People with MS who are active thread with positivity! :)

[GenieFL]

Hi everyone!

I think we should start an activity and positive things thread! I think sometimes we tend to focus on the negative aspects of our lives when we should focus on the positive!

I also think it would be a great place to find others maybe in your area, maybe just online, that have the same active/positive lifestyle and attitude. Who's with me?

Me, I am a 33 year old active person with MS. I run and plan to run the Boston Marathon in 2011 for the MS Society. I'm loving life and am healthier now then before my MS diagnosis.

I live in Florida and hopefully will be moving to Seattle before the summer of next year lol. The heat is just unbelievable!

I hope everyone is having a great week! Let's chat!

Genie

[Justsayyes]

Seattle sounds pretty darn great to me! What a switch from Florida....

I had to miss my weekend skating, darn it. I'll be back on the ice hopefully Thursday. I'm excited to go, as my friend and coach has fixed some of the errors I was making, and I hope I remember the corrections!

Boston marathon? Wow!

[lovedbydogs]

Active MSers

I have been diagnosed for 2 years with progressive MS. I am still on my feet without the aid of anything and although my legs are getting tired, my 3 girls (pups) keep me walking by staring at me with their soulful eyes. It helps me physically as well as mentally. I also challenge myself with projects such as quilting. I am blind in my left eye and becoming more visually impaired in my right eye, but I can work under my magnified ott light. I think it is important to keep on keeping on as long as we can. I also try to still step up to the plate and help others, since I am in the position at times of needing help myself. I try to balance it out. I can't drive anymore due to my vision, but i have a great friend who takes me places and in return I give her fresh organic veggies from the garden and dog sit for her when she needs.
I do get discouraged at times, don't we all? But I find the more active I am, the better I feel. Thanks for this great chance to focus on the positive.

[teacher4life]

Cool. . .er

Hi Genie,
We lived in FL for 4 years. We liked the people but the heat was miserable. Seattle will be a cool relief. Yep. I've been active with my MS for 27 years! I can still kind-of jog on a treadmill!?!? A marathon, not-so-much. My kids have kept me active and, of course, my stubborn determination!

[arjay]

The Boston Marathon, that is impressive!! I'll be pulling for you.

I have my ups and downs but I work hard to stay as active as possible. Eating better and just generally being aware of my health has been a real plus. I'd been so negligent about that for years. I've also decided that I'm going to try things and even if I screw up it's better than not giving it a shot. I played golf with some friends this weekend and although I ran out of steam about halfway through I still rode in the car and had a blast. When I could I just dropped a ball and played from there.

My dog has also been a fabulous friend and ally. She keeps me going better than anything. She is old and has several problems now but her spirit is just amazing. I watch her chugging along and it really inspires me to keep going.

[GenieFL]

Seattle sounds pretty darn great to me! What a switch from Florida....

I had to miss my weekend skating, darn it. I'll be back on the ice hopefully Thursday. I'm excited to go, as my friend and coach has fixed some of the errors I was making, and I hope I remember the corrections!

Boston marathon? Wow!

Just,

Sorry you missed your weekend skating! I'm sure you're excited to get back to it! I'm a little addicted to the running. It's bad lol.

The Boston is just for MS lol. I'd never be able to qualify, ok well maybe I could but not for next year lol. I figure I could help MS and fulfill a personal goal.

Genie

[GenieFL]

I do get discouraged at times, don't we all? But I find the more active I am, the better I feel. Thanks for this great chance to focus on the positive.

Loved,

Yes we all get down but you're still positive an active! I have my bad days as well. I like to draw myself and paint and that really helps me get out of my head sometimes.

I'm glad your dogs keep you walking. My dog keeps me crazy hehe.

Genie

[GenieFL]

Hi Genie,
We lived in FL for 4 years. We liked the people but the heat was miserable. Seattle will be a cool relief. Yep. I've been active with my MS for 27 years! I can still kind-of jog on a treadmill!?!? A marathon, not-so-much. My kids have kept me active and, of course, my stubborn determination!

Political,

Wow! I hope in 27 years I can still kind-of jog on a treadmill!!! Yeah, Florida is miserable because of the humidity. Seattle will be great! I cannot wait!

I think being stubborn is a good trait to have with MS. It think it's what keeps me remitting hehe.

Genie

[GenieFL]

The Boston Marathon, that is impressive!! I'll be pulling for you.

I have my ups and downs but I work hard to stay as active as possible. Eating better and just generally being aware of my health has been a real plus. I'd been so negligent about that for years. I've also decided that I'm going to try things and even if I screw up it's better than not giving it a shot. I played golf with some friends this weekend and although I ran out of steam about halfway through I still rode in the car and had a blast. When I could I just dropped a ball and played from there.

My dog has also been a fabulous friend and ally. She keeps me going better than anything. She is old and has several problems now but her spirit is just amazing. I watch her chugging along and it really inspires me to keep going.

Arjay,

It's great to try things even if you might mess up! You wouldn't have had a blast with Golf if you hadn't. I traveled by myself last year I figured why not! It was a great experience!

Don't you love your dog? I love mine and she's so cute and when I don't want to go out she just makes me by grabbing her own leash lol.

Genie

[arjay]

Arjay,

It's great to try things even if you might mess up! You wouldn't have had a blast with Golf if you hadn't. I traveled by myself last year I figured why not! It was a great experience!

Genie, thanks for the kind words. Yes, indeed, far better to try and fail than not try at all. This may be one area where MS has been a really good thing for me. I spent too many years holding back for fear that I wouldn't be good enough -- now I figure what the heck? Time's a-wasting!!

And yes, our little pupperschnitzels are the best. Yours sounds like a doll. When mine wants something these days she gets right in front of me, plants all four feet and raises her snout in the air and sings out: "Oww-oww-ooow!" That loosely translates to, "Mom, get off your butt and do something with me." It works.

Where'd you go on your trip?

[justacowgirl]

Genie and all lets PLEASE keep this thread going....I love MSWorld but I really need to hear what people are doing..no matter how little in spite of the MS.

I garden and run a dog boarding kennel/grooming biz at home. I LOVE my doggies and all the doggies that come to visit for an hour or a week. I live with an extremely handsome chocolate lab, a young and fiesty GSD and the loveliest of all standard poodle you have ever seen.

I am determined not to let this get me down....dx in March.

Keep all the positive things going you guys!!

AND if you are moving to Seattle you better be a liberal!!!

Justacowgirl (on the REDNECK side of WA STATE)

[earnellzwifey]

gotta love the good days!

I have been fighting a UTI and flare and have been feeling horrible. The past few days I have been feeling great. I only needmy cane to walk if it long distance. The other day I was able to cook lunch and dinner for my family and yesterday I went and visited some friends. Have not had that kind of energy in months. Oh yeah I even had the energy to deep clean the fridge. I felt unstoppable but I still made sure not to over due it

The good days give me hope that I will recover some of my lost abilities. I'm glad this post is going also. Even on a bad day it will be good to be able to share positive thoughts through others good days.

We are all in the same fight and it is good to hear about the ones still winning against what the MonSter is trying to take away.

[JoanFrances]

Life is wonderful, not matter what

Great thread!!

MS merely changes our norms from day to day.

When I was married to my ex, I used to dream of teaching ceramics, never happened because he wouldn't allow it. Divorce, as painful as it was, gave me a new life, as a ceramic teacher.

When I was dx, I was a ceramic teacher, and had been consumed by the entire experience. The weakness took that away, I couldn't handle the heavy clay and molds anymore, nor could I do the fine painting of eyes or such, but guess what I found another passion: Stained glass

So as you can see, for every door that seemed to close another one opened.

If I sat and felt sorry for myself for any amount of time, I would have missed out on a whole bunch in my life. New passions, a new love, great new friends and a happy soul.

Has the MS slowed me down, of course, but now I see all the creatures of nature that I missed before when I didn't sit and look out the window.

Very happy here and looking foward to every tomorrow, because we are one day closer to a cure.

[ewizabeth]

I've been diagnosed since January 2003, and I'm 52 years old now.

I've gone through tough times when I couldn't exercise for weeks at a time, but I always get back up and start again. A good way to motivate myself is to go into JCPenney and look at my heinie in the bright lights of the dressing room, lol.

My latest thing is using a gym. I get a reduced fee through work and I pop in there for 15-30 minutes at a time. I use the rowing machine and elliptical. They have many other machines and I might get their free advice from one of the trainers one day.

I feel much better after a workout and even the next day my mood is lifted.

[JoanFrances]

Had to share some really great news

I just got an opportunity to train for a job helping a young woman become independent and live on her own. Never did anything like this before, my background is accounting and office management

She has learning disabilities and is now 16. This program is to teach her how to budget, shop, and set up an apartment

It is only 12 hours a week, and will be paying me anywhere from 13.52 to 17.00 an hour.

I have to research to find out how much I can earn on SS a year, so I don't shoot myself in the foot.

I am really excited about this opportunity to give something back. I know the young woman with whom I will be working. She really needs some reality checks for sure. I hope that I can reach her and prepare her to live the wonderful life a single young woman can.

The other problem she has going against her right now is, is that she is a typical teen, you know the type, knows everything about everything and adults don't know anything, LOL

My training starts tomorrow. I have to drop a back ground paper off at the local police department today. Once the training is done and the background paper work is done, I will be all set.

My feet are doing a happy dance.