Only In Dreams

The other night, I had a crazy dream. Because of MS, I peed my pants in public, so I just took off my jeans, socks, and shoes and kept walking — rocking teal sequin-covered pee-stained panties with bare feet and an internet-meme t-shirt… which somehow lead to meeting Lady Gaga, who said she loved my style.

In this dream, she, apparently, was good friends with my friend Mike, who had vouched for my awesomeness via quick video cell phone chat. We got into a deep, philosophical discussion over dinner, and she said to me, “If you don’t do something fun, just to please yourself, everyday, you’re doing life wrong. I don’t stay friends with people who can’t have a good time.”

I woke up the next morning feeling very inspired, and I decided that it’s time to change my current way of being and live the sort of life that I would hope for my future children to live. My goal is to become a good example of how to be a happy adult to kids who don’t even exist yet, in the hopes that when they do manifest, I’ll already be a good role model for them.

This means less time spent on FB, more time spent reading quality books, writing both in this blog and for my novel, and creating art – whether it’s making jewelry, cooking, or creating clothes. It means the return of the daily “to-do” list and yoga. It means exploring Chicago in my free time instead of staying in my apartment all the time. It means conquering my fear of using the sewing machine when I’m alone, and cutting the excuses for not practicing guitar.

It means getting back to coding and learning the newest language updates to what I already know. HTML is now HTML5, CSS is now an all-the-time thing. I don’t even know if javascript is used anymore. I need to finish learning PHP, MYSQL, and I want to find out what it takes to create apps for Andriod and iPhones.

Basically, I want to be the independent, web-slinging, hard rocking, well-read woman I used to be… and I want to have fun doing it.

Easier Said Than Done

Of course, as soon as I had this revelation, my body decided that it was time to fuck with me. Maybe it was to see if the revelation wasn’t just passing fancy. Who knows. I had one good day, and then the next one was so bad that I couldn’t even get out of bed. I literally slept all day long (20 hours total!) and only ate dinner that night because Adam ordered pho for me. I was even having a hard time drinking.

I’ve had 3 weird episodes where my body gets super hot, and I start sweating profusely – like through clothes and bed sheets, it’s that much. I’m going through one right now. It’s 70 degrees in my apartment (that’s 21 for all you fans of celcius), and I want to rip off my skin, I’m so hot.

It feels, physically, just like having a panic attack, but I’ve got absolutely nothing to be stressing about. I’m not pregnant yet. We still haven’t found the house that’s right for us – so we’re not in the moving process. I’m just struggling to be a version of myself that I am happy with and get out of this rut of being a Facebook addict with no ambition, career, or hobbies.

I don’t know whether the sweating and heat is hormonal or caused by MS, so I made an appointment with my gynecologist next Tuesday to figure things out.

In the meantime, I’m just trying to wrap my head around the whole situation and be reasonable. I can’t expect myself to go out and explore Chicago when I’ve been having seizures for 2 days straight. I can’t learn code when I’m falling asleep. The only things I think I can do is to put time limits on FB, focus on being an effective housewife, and instead of yoga, do pilates, because it’s almost all floor-based work. Obviously, I’m also doing more writing.

All I Need Is Just A Little Patience

I know that change doesn’t happen all at once. I know that I need to be patient with myself while I transition into a better way of being. But anyone who knows me well knows that patience is, without a doubt, my worst quality.

Even though I’ve become far more patient over the last 7 years thanks to MS, I still want everything, all at once, changed to fit my ideal when I make up my mind about something. But that’s magical thinking and not how human behavior or thought patterns work. It takes steps and tons of conscious decisions to get out of a rut this deep.

It also takes a commitment to treating yourself compassionately. And, as usual, I’m down on the job there. I’m already salty with myself for not having eaten breakfast this morning or having attempted morning yoga. I keep bullying myself, as though hearing “GET WITH THE PROGRAM” is going to actually motivate me, make anything better, or make the change happen any more quickly.

What’s worse is that now that I’ve decided how I want to live my life, looking at how I have been living my life for the last 4 years or so causes me sadness and shame. To put it bluntly, in many ways, I gave up on life. I let the seizures win and became a shut-in. I didn’t even allow myself to imagine that I could do more. I mean, I still went to the gym 3-4 times a week in the hopes of improving my physical condition, but I haven’t had any lasting positive change to show for it other than now having a positive emotional response to the idea of going to the gym. At least that’s something.

The truth of the matter is that growth is difficult and painful even when it’s positive and totally desired. So, I’ll struggle in the muck today. Hopefully I’ll have an easier time struggling in the muck tomorrow, and eventually I won’t be in the muck at all.