You Don't Say

I have been in a remission now for a couple of months with a reduction in almost all symptoms for about two weeks.  I am thinking of cracking open the shoe closet and pulling out some heels for the first time in almost a year!  This, to me, is VERY exciting - I miss those heels so much!  http://soiguessihavemsnow.blogspot.com/2011/04/did-we-break-upor-are-we-just-on-break.html 

My life has been go-go-go for the past two months and I've hardly had time to think about MS like I did when I was first diagnosed this March.  But...when I'm alone for a minute and stop...my mind goes there and it's scary, and shocking, and unbelievable still.  There are several things that I do to cope mentally and emotionally with this.

For example, I write this blog.  I spend a lot more time out with friends and family and less time alone.  I work really hard at my job and concentrate on that during the week.  I plan the trips that I want to take and organise my savings account to get me excited about it.  It's kind of a structured way to avoid a total mental breakdown and work through the shock and change of it all.

I have another way to bolster my spirits and get me moving forward again when I feel lost and afraid:  I read quotes. 

Yep, seriously.  I have always loved to read quotes about all topics.  I find that just those few snippets of humour, wisdom or experience can make me feel suddenly more hopeful than any long, drawn-out lecture or pep-talk can. 

I am not the best at condensing my thoughts (says Captain Obvious) so, I really admire other peoples' ability to say something in a word or two that stabs into your heart and sticks with you.

If you're with me on this subject, here are a few little nuggets of wisdom and truth that I like:

"All things are difficult before they are easy."  Thomas Fuller

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."  Louisa May Alcott

"All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name."  Andre Breton

"Here is the test to find out whether your mission on Earth is finished:  if you're alive, it isn't."  Richard Bach

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:  it goes on."  Robert Frost

"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes."  Henry J. Kaiser

"Whatever ought to be, can be."  James Rouse

"Be what you are.  This is the first step toward becoming better than you are."  Julius Hare

And, when I was grasping to make sense of my Grandmother's death and couldn't put my feelings into words...these quotes said it for me:

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling into at night.  I miss you like hell."  Edna St. Vincent Millay

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."  A.A. Milne

So, I wish I could say it as short, sweet and perfectly as these people can but, I cannot so, I thank them for sharing.  Do you have any favourite quotes of your own?

Ali.