Category: challenging

Generational acceptance

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, challenging, sadness

Sometimes it is hard to see the good. Sometimes the down side is so much more visible. I live in a wonderful place. I can want for nothing but I still feel disconnected. With a partner I had what I saw as a life of connections. Picked my own directions…did my own thing. I can still do that but I didn’t realize how disconnected I would feel from the lives of my family.

They were raised to find their own way…to make their own choices and they have done a wonderful job of that. But they frequently called with updates and questions. I knew about their lives. I was connected.

Now I am in a safe, prime environment and for some reason I have become disconnected. Is is me? Am I not functioning the way I used to?

I guess in some ways I was the matriarch. My home was still the center. Now that is gone. In some ways it is a relief to not have that role but I realize I miss it. Something else to absorb and learn to accept. It is the way of life. Each generation moves on and leaves room for the next.

WE

by worrylessjourney, posted in challenging, change, comparisons

Today I want to talk about a touchy subject. …Gender expression. My granddaughter is in her 20’s and talks with me about friends that want to have as a designation “they.” I have no problem with people expressing their gender any way they want but I do think that there is a problem with they and them.

In our society we tend to divide ourselves into groups of us and them. This definitely puts a negative spin on those designations. Are them and they on the outside?

How people see their gender is only a small part of who we are. I am multiple people. My gender is important for me but the other aspects of ME are just as important. I think of myself in many different ways. Today my persona may be an artist or a writer. I may be functioning from a male perspective. I may be childish and not 82 years old. I may look at people as people I need to help from my years of nursing, or taking on my passion for expressions of God. I am many things, many people, multiples. I am not they or them. I am definitely WE !!

So if people want to address me as something other than she I want to be called WE !

WE and WE

Balance or Acceptance

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, anxiety, balance, challenging

Sometimes it feels as if I will never achieve some sort of normalcy in my life. I can go several days feeling well and settled and then IBSD hits me and I am back in the doldrums. I long for balance. I hope that I can find it before long. Maybe this is just the way that it will be as I continue to grow older. Maybe acceptance is the answer.

Life is not boring

by worrylessjourney, posted in challenging, coping, life

Last week was stressful. At my age any medical issue makes you immediately think “this is what will take me out!” The system for getting medical issues resolved is wonderful here. Saw a nurse practitioner on Monday. Got results from that on Tuesday. Heard from a referred physician on Wednesday and had an appointment on Thursday. I had to wait til the next week to get some testing done but now know that I have several small kidney stones. I haven’t had any of those for 50 years! Oh well. That’s life.

Knowing what is wrong has relieved my stress and now I just need to move on. The hardest part about most medical issued is the not knowing. When you have discovered the problem then it is easier to accept and keep going.

Life is never boring.

Life can be challanging

by worrylessjourney, posted in challenging, children, love, sadness

Life is truly challenging. One day everything is fine and the next…who knows? My daughter has ILC breast cancer. This type of breast cancer only shows up in 10% of people and doesn’t usually show up on a mammogram. It is frequently found by feeling a lump. It can also be difficult to treat.

ILC or Lobular breast cancer was only defined as a different cancer in 2012 and now research is being done on how it can best be treated. It has some things in common with lung cancer and a study is being done in Britain using the newest lung cancer med as a treatment.

Enough said about the disease itself. For me the hard part is watching my child go through all of this. Like most people I want to die before my children. I know this is not always possible but I don’t want to watch their pain. I think most parents feel this way.

During my time working as a nurse in pediatrics I saw parents struggling with the pain of having a seriously sick child. Losing a child has to be excruciating.

My daughter has a good prognosis but the journey changes your life forever, No more going blithely through each day. Even after treatment has had good results there is only remission…not cure. Learning to live with this reality is hard. I would take it from her if I could.

She is a positive person and is adjusting to this new world but I am having difficulty. I am a mother and want only the best for my children. Life is not perfect and we all have to live with that reality. Sometimes it is just not easy.