The Journey I Would Never Ask For, Is The Journey I Now Travel.

My love of all things random is not necessarily random. It is in part a silent rebellion, an effort not to be defined by one single part of my story, allowing me to embrace the stories fully as they come, following the twists and turns in this journey of life.

Many parts make up the sum of who we are as individuals. It is easy when recognized for one piece of our story to allow that single part to become our whole identity. Whether that is the job we do, a talent we have, or a role we fill. How quickly we can become fixed on one part of our identity, failing to live fully into our whole selves.

I am a wife, a #boymom, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. I am a teacher, a writer, and a homemaker. I am someone who loves to cook, loves to read, loves exploring the great outdoors. I am a gardener, a veggie-lover, and a foe to indoor plants, no matter how much I wish not to be.

All these labels and we have only scratched the surface of who I am. We have not even begun to cover my being’s inner parts, who I am at the core. The same holds true for all of us. We are so much more than what we do for a living or an illness we battle.

My journey towards living my story out loud, my desire to live well this one beautiful life we have and inspire others along the way, began to fully awaken in me when I added #MSWarrior to my resume. While I recognized some parts of this journey long ago, the time was not right, and I was not ready. Then along came Multiple Sclerosis, and it asked me to decide what to do with it. MS is not the definition of who I am; it is only a part. Yet, it is an inspiring, motivating, and significant part of my life story.

Some see the #MSWarrior and assume it to symbolize a fight against Multiple Sclerosis. For me, it represents a fight to live well with or despite Multiple Sclerosis. To bring awareness to the many who are daily battling invisible illnesses beyond MS.

The month of March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. While I am not grateful for MS, MS is a part of my life. It is a part of my story, and I am thankful for what I am learning and how it is growing me. It has also made me more aware of the more than twenty-three million people in America alone who live with various autoimmune diseases. Are you aware that there are more than eighty different autoimmune diseases? And while most of these diseases are not immediately life-threatening, they all lower life expectancy. There are no cures, only treatments, and most treatments have various potential side effects that are in themselves nothing to take lightly.

In honor of MS awareness month,
Five Random Facts about Multiple Sclerosis.

• It is a disease where the immune system eats away at the protective covering of your nerves, disrupting the connection between your brain and your body.
  
• Symptoms and severity differ from person to person but include vision issues, pain, fatigue, and impaired coordination.
  
• Multiple sclerosis does not just impact physical ability; two-thirds of individuals with MS struggle with cognitive functions, the ability to think quickly and process information.
  
• MS is not inherited; only fifteen percent of patients with MS have a family history. The general thinking is that you inherit the disposition, but something has to trigger it. While there is much research, the causes or triggers are still unknown.
  
• The type of fatigue associated with MS or other autoimmune diseases is not; I’m tired from a busy schedule. I once read it described as “imagine pulling an allnighter three days in a row and then running a marathon.” It’s difficult to explain the depth of fatigue associated with MS.

Multiple Sclerosis and I are living together reasonably well these days. It likes to remind me it is there, never forgotten, while I attempt to remind it who the boss is. I am learning to respect and listen to what my body tells me, finding a balance between pushing myself as I need to keep moving and not pushing too hard to over-exert myself. It is a new type of tension I hold between too much and not enough activity.

Living with a chronic and potentially debilitating disease is a journey I never expected to find myself on. It is a journey I would never ask for, but it is the journey I now travel. I did not choose to take this particular path with Multiple sclerosis, yet I decide how I travel the path before me. One of my favorite quotes is from The Fellowship of The Ring. Gandalf tells Frodo, “All we have to decide is what to do with the times that is given us.”

We do not always choose the path, but we still get to decide how we travel.

Let’s travel well the paths before us.