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What Distracts You From the Pain?
Chronic Pain | Last Active: May 9, 2023 | Replies (234)Comment receiving replies
Marie, CONGRATULATIONS on your birthday AND on your anniversary! If you can, please try to lose the guilt. It is a soul-eater and a soul-destroyer. It does nothing good for you--or for your husband. Have you tried therapy for the guilt? I hope you have or that you do. I think we ALL have something(s) that we feel guilty about, and it's SUCH a wasted emotion. It just eats you alive. As you say, your husband has been so supportive. And as you say, you'd do the same for him if the situation were reversed.
Are there any other hobbies you can get involved with, other than dancing and aerobics? Do you paint or draw or sculpt or knit or crochet or do other needlework? Have you tried kumihimo (sp?), an astounding kind of beautiful braiding? Look into the art classes available at your local art museum (if you have one) or at your local senior center. (I've taught knitting at our local senior center, and my students ranged in age from 11 up to about 90. So, no, not only "old folks" go to the senior center. I tried out tai chi at my senior center. I was one of the youngest people in the class, and everybody else was astounding at it--except me.) There's also chair yoga, which is very gentle yoga, and you might be able to do that. It does wonders for limbering you up. Is there a musical instrument you've always had a hankering to play? I'll bet there are group lessons available. Anyway, PLEASE explore some creative outlets. You may think you have no talent, but, yes, YOU DO. We all do!
Please do get help about the guilt, if you don't already. It's taking up too much real estate in your brain, and it needs to be evicted.
Hugs to you,
Hazel
Replies to "Marie, CONGRATULATIONS on your birthday AND on your anniversary! If you can, please try to lose..."
I know what you mean, Marie. It's hard for me to get going, too. I used to be a morning person, and then I got fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The fibro has, thank goodness, mostly faded, except that I do get pain in my legs in the winter. But the CFS has remained the same. I used to be so energetic!
Anyway, my husband and I were going out to lunch, and we passed a shop I'd never seen before. They offered mosaic, pottery, and glass fusing classes. WOW! So, I went in and signed up for the glass fusing class. I've taken one class in making glass beads, and it was probably the most exciting, fascinating classes I've ever taken. Not that I made beads again, but I learned a lot! So, today was the last day to sign up for the glass fusing class, and I did. It meets during the week, once, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Now, those are hours I can deal with! AND it's not too far from my house, either. Being chronically fatigued, on top of everything else (just took my first pain pill, tylenol + codeine, in about two weeks!), doesn't leave one wanting to do much.
I hope you can find some afternoon or early evening classes!
Hazel
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Thank you hazelblumberg,this is Marie. Over the years (I am 72) I have been very active and did every kind of thing you have listed except for the braiding which I will look into and the gym I belong to has everything you mentioned but I have to get motivated. Most things are in the morning and my bones have to get well oiled. But I will kick myself in the butt to get going. I used to do these things but I think I got kicked with some kind of surgery and lost my momentum every time I did something. But I am a much stronger person and I will do it. Check on me later and hopefully I'll have good news. Thanks Marie