Letting Go.. Letting Flow... Trying to put the pieces back together again...

I am so totally thrilled over both books and want to talk about them. Yet, with all of the destruction going on around our nation and even right here in my home town, it is difficult for me to be elated over my newly published book, "Time Tattered Musings" - "Reflections through the Looking Glass of Pain & Wisdom". It is so full of things that "matter" in life, a great deal about chronic illness, pain, and how I have tried to overcome them. But, my best I feel is yet to come. I don't mean to "brag". That is not why I just made that statement. I said it because I feel my 3rd book will truly delve into my intimate journey of just how this illnesses and the chronic pain have changed my life in many ways, not all bad, not all good, yet I am still who I am in the "inner core" of me. They have not been allowed to destroy the person who I am inside. That is a hard thing to choose do to. I feel it is a "choice". You can absolutely "choose" to allow illness and pain to change you totally into someone you don't know. At times all of us "feel" that way. But, as a whole, you can also make a conscious choice NOT to have these issues change the person you are. That person who has snow skied, vacationed, been to other countries, painted, sewed, been with friends, helped family, volunteered, taken care of Grandchildren, gardened, been fishing, camped out, and you can make this list go on forever, yet you can know you are still that person within and without. What HAS changed is how you do things, deciding how to possible do something a different way, or allowing one idea or hobby to let go of, yet picking up another that you can now do, even with your disabilities from illness and pain. Yes, there are many of the what we used to consider normal activities of our lives, that we no longer can do, or we must do them at a slower rate, or possibly just had to stop all together. Yet, if you look closely, you can also find a new activity that will make you feel on top of that mountain, ready to shout to the world, YES!!! Look at ME, I CAN do this! I can be "useful". I can thrive, prosper, give back to others, and still be myself, even if I have to find alternative ways to do so. I shall try in my new book to relay that message to each and everyone who is suffering, who will suffer, who has suffered, or knows someone that suffers from all of the horrid chronic afflictions that "seem" to wreck our lives, much like the tornado's of 2013, have wrecked others lives in a different way. We often feel as if a wrecking ball has shattered us into a thousand pieces, that we perceive like we will never be able to put ourselves back together again. Yet, with love of self and from others, with a renewal of faith, with the guidance of hope, with our own "higher power", and with our own tenacity, we can do it! As saddened as I am by all that has happened over the past several days, I am bound and determined to persevere over all of the negativity that surrounds me, and tell it to "take a hike". I shall WIN!!!! And so shall you!!!!:) Rhia