Interesting day Friday. I went up with my other half at o dark 30 because my friend Char was having a birthday lunch in Edmonds and it seemed silly to take two cars up the same direction. I stayed at the Future of Flight until about 9:30 – I found my little terrace upstairs by the entrance to the Stratodeck – almost said hollow deck. It is warm and plenty of light plus fairly quiet. I read my book because my hands, wrist and shoulders have been very uncomfortable because I have spent a lot of time on the computer working on my blogs. I have giftofra.com and now I made a new one called catlessinseattle.com – one is about finding the gift in Rheumatoid Arthritis and the other is about cats. I planned to write about my two cats Muffet and Tiger, about my Mom’s cat Josephine and also about a friend’s cat Subaru.
It was probably a good day to up north so I wouldn’t be writing on my blog or using the computer very much. I went to three stores and walked quite a bit – oh were my knees, ankles and feet sore and uncomfortable. I was glad to sit in the car for a while. I was really stiff when I got to the restaurant, but I had a different thought about it. I had been listening to Dr. Pat and she had some people on who are doing a 5 day workshop – running the bars and then other things for the other 4 days. I would love to go, unfortunately it is a bit spendy .
One of the people talking was Ricky Williams, a well-known football player who talked about when he was playing. He would be in pain in practice as well as playing, so he was taking pain killers a lot of the time. What he finally realized was that he labeled it pain, locking in the idea that it is pain. It was the idea that “I have pain, what can I do to get rid of it” thinking. Then he changed is thinking to “What is my body telling me it needs?”. Pain is your unwillingness to listen to your body. Words are powerful and thinking in terms of intensity of change which you asked it to do, your body is stretching, changing and elongating to create what you asked it to do.
So I thought about that as I was driving to Edmonds to meet Char and Joyce. I had to concentrate because I have spent the last 42 years thinking “Pain, how do I get rid of it” and certainly feeling a victim and many cases of oh-poor-me-osis. Now I realize I have implanted in my mind. Takes some getting used to, so now I realize I have not been listening to my body at all. I will admit I was very uncomfortable all day and evening, sometimes a new way of thinking takes some time.
I had gone up with Eddie and I was glad he was driving, I think I slept most of the way home.
I had a lovely time with Char and Joyce – though I still let Char know she is a year older than I am. Actually, for 13 days we are same age. That’s only because I went to school a year earlier that every one else when we moved to Seattle. Mom and Dad say that I made so much fuss when I saw Ellen go on the bus to school to see where she went, they finally allowed me to go to. Everyone in my graduating class was a year older. But I would have missed out in knowing Char in 9th grade. Who knows how my life would have gone if I had been in school with people my own age.
Yesterday I was amazed at how well I felt – not much discomfort, though walking through a couple of stores did make my legs hurt a bit. I will admit to taking an extra prednisone when we had dinner, plus some Advil before bed. I had wondered how I would be today because usually the second day is the worst. A little stiff but otherwise doing rather well.
Since I didn’t visit Mom on Friday afternoon, I went yesterday while Eddie was doing the laundry. She was doing pretty well, she said Elizabeth called earlier. When I was talking to Judy, she said she calls everyone Elizabeth. Interesting because that is my legal name. Yet on Tuesday she wanted to introduce me to Judy and said I was her cousin Betty. I have finally realized correcting her just agitates her and it really doesn’t matter. So for a bit I was Betty.
Tags: Health, Muffet, rheumatoid arthritis, Ricky Williams, Seattle, Thought
Gift of RA 
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