@7lilsnkr Hey there. These are inspiring words to hear you say. You are certainly not alone in the push/crash cycle, that's for sure, but you have a leg up by acknowledging and wanting to work towards correcting it.

I peeked at your bio and see you are new to join Connect, welcome. I relate to your frustrations of feeling too young to have disabilities hold you back, and wanting to accomplish more than your symptoms allow. I left my banking job after 26 years (a lot of customer service, like you) and began short-term disability. I wasn't able to get past my symptoms like I had hoped and one year later filed for permanent disability. My chronic symptoms began around 43. I had to leave work at 46. So, now at a newly turned 52 years young, I get you. One of many things I learned by attending Mayo's Pain Rehabilitation Center and receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, was that I did myself a disservice by focusing on things like age.

Again, you are not alone. It takes work to recognize and accept things we must do different to better our cause. Moderation and modification are definitely big ones for me and I think it's wonderful that you are open to working on them too. Please give yourself grace along the journey.

How did today's task go that you were going to try out?

@7lilsnkr This is one of my favorite visuals for the importance of moderation and modification. Keep hope alive!