@Vixen 

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Vixen

Unexpected upside of having MS

Hi all Shifters, I join in with posts quite a lot but don’t write them very often myself. I’ve been diagnosed two and a half years now and it’s been all the usual ups and downs that others seem to go through. One thing I discovered for myself, was that it took about a year to recover and get used the the new me, and then the next year, to start what I called a restructure. At the time, my husband was retraining as a psychotherapist and counsellor. Lucky for me to have onsite therapy! He asked me what I’d like to see for myself; how I’d like things to look in say two or three years. At the time, we were struggling with the usual mortgage and living costs of living in London, and I was struggling to work 5 days a week in education. My life was really about making the weekends support the working life, ie, doing nothing AT ALL at weekends to recover in time for the dreaded Monday morning alarm. So I said: ‘OK. No mortgage. No stairs. Work maybe 2 days a week. Living in a nice place. Like York.’ As soon as I said it, it was like a little seed got planted. I think the biggest positive MS has given me, is to see and find value in every day. There are all the add adages, like ‘ live every day like it’s your last’ and ‘every second counts’ and I know these can be cheesy and annoying to hear. But, having MS, you start to see that in terms of our care and treatment, nothing lands in our laps. We have to go and and get it, even fight for it ourselves. We become our own advocates, because we know ourselves better than anyone. We have to adjust our lives is every way, to make sure we have the best possible lives and find quality in small ways. I think it’s fair to say that until I got diagnosed, I never thought like that. But now I do. I won’t bore you with details. But, over a period of 22 months and with the support of my lovely now-qualified personal psychotherapist husband, we have handed in notices, sold our flat in London, and in 2 weeks, move to York! Just like that! Now, not for one second would I suggest that people invite such dramatic decisions into their lives. But what I am saying is: it’s true, you only live once. If you get dealt a rough hand, as we all have, it is incumbent on us to not sink without a trace, but to keep our heads above water by whichever means possible (although try to avoid living a life of crime!). And see that you can learn to think outside the box a little. Everything is life is about change, and it’s always better if we can orchestrate the change ourselves. Anyway, this is all sounding a bit preachy and so I’ll sign off by confessing that as a southerner, this move to the north of England is actually so that I can be in the vicinity of @rotheramdave and that swearing scoundrel @doubleo7hud. Wish me luck xx
@Highlander

@rotherhamdave You've been mentioned in dispatches and your gonna have a visitor. Now be polite and speak slowly.... @vixen I wish you the best of fortune.... You'll work out what thier saying one day, I'm sure of it ...,🤗

@dramaqueen

Brilliant wish you all the luck positivity rules. But you might take the girl out of London but you'll never take London ut the girl. x