YEAH! YEAY!YEAY! I made it through the holidays!  Happy New Year!!  Hope everyone had a great holiday and that 2011 will bring great things to you and your family. Another season finished and I have to say that New Years went better than Christmas. We had a gathering of around 30 or 40 people for dinner at the lake and I made it through without too much trouble. I stayed for as much as I could handle and then left. I know when to draw the line and I now know that for my own comfort, I have to do whatever it takes to be comfortable. If that means leaving in the middle then that’s what it takes! I have to say that this has been a really good holiday even though I’m fighting a fare amount of pain. Being able to spend so much time with the family has been great.

Now it’s back to the regular schedulefor a bit before our holiday. I really get the feeling that this year is going to be different. I’m believing that 2011 is going to be a year filled with good things. Last year wasn’t an easy year for our family, so it’s time to bounce back and have a great year. I’m more motivated than ever to fight this disease and I really believe that this is going to be a year where I see my CRPS change. I want this to be a year filled with good reports instead of all the bad ones. It’s time for a year where I gain the upper hand on CRPS.  I’m tired of all the swings from feeling good to feeling bad, and not knowing how I’m going to feel from one day to the next. It’s time to start taking control over this disease.

I know that there isn’t a cure for this disease at the moment. However like I’ve said before you can choose to stop fighting and let life pass you by, or you can stand up and fight. I’ve decided that I’m going to focus on enjoying life more and trying to discover where my true limitations lay. So often we shut down and say that we can’t do something because the pain is too intense. Instead of trying to do what we want to do, we let the fear of the pain stop us from doing what it is that we want to do. Doing things like going out to a concert, or even going to watch your daughter’s soccer game can be hard to do because the noise often bothers us. So right away we are quick to shut down and not do those things because the pain increases. Have you ever stopped and thought about doing the things that you want to do in a different way? Or do you let the pain stop you in your tracks?

What I’m talking about is so often we just let the pain win. Then after the pain has won we get upset that we can’t do something and it’s hard to be positive. In our mind we start saying things like ” I can’t do this ” , or even “I’ll never be able to do that”. What happens is that we start to believe these messages, and we stop trying to fight to overcome the obstacles that we face. I’m not saying that there aren’t real physical limitations, but what I’m saying is that you can’t be scared to stand up and try to overcome some of the things that your pain has control over. For example noise makes my pain worse, so it limits me in what types of environments I can be in. Things like family gatherings, going to my daughters soccer games, or even going to concerts can all be hard for me to take part in because of noise. So now I’m looking for ways to get around the noise because if I can the pain won’t be as bad.  Earplugs are a great investment!! Don’t just say the pain is to great and give up! If you do this the pain wins every time. 

You may or may not be successful in overcoming the painbut just getting into the habit of doing this, helps you to develop a positive attitude. I also ask God to give me the strength to stand up against the pain. Without His help along the way, I wouldn’t have the attitude that I do. I want my life to be better than what it is, and with Gods help I’ll get there. I’m going to challenge myself more this year to see a breakthrough. That starts with looking at some of my challenges and seeing what I can do to overcome some of them. 

We need to have a no quit attitude, not some of the time but all of the time! If your having a bad day then touch base with someone who understands what your going through, and can help you refocus. We need to be there to support each other and help each other. Don’t think that you have to be alone as you go through this because you aren’t. Feel free to contact me if you want, because every person that suffers from CRPS is a friend of mine. We can help each other and support each other through this season in our life.

Where are you at personally with your CRPS? Are you still in shock asking yourself why is this happening to me? Do you ever sit around asking yourself if things will be this way twenty years from now?  Do you ever get tired of letting the pain win all the time? Then make a decision that you aren’t going to let it win this year! Nobody ever said we were going to have an easy time getting better! It’s going to take a bit of hard work and there are going to be lots of tests along the way. I’ve decided that this is going to be the year that we take back our lives does anyone want to join that fight with me?