Where there's a will there is a way

On the TV programme Gardeners World this week, a lady, with numerous disabilities including blindness shared the joy of touching and smelling a tomato plant in her garden. As she inched her away among the plants stooped low over her stroller she told the viewers...You can tell if a tomato is ripe by touch, if it is hard it's not ripe, slightly soft and it is ready to pick...I am always tasting!



Her delight in the plants shone like the morning sun rising in the sky as she shared her garden with the viewers. It is my only private space she declared, people can only come in if I invite them. I have found that with all my difficulties I need to think tangentially she said 

Tangentially! A new word for me so I looked it up...well to be truthful I leaned across and asked Mr H, my ever present dictionary...be creative, think laterally he says. 

And my mind wanders back to my nurse training... I am working on an elderly care rehabilitation ward where laughter rings out all day as we help the patients get back onto their feet or find new ways to cope after fractured hips. The words of one such lady have stayed with me throughout my life...

Where there's a will there's a way she would say as she struggled to get up from her chair.

So I reflect on my life and my tangential approaches as I meet each day with a smile - well almost every day...! .

I now have rules: 

• Every day is a best dress day - nothing lies unworn
• When I feel well I say it out loud. Today I feel great. Today I am well.
• I am kind to myself when I am energyless. I watch a DVD or read a book instead of beating myself over the head with a stick for being tired!
• I only organise one thing a day. A visit from a friend blocks a day in my diary
• I always use my Energometer to calculate whether I can do something extra or not

         Action + Time + Energy Needed
                  __________________                                      = Do, Delay or Don't Do

      Current Energy Reserves (Zero, Red, Amber, Green)

• I have accepted that writing is my new career, it occupies my grey cells, keeps my fingers tapping and constantly brings new challenges. I no longer wish I was back nursing

• I mediate or do a mindfulness activity most days, even if it is only watching a butterfly or my breath for a few minutes. It matters. It helps keep me calm.

• And when my Gorgeous Sue comes down for the day, we snort and giggle as she tries to get me over a wall when faced with a locked, barbwired gate on a sunny short stroll...

 I may not be able to jump the hurdles in front of me 

but with the help of others I find the path (or wall)  around them...

Over and still in one piece! Just!