Coping with Change: Day to Day (Part 1)
Last week I put up a post on my Facebook asking people what kind of articles they’d like to see. After all, the end goal of this blog is to firstly give some insight into life with MS, and then develop ways I can use my situation to help other people deal with tough things in life.
I got two responses;
I’d like to see one about your day to day life. It’s cool having an insight on your mentality, but the real grind where 90% of shit goes down is just simple stuff like waking up, making food, getting to work etc.
and;
Much like [poster #1]I think it’s cool having insight on your day to day. I’m particularly interested in the mental aspect personally, changes in mood and management techniques, or is it really easy? Also interested in positive events as well as the challenges.
So in the next couple of posts, it’s going to be my pleasure to attempt to answer questions raised in these. I’ve already covered several concepts that I think apply here…
…but here, I’ll try to break down my day-to-day routine and then the general mentality behind it.
Gradual adjustment
First of all, I’m very lucky in the way that my life has turned out. I got a desk job that doesn’t require any running about or standing for extended periods of time. In addition to that I plan out my days roughly in my head, built around bus stops and the places I’ll be going, so that I know when and how I’m getting to places, and how I’m going to manage while I’m there.
Secondly, my MS has come on gradually. I first noticed it when I started receiving mini electric shocks when looking down. I know this is called Lhermitte’s Sign. At the time that was all I suffered from.
As time went on, I noticed it was harder to run and do other physical exercises. In a way I realised subconsciously something was wrong, and started to make adjustments. Right now, I’m fighting to reverse these changes slowly.
A typical day
In the past few years, I’ve developed a real obsession with data and planning, that can at times be detrimental (for instance, if I’m placed in a situation where I don’t have the info I feel I need to have, regardless of whether I need it or not).
In my head, I loosely know in advance where I’m going to be challenged physically. On a working day;
- My apartment block has a lift and the bus stop is right outside. No problem getting to the bus.
- From the bus to my workplace, it’s a five minute walk downhill. Slight challenge, but nothing too threatening.
- Once I’m at work, I have two sets of stairs, or a lift. I always take the stairs just for the exercise.
- At the end of my shift, I need to walk back up the same hill. This is the main challenge for my day, and I need to be careful about tiring myself out at this point.
That’s a rough outline of my standard day. More ambitious times on my days off might have me walking a bit further just to push myself a little bit further, and I still love travelling of any sort. But those days still have loose plans; I know where all the bus stops are so I can get about, I know where I’ll be able to find somewhere to sit down, and I know where I’m going to struggle to carry on, so that I can brace myself mentally.
Speaking about mental concerns, you’ll notice in the above list I noted the main challenge. This is part of my positive mentality I have to hang onto to keep going; I don’t have problems or setbacks, so much as challenges. This then flows into the topic of overall mentality throughout the day, which I’ll discuss in my next post.
James McPherson has been a sufferer of MS for just under a year, but has attempted writing for far longer. His other posts on Medium can be found here, and he also enjoys posting nonsense on Twitter at @thesmoothjazz.
