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: You've Got to Want IT

I wanted IT (normal walking) too much. I did too much. Sure it hurts, but it's suppose too. Listening to my body and my doctor is challenging for me. But, my body brought me to my knees. I acknowledge that I was wrong. The body can humble you better than anything or anybody. When the body says “Enough” that’s pretty much it, at least for me. I was stopped in my tracks. 

Walker, walker, I didn’t plan to bring you back to life so quickly.

Walker, walker, I am keeping you close again, 

You are my best friend again.

I want to leave you sitting, but that’s not safe.

I’d like to ignore the pain and move on strongly. 

But, that's stupid. I’ll keep you close until I’m sure I am stable again.

Embrace Your Destiny: Practice What You Love!

Several of our yoga teachers have said that often people start Hot 26 to look better, but they keep up their practice because of the mind benefits.  Both reasons work for me. MS puts me on the edge of stress all the time. In the moment, I can feel stress building up. My reaction of anger, fear, anxiety or whatever is way over the top of what it should be. This is definitely one of the day to day symptoms of MS that require a management strategy. For me, Hot 26 is my ticket to feeling calm as well as feeling good physically all day. I prefer practicing this yoga daily, but sometimes life gets in the way. Lucky for me, I love doing it and especially love the way I feel after class and the rest of the day.