a while, that helped keep hope alive. I couldn’t even write in it every day, but when I did, I could see the ups and downs. That really made a difference for me. I could see what treatments were helping, which were not and what made things worse.

I also kept track of exercises. I’m planning on sharing them with you on video. I think that’s the only way to show you. I really want to encourage others. It is kind-of like Tae Chi, yoga and dance. At first, I could only stretch for a few minutes a few times a week. After nine months now, I often stay with it for at least forty minutes. I’m also able to do my household chores. I slowly worked up to nearly a full day’s activity with rests. I still cry through some of my workouts. I would like to not have pain, but until that day, pressing through it is the only way to deal. Otherwise, I’d curl up and die.

It’s worth it. Your dash is. My dash is. On the other side, when we find the new normal and begin to experience improvement, then we change the new normal. If you are in the pit of Lyme, you can feel like you want to go to sleep and never wake up, but you are too important to let those thoughts go unchallenged.

Like an athlete training for competition endures the pain for a prize, we too have a prize in mind.

Let’s always strive to be present and look for ways to make our world a better place.