I learned an important lesson from a Marine once. No, it wasn’t which color crayon tasted the best, or whether or not one should take the paper off before eating said crayon, it was a simple acronym, a set of principles by which he lived his life. It impressed me to the point that I commited it to memory, adopted it as my own, and will now share it with you.
It’s S K A T E:
S tay out of the limelight
K eep a low profile
A void volunteering
T ake your time
E ntertain yourself
If you’re in the military and find yourself at that in-between rank, where you’re not responsible for, or in charge of anyone or anything, that’s not a bad philosophy to have and as much as I hate to give credit to a Marine’s philosophy (sigh), it’s a pretty good one for MS too.
S taying out of the limelight can be tough when you’re disabled, but you’re still you and don’t have to be upstaged by it. Friends and family will treat you like you, but you have to let them know that it’s ok…… and sometimes, how.
K eeping a low profile can be difficult for the handicapped. Especially when you’re using a wheelchair or another mobility aid, or parked in a handicapped spot. This may seem the opposite of keeping a low profile, but the trick is getting people to see you and not the handicap. When you figure out how to do that with strangers, please let me know, because I haven’t.
A voiding volunteering is crucial to conserving your ration of energy for the day. Mine isn’t really, but if your MS is invisible, I realize that this can be awkward for you and hard to understand for those who wonder why. Some will never understand and it’s not like you can wear a sign or go through the exhausting process of explaining every time, why you can’t commit to Monday what you don’t know you’ll have the energy to do on Friday.
T aking your time was never as important as it is with MS. You can still do a lot of the same things you once did, but if you actually want to complete them then you have to pace yourself. Do one task in stages, or do two things you once did in one day, on separate days.
E ntertaining yourself is vital to your mental and physical well being. No, really. Your “outlets” might have to change with your disability (mine sure have), but you still need them, even if you have to learn new ones.
I’m writing a blog.