Well, that’s another Christmas past. I hope it was a good one for you? Is certainly was a good one for me. Interestingly, Santa brought me a pair of oven gloves. These, coupled with soap, shower gel and a new razor lead me to believe (albeit briefly) that I may be looked upon as a bit stinky and needing to probably cook more. I’m sure the latter is true and I can distinctly say that the former is false.
I thought I would take a moment to mention what I think is something usually overlooked; especially by those who suffer from chronic neurological disorders. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the power of positive thought. I’m not looking to start a new cult and I’m certainly not talking about jumping up and down waving one’s arms about. What I am talking about is making a choice every day to have a good day no matter what. My belief in choosing to have a good day seems to be working and, for what it’s worth, this certainly helped me through some difficult times.
The decision of choosing to have a good day came about some years ago when I was surfing through YouTube and came across a short film regarding an young man who was working in the local fish market. Now his job was pretty disgusting. Fingers in fish guts all day, throwing fish around, and the smell were, to him, pretty crappy conditions to work in. To his credit, he admitted as much but still looked into the camera and said that even though he didn’t like his job every day he would choose to have a good day.
Try as I might, I have never been able to find that film again. Nonetheless, that one piece of film has stuck in my mind. It’s really surprising how a second or two of film can change a whole outlook on life. There are times, and I’m sure you would not be surprised for me to tell you, when my medication doesn’t work, when my hand and arm just don’t stop flapping, when my leg just refuses to run, when my handwriting goes to hell, and when I just want to hide are not present my symptoms to the general public. I could hide. I could stay at home. I could even get angry but what would that serve? No, each time that my disease raises its ugly head, I tried to think positively about what my disease brought me. Clearly, I would really not want this disease for love nor money but I have it. What I also have his determination, clarity of where I want to go, what I want to do, and what I want to achieve. A focus on how I can improve the lives of my loved ones, friends and maybe other people with Parkinson’s along the way certainly galvanises my spirit to make change happen. The end result? A positive frame of mind and even, occasionally (and increasingly so) the smile.
This is something that works for me. It’s not fool proof and certainly sometimes I wish it would work better. However, more often than not my positive frame of mind allows me to look forward to the future. Maybe choosing to have a good day, no matter what, could work for you too? At least it’s worth a try. Why not give it a go in 2011?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKN7aWTUrIU
With that in mind I’d like to say thank you for your support and friendship this past year, and thanks too to my sponsors for their help and assistance. 2010 certainly brought me some incredible achievements and raised in excess of £7500 for the 10MillionMetres challenge! Looking forward, I’m sure that the forthcoming year and onwards will realise new adventures, new opportunities and triumphs for all of us, and I hope you feel the same way too.
Have a fantastic, happy and safe New Year. All the very best for 2011.
Keep moving!