Unwelcome: Describing multiple sclerosis from A to Z

Multiple sclerosis is no picnic. I wish I didn’t have it. I wish nobody had it. On the other hand, I can count many positive things that have come out of my own experience with MS.

I would not wish MS on anybody.  It’s an unwelcome invader.

But good often comes from bad. I believe I am bigger and better than I was before I began battling the beast. Sure, I am weaker in some ways, but I am also more durable. I may be frailer, but I have also gained a new sort of ruggedness. I grow tired faster and come back slower from wrestling with MS, but I also have a determination I never possessed before. Several of my personal goals (especially athletic goals) seem harder to reach than ever, but I am fighting tooth and nail to get as far towards them as I possibly can. 

Sometimes a feather may knock me over, but I can also be as tough as nails.

Best of all, the MS MonSter has (perhaps unwittingly) given me a better understanding of the struggles and personal sufferings of others. None of us is invincible or pain-free.

• When a friend bows out of plans suddenly and without much explanation, I want to understand how it may have nothing to do with me.
• When someone disappoints me by failing to complete an expected task, I want to consider what unseen challenges that person may be juggling.
• When another driver doesn’t seem to be moving fast enough ahead of me in traffic, I want to think of how that person may not be on the top or his or her game today.
• When a healthy looking person slides into a seat ahead of someone who may even be a bit older, I look twice to see if he or she may be carrying some extra burden.
• When I can’t complete the same agenda today as I did handily yesterday, I try to give myself a break.

You see, I don’t want to let MS make me pathetic, but empathetic instead. If you have MS or any chronic illness, you likely know the feeling.

Sometimes struggles bring bonuses we never knew we needed.

So, although MS is most certainly unwelcome, and I pray daily for a cure, I also count it (in a curious way) as something of a personal schooling and training for my advanced years. And I am pretty sure other MS warriors would agree.

Image/s:

April A to Z Challenge 2016 logo – fair use

 Adapted from public domain artwork

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