Most People Don’t Understand

Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t understand?

 

Today’s Daily Prompt is an easy one for me but only in the sense that I know something you don’t. Let me explain:

Chronic Pain. Most people don’t understand what it does to a person. They will never understand unless they experience it themselves.

Chronic pain stays in the forefront of your thoughts, all day every day. When you’re in constant pain, it becomes part of your thought process. Everything you want or need to do, you must consider your pain. Everywhere you want to go, you must consider your pain. If you want to visit someone, you must consider your pain. Will I be able to mop the floor today? Will I be able to cook something today? Will I have the energy to walk into a store and grab a few items? Will I be able to sit comfortably to watch my grandson play ball? When I go visit my family, will they understand when I have to leave? Will there be steps or stairs? Is the toilet going to be too low? Will there be handlebars to grip so I don’t fall? Will the grocery store have a scooter available so I don’t have to walk? Will someone be able to help me if I have trouble? These are just some of the things I have to consider.   

Not many people understand what it’s like to be in pain constantly. I pray you will never have to deal with what I deal with. No matter what the pain is from, it’s debilitating. Pain sucks your energy away. Pain thwarts your abilities. Pain causes depression, sadness, and helplessness. It causes loneliness because you retreat from the people and things that made you happy before, the things that made you who you are… It destroys your life as you once knew it. You’re not the same person anymore. It changes you. 

I hope you will keep this in mind when you’re dealing with a person with a chronic illness. You just have no idea what they are going through. 

 

What’s A Secret Skill or Ability You Have or Wish You Had?

Do you remember that show from the ’60s called “Bewitched”? I loved it as a kid and I even watch it now on FETV most nights as I’m drifting off to sleep. In case you’re not familiar with the show, Samantha was a witch and her mortal husband didn’t like her to use witchcraft. Samantha’s mother was always meddling and casting spells on others, especially on Samantha’s husband! Crazy situations arose in every episode.

I always wished I had powers like Samantha. I wouldn’t use my powers for nefarious purposes. I would use them to improve my situation and help others, too. If someone didn’t want me to use my powers, then tough titty!

I would twitch my nose and fix the bathroom ceiling that partially fell in due to all the rain the other night. The ceiling got so wet from so many leaks, it couldn’t bear the weight any longer. I would twitch my nose and fix the foundation, the walls, the floors, and the roof. I would finish the new house, and with a twitch of my nose, we’d be moved in. I would fix my knees and reverse Dad’s health back about 10 years. I would help my friends and family with their problems, too.

Don’t get me wrong; I would live a mostly mortal life. I’m not afraid of work. In fact, I’d just love to be able to get back to a life where I could work! I’d love to do some work on the house like before I was disabled. Dad and I did many projects together on this old house. We added a bedroom, replaced floors, and painted the house. We built a deck in the back, fixed leaky faucets, put in linoleum, and repaired all kinds of things. I loved it! I can’t do any of those things now so Samantha’s powers would be awesome!

Well, I don’t have Samantha’s powers. Bummer. I have to settle with the hand I’ve been dealt, just like everyone else.

The skills I have now aren’t so secret, I suppose. I can usually figure out what’s wrong with my computer and have actually done so when computer techs couldn’t figure it out! Other skills include crocheting, and I used to be one hell of a cook!

What about you?

Friday’s Funnies – March 24

Happy Friday, friends! I need to get today’s funnies posted quickly because we are having thunderstorm activity and I’ll need to disconnect my internet so not to lose it! If my modem and router get zapped, then what will I do?!? Yikes!

I hope you enjoy this week’s round of funnies. I wish I had more but it’s been a rough week and social media has been on the bottom of my list of priorities. That’s where I find most of the things I share with you here. On with the show!

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I don’t know about you, but the “fashion” meme cracked me up! That would have to be my favorite this week! “Brain Cells” coming in at #2, “Irish” coming at #3. Which ones did you like the best?

Well, that will have to be it for now. I hear that thunder rumbling in the distance so I’d better sign off. Have a super weekend!

aunt-debbie

Stress, Pain, and Loneliness

I’ve been extremely stressed this past week. I don’t know whether I’m comin’ or goin’, as they say. If you’ve been reading my blog then you know I struggle with pain and mobility issues and that I am looking after my 86 year old Dad. I seriously need a break.

There seems to always be some kind of disagreement, or friction between Dad and I. He always remembers things differently than I do. I’m not sayng he’s always wrong; sometimes he is right. There’s always something he doesn’t understand, or something he forgets, and once in a while he forgets HOW to do something. He’s very unsteady on his feet and he hasn’t fallen in quite some time but I feel like I can’t leave him home alone for longer than it takes me to see my NP for a script renewal. I should get a nanny cam so I can keep an eye on him just so I can go have lunch with a friend once in a while. I can’t even remember the last time I was out without Dad.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be so stressful if I had some help. All of my family is in Tennessee and I am NOT moving to TN! My son is 15 miles from us. Yes, you read that right. He is 15 miles from us and I have not heard from him in just over 2 months. I’ve not seen him since Christmas and he hasn’t even bothered to text me. I know he’s busy with his own family and his own life but it only takes a few seconds to type out a quick “how are you?” once in a while. I don’t think I’ve been this hurt in a long time. Dad asked me if I had texted him in the last couple of months. No, I have not. When I do text the boy, it takes him sometimes days before he responds. Why would I even bother?

It’s a seriously lonely time in my life. Anyone who is responsible for looking after an elderly parent will feel the same way. It is lonely and stressful to carry it all by yourself. God forbid if Dad is ever diagnosed with dementia. He’s not that bad yet. He has his moments but mostly he knows what’s going on and basically takes care of himself. He just needs to be watched and reminded of certain things. I signed on for this but at the time, I had no way of knowing that I would be disabled and struggling myself come show time.

So, what do I do? I bitch a little, cry a little, and then I suck it up. I do what I have to do and in the evenings just to destress I do jigsaw puzzles, diamond paintings, blogging and journaling. I’ve taken on a new hobby: paint-by-number! A friend suggested it and I thought I’d be so clumsy I’d have paint all over the place but so far, so good! I’m thinking of latch hook and embroidery, too! While I do those things to destress, I listen to my audiobooks. I like the fictional detective/police/PI stories the best. I’ve ‘read’ some very entertaining/engrossing stories! It keeps my mind busy with something besides my troubles.

It’s time for me to get moving. It will take me a couple of hours to cook something for lunch (it sucks being disabled) and if I don’t fix something Dad won’t eat. Today on the menu: Chicken Fajita Salad Bowls. Wish me luck and thanks for reading my blog!

What Is One Word That Describes You?

I can’t say there’s just one word that describes me. Some people would say that I am: talented, resilient, funny… There are many words I could use here to describe myself but for this post, I think I am reserved.

The Oxford Dictionary defines reserved as: slow to reveal emotion or opinions.

I guess that would be me. Unless I know someone really well, I will keep to myself. I don’t like to show emotion. That goes way back to being a child when my mother would ridicule me for crying. It didn’t matter if I was injured, scared, or just upset about something. She would make fun and then she would say, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” Nice. Thanks Mom. I never said that to my kids. I didn’t want them to feel unheard or that how they felt didn’t matter. As an empath, it’s very hard for me to contain my emotions but I try.

I am slow to reveal opinions. That also goes back to when I was younger. As a teenager and even when I was an adult, every time I had an opinion about something she would say, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” So, there ya go. That’s why I don’t like to give my opinion – but if I know you really well I feel more comfortable having opinion-related conversation. I feel like I can voice my opinions in this blog and sometimes on Facebook but I have been told several times that I was wrong or that I needed to read this or that, or something else that negated my opinion.

So, there’s the one word that describes me. RESERVED.

What one word describes YOU?