I had intended on posting a few days ago but once again things are a bit on the crazy side and I’m trying to get my basement finished sometime before summer. The restoration company that’s doing the construction is taking their sweet time in finishing the work they need to do. They came Wed of last week to start the framing but then Thurs decided not to show. What made me even more frustrated was that I had called to see where they were and nobody even returned my call. Late in the day I finally did get a call saying they would come Friday. What I wasn’t expecting was that they would show up and do a half hours work then leave! Talk about frustrating!

My pain levels have been up and down over the last couple of days but at the same time I’ve been under a lot of stress so I have to expect things will be a little worse. In a week I’ll be headed to the surgeons office to see how things have been healing over the last few weeks. So far things seem to be doing well but it’s just a really slow process. I’m trying to take things easy but that’s easier said than done because I have lots of winter clean up to do, and I can’t afford to hire everything out. As those of you who are dealing with disabilities know, you become dependant on others to do so much. It’s a constant reminder that your life has changed and you have to work hard not to let it affect you.

Depending on so many others is hard for us and for a long time you may have to rely on those people around you. The hardest part is accepting that help and for the longest time I didn’t want to take it. Once I did though it helped me focus on getting better or adapting in ways that I needed to in order to make life a little less complicated. It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my life because you’ve lost your independence and some of the things you need help with really frustrate you to the core. With my hand being affected I can’t move the fingers on my left, so when it came to cutting up my food I just couldn’t do it. My wife and I would be out to dinner and I’d have to pass her my plate and have her cut up everything. Another in your face reminder of the change that has happened. The good news though is that over time I’ve learned to adapt and for the most part now I can do it myself! It’s about giving yourself time to adapt and making small changes in your life. You can and will regain some of that independence that you lost, it just takes a little time.

As we head into summer this is the time of year where there are lots of outdoor jobs that need to be done. My list of jobs for this year is long and a large amount of those jobs are too tough for me to do. My outlook before would be just to put those jobs out of my mind because I couldn’t do them as well as it would be far to expensive to higher them all out. This year is going to be different though because I’m going to find ways to adapt to do those jobs. I have the confidence now in that I can overcome any obstacle that’s put in front of me. It might not be that its done the same way but I’m going to do them again!

So you might be a little on the frustrated side at the moment but never lose hope. It just takes a little bit of time and effort on your part to adapt and gain back some of that independence that you’ve lost.