Hi Rachel -- Wow ~ I have been thinking about that last question of yours for many days. First, thank you for your thoughtful response and for the suggested resources (I promptly watched both conversations 😃), which contained plenty of wisdom. Right away I could identify that what I consistently have to figure out, is how to avoid overdoing when I am feeling stronger, have the time, and am highly motivated! I think my weakest link is fatigue, even more than pain. My pain doc and PCP, though not working physically in sync together, have each been successful in managing my pain medications. I just need to be diligent about taking them with the correct amount of time between doses. So behavior seems to be on top of the to-do list. It encompasses both the physical and behavioral for me.

Emotionally, I think the last 12 months have been the stages of grief to acceptance. This Connect site has been incomprehensibly helpful in ordering the process. I only found it by accident in March of this year. I firmly believe that we all have "seasons" of life that we are given, and for each the duration and type of season will be individual. But each has the potential to be beautiful in its own way if we give ourselves the grace to receive it with thanksgiving for what we do possess, which is usually far more than we realize on the surface.
Again, thank you, Rachel, for your response - I really appreciate it - it gave me lots to ponder ~~
Barb