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Celebrating the holidays differently. What gift can you give yourself?
Aging Well | Last Active: Jan 3, 2022 | Replies (82)Comment receiving replies
Are you ready to begin 2022? Did you have a great Holliday season? What was your favorite gift? A special pillow to help you sleep? New softer shoes for your morning walk? Have you thought about your current quality of life? What would make it better, easier, happier?
One of the things we learn to do in Mindfulness is to reward ourselves for our kindness and generosity to others. It is now time to reward yourself. Don’t put it off because you don’t want to be a bother or appear to be selfish.
Last year we had wonderfully creative responses to our “Quality of Life” gifts for ourselves and sometimes each other since we do share a lot of experiences. I went crazy and committed to a number of personal gifts. Here I go…..tellling you what they were and how I got them. Up front, I will let you know that this experience took the entire year 2021 and made me think twice about overdoing it in 2022.
Here we go……
1. I gifted myself with a second weekly session of MFR during which I have two MFR therapists. As a result I am pretty “steady as you go” and suffer less from SFN pain and fatigue.
2. I consulted a physician about my cranky hip thinking I might be able to have it replaced. Surprise, surprise……the X-ray showed is was just a bursa and cortisone injections should keep it under control.
3. 10 years ago I had my first TKR and it has been perfectly supportive of my need to walk and do yoga. Within the last two years, my other knee began to beg for help. Knowing how long the recovery might be, I started last spring with a goal of doing whatever it might take to be able to use that knee. I was no longer going to need an injection and a string of wheel chairs to fly to Texas and visit the grandchildren. Once again I was impressed with the technological advances available for a TKR. I chose a great young surgeon who was well trained in robotic surgery. It wasn’t all so simple but remember that @johnbishop had told me that regardless of whatever else you do……..be sure and do both pre and post surgery exercises. Right there…..my quality of life jumped several categories of strength and stamina. Today…..four months later…..I rarely even think about my knee.
4. What I have been stewing about is the thumb surgery I had on Dec 9th. With a tendon from my arm transferred to the joint in my thumb……I found this surgery to be challenging. At least I got it done and completed my “Quality of Life” gifts to myself for 2021…..just in time for 2022 to rear its demanding head.
I do want to share that developing the list and taking care of the issues has not been easy. Recovery from orthopedic surgery can be quite tedious. So for 2022 I am tackling two very different health incentives. I want to be able to hear the dialogue in movies without blasting the neighbors. So I will be starting the learning process right here on Connect for hearing assistance. It would also be great to stay on course with my eye issues, dry eye plus some beginning macular degeneration.
It's your turn. Give it some thought. My big gift to myself this year is to bring my grandchildren and daughter to Adam's Landing for my 80th birthday. They all got air ticket certificates for Christmas..
Now it is your turn.........time to let us know what you are choosing to enhance your quality of life in 2022.
May you be free, protected and safe from inner and outer harm.
Chris
Replies to "Are you ready to begin 2022? Did you have a great Holliday season? What was your..."
It is always such an individual thing, how we each choose to enhance our lives, isn't it? I have had a few serious discussions with myself as my health journey progresses. Over the last year I have thought seriously about my future, what that might entail, how that might look, and want to be a pain in the a** for as long as I am comfortable, to as many people as possible.
I am not buying any more fabric, and want to use up the stash that has been accumulating for over 30 years. Likewise, my yarn, and supplies for Zentangle. But I want to expand and combine my crafting, crossing over to use Zentangle patterns in quilting, and quilting patterns on paper to act as "frames" for Zentangle. This year I want to try my hand at pyrography [wood burning], using downfall branches from around our property. I am thinking about redoing a small coffee table that was my folks', from 1943, possibly tiling the top with a mosaic.
Physically, I want to walk more, get outside into fresh air more, take small trips [even a couple of days will change my attitude!]. I am grateful for my medical team, no doubt. But there are the emotional and mental factors of everything that I need to take control of. Journaling has always been a part of my life, and this year I want to have no pressure on myself to commit to more poetry and journaling, having found a right-for-me 6-ring refillable journal that feels right.
Ginger
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I am just taking a deep breath and being so thankful to have come through the past two years more or less intact, and hopefully a bit wiser and more compassionate.
My first, life-enhancing gift to myself is to continue learning. I have long worked with fabric & fibers, and dabbled in other media, thinking I would love to paint. My efforts in 2020-2021 have shown me that while I may master the technical aspects of color, composition, and brushwork, the artistic - drawing - is out of reach. So I have returned to my love of fiber, and begun to work with wool & other fiber felting. I am beyond delighted so far, and have begun a careful collection of fibers and tools, and begun on-line and in-person classes. So look forward to pictures of my efforts at making "things", and at fiber "painting"
My second gift - to self and husband - is to celebrate our 50th anniversary with as big a "splash" as we can manage. When we met and married, we were poor students, so our entire wedding, including our clothing and reception, cost our 2 families less than $400. This year, we will celebrate twice, once on the day with my brother, sister-in-law, and close friends, at out favorite restaurant in northern Mexico. Come summer we will be having a larger outdoor celebration at home - my daughter & her friend are already planning it! If Covid permits, we will cap it off with a twice-delayed trip to Europe in the Fall.
My third gift - to self, family and friends - is to work harder to see each person as a whole and unique being, and cherish them for it. That will mean letting go of some expectations, and embracing some more challenging parts of myself and others.
Blessings to all of you.
Sue