My Odd Sock

Me

T’heck with it…T’hell with it…Forget about it…Screw it—anyway you phrase it, it has become a “catch-all” of surrender, disgust and laissez faire attitudes.

As my MS progresses, I find myself saying some variation of this phrase more often than usual.  It’s not that I have given up; I just try not to let things bother me like I use to.

Before adding the “MS” moniker to my personal resume, I was a tad bit of a perfectionist with a hint of obsessive-compulsive and a dash of attention-deficit wrapped up in one tight ball.  I worried about the past and fretted about the future.  Today, I can’t afford the wasted energy about either.  So, I try to focus on the day I have.  That’s all I got!

I suppose anyone who gets hit with the hammer (diagnosis) of multiple sclerosis, ALS, cancer or any other life-changing “Heebee-Geebee” can understand what I am talking about.  Twice, since my diagnosis in 1996, have I awakened being unable to move.  That is one scary ass feeling when you go to bed just fine and you wake up in a scene from “The Roy Campanella Story.”

So I say “t’heck with it” and let the chips fall where they may (Sorry for the cheesy cliche).

Sure, sometimes I slip and think about the future and get overwhelmed, upset and downright scared.  Squelching the gloom can be like trying to put out a house fire with a water weanie.  When that happens I just try to refocus and concentrate on what I have….today.

Inspirational author Og Mandino writes in his book “Mission: Success”…”I will pause whenever I am feeling sorry for myself today, and remember that this is the only day I have and I must play it to the fullest.  What my part may signify in the great whole, I may not recognize, but I am here to play it and now is the time.”

The Funny Meter

Eh, screw you Funny Meter!  I know the Funny Meter is pegging zero again, but give me a break–I am on a roll here!

Whether you are struggling through MS or any of life’s infinite number of conflicts—what you have—is today.  Be grateful you have it.  Wear it till it is ragged & worn out.  And throw it in the hamper when the day is done.

Now, go get on with it.  You’ve got alot to do!