Embrace Your Destiny: Time Travel Back

Taken in 2019 in Arizona

I thought it would be fun to travel back in time to talk with young me. Here is some of our  conversation:

“Hey young Judy, do you recognize me? You will be me in twenty years. Sorry about this diagnosis of MS you just received. I remember feeling sad and like my life was over. It’s not! Would you be interested in a few take aways from my experience managing the disease?
 

Acceptance is really hard. My number one take away is: come to grips with the new you. You are the same, but different. You have an insidious, debilitating disease, but that doesn’t change who you are. You are the same person who has a few limitations. It’s like an “Identity Crisis”. I call this part of the my journey the “Self Discovery” period. Does that make sense?”

Embrace Your Destiny: Be Audacious

Doing yoga on a cruise

“Ms. Lucifer, we’ve been trying to get along for twenty years. You were the audacious one during the first half of our journey. You were bold. You ruled me completely. I’ll admit that you were ever present in my mind. I didn’t like you then. Now, I feel like I have come to terms with you in the second half of our acquaintance. Now, I am being audacious in dealing with you. Don't you like this cool word, "audacious" that I learned in Toastmasters? Toastmasters stimulates my audacity. I’m definitely keeping you at bay.”

Ms. Lucifer was quick to note some setbacks. She said, “As I I recall, being audacious has gotten you into trouble. Aren’t I right? 

Embrace Your Destiny: Manage Yourself

In the Arizona desert, October 2019

January  marks twenty years I have been managing Multiple Sclerosis. The first fourteen years I was adjusting to this new me. I learned what to expect from the disease physically, mentally, emotionally and physiologically. It’s a very complex disease. I have the Primary Progressive type of MS.

My biggest issues have always been physical with spasticity, balance and irregular gait being most troublesome. The mental issues are not as obvious. Reflecting back, I had them. I had plenty of physiological issues too. All the symptoms are insidious in that they creep up from nowhere. For example, in the past three years, I noticed that my core has been slowly going to mush.

Toastmasters is part of my cognitive therapy. I’ve competed in the International Speech Contest several times. After much deliberation I decided to compete again. I have something to say about living with and managing a chronic illness. I can use this platform to communicate that you can manage MS and enjoy doing it. In the past five years, slowly but surely, I am improving. First I had to get out of my comfort zone. I tried new therapies and I continued to work hard. 

Embrace Your Destiny: Keep Moving - Everyday is Different

One of the fundamental truths we learn in Hot 26 yoga is that our body feels different every single day. It also responds differently. This is Sean, one of our many great teachers at Hot Yoga Asheville, with me after one of my 7:30 AM yoga classes. Sean always reminds us at the end of class that "the most important thing in your life, is your life." I think about that some mornings at 5 AM when the alarm goes off and I feel a bit out of sorts. Luckily, my husband Don also gets up and usually goes with me to yoga. That helps! We all need help sometimes to encourage us to get moving.