“I can’t WAIT for this week to get over!”… I hear myself saying that during the work week a lot. The week-end comes and I spend a lot of it in laying down trying to relax and get re-energized for Monday. I sleep, I sleep a lot over the week-end so I can be ready for Monday. What happens on Monday? I work and spend that time wishing for the week-end. Does this make sense to anyone? It’s crazy. I spend Monday thru Friday waking up at 5:30 or 6, sometimes 7 if I’m lucky, roll out of bed, quietly creep down the stairs, make some coffee and start working. I don’t usually stop working until 6 or 7 at night. I may take a few minutes to eat lunch during the day and a few minutes at night for dinner with the family. I will then work until 8 or 9 some days and then watch t.v. and go to sleep around 10 or 11 depending on my pain and just doze for hours off and on until the morning when I do it all over again. During the days Monday thru Friday I am in a lot of pain. By Friday I am in a lot lot of pain, but that’s what I do I, I work.

Yesterday I started thinking, if I had a year to live, what would I do differently? I mean, seriously… what would I do differently? What about 6 months? A month? What would it take to really make a change in my life? ? I always say tomorrow is not promised, so why do we always live like it is promised?

Right now my life is all consumed with working to pay the bills and I work, work, work. I work all the time. I work so much that nothing else happens in my life. I have fibromyalgia. Wait, let me say that again. I have Fibromyalgia with a big “F”. I don’t let this condition rule my life, but let’s not take this lightly. It does make a statement and it does affect my life and that of my family, so I should make sure I give it some respect here. Back to what I was saying. I have Fibromyalgia and with that, at the end of the day between work and being a Fibromite, there’s not a lot of me left to go around. The energy has been spent and there is definitely nothing left.

Is it possible to work and still have a life, while living with chronic pain? It is not easy. I have it easier than a lot of people. I work from home on most days. I go in the office 15% of the time, maybe 20% in a busy month. I work a lot of hours, which is challenging, 12-14 hour days. So let’s talk about this… Balance is the key to a content life, right? Getting there and staying there probably means being organized – not so easy when you are a fibromite or me (“I’ll take some foggy brain whipped up with a little bit of ADHD to go please“). I love [read hate] those people who are so TOGETHER with their “checklists” and their “tote bags” always on time. Let me stop, I’m not hatin’ on anyone. I keep trying to be together, it just never works out that way. It does, however, give me a reason to buy a new tote bag! But, seriously, I do believe that in order to get through the day, you need to have a serious amount of focus and stop working at a reasonable time and focus on your family life or your health or your personal life. Whatever it is that is important to you. Focus, is not easy when you have foggy brain, it is something that is a constant challenge – I do create my check list and it does help keep me focused (for awhile anyway!).

Live your life as if you only have 6 months to live or whatever amount of time it takes to create a change. I need to really spend some time thinking about this. I think we get complacent and just live. There is so much going on that I just go from one crazy day to another and I need to carve out some time to be still and have time to myself. I have been in a flare for weeks, I need to get on my flare plan and exercise and eat better. Take one thing at a time, not overwhelm myself. What about you? What can you do to manage your pain better?

If today was your last day and you look back on your life, are you happy with all the decisions you have made? What changes would you make? Now’s your chance!

Stay cool! Hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog and come back again. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Tamiko