It’s a new week and the sun is finally out with a little bit of heat in it! It finally looks like winter is leaving us behind which makes for a little less pain. Over the last couple of weeks it seems that things have stabilized a little bit with regards to my pain. This makes it so much easy to deal with my CRPS because it makes it so much easier to get through each day. It becomes easier to put the pain in the back of your mind, and to try and get on with as regular a routine as possible. Of course I’ve been having my moments, but the swings of pain have been easier to deal with. To a degree I’ve also become used to dealing with those swings or what I like to call flare ups, so I don’t get as frustrated as I used to.

So how has having CRPS changed me?. I think most of you out there who have CRPS can identify with what I am going to tell you. When people are diagnosed with CRPS, what most people around them see is the pain that they are suffering from. What people don’t see is how much this disease changes a person from within. There are all sorts of changes that a person goes through, however there are some more obvious than others. Often people either become depressed and withdrawn from others, or they become stronger and more positive. Which do you fit into? It would be easy to tell you that everything that has happened to me has had a negative affect on me, and that I just want to be on my own to sulk over how this whole thing isn’t fare. However that would really be the exact opposite of how this has all affected me!

If I look back at everything that has happened, sure there are all kinds of things that have happened but not everything has been bad. I really believe that I have become a much stronger person through all of this. My world may have been turned upside down, and I may have had to leave a good job, but on the other side of the coin I can look back and say I got to be home with my kids to watch them grow up. Not every parent gets the chance to do that. As I’ve been walking through this journey,I’ve also gained the strength to face adversity in any situation that I face. There have been plenty of those to face along the way, and many more to come I’m sure. More importantly though my disability has allowed me to take a good hard look at the things that mean the most to me!

The most important thing to me in my life is my faith. My relationship with God is the most important relationship that I will ever have. In dealing with my CRPS I have had to rely on Him in many different instances, and every time I’ve needed Him to be there He’s been there for me. My family and my friends come right after my relationship with God. As long as I have those two things in my life, then everything else is secondary. My life has become so much richer and fuller in spite of everything that has happened. What are the things that matter the most to you in your life? Is it how much money you make? Or is it the status that you hold within a job that means the most to you? Those are questions that you need to ask yourself. To me those things don’t matter.

So what I’m saying is that sometimes positive things come out of a negative sittuation. So often all that is looked at are the negative ways in which CRPS has impacted our lives. Well take a minute to sit down and ask yourself about the good things that may have come as a result of your CRPS. You may not be able to see anything positive right but have faith and hope that you will.  Walking through this journey has helped me in defining who I am, as well as to help me in shaping where I want to go with my life.