Longevity

          It’s important to remember that everything and everyone you come in contact with is your teacher and you also have something to offer those that you come in contact with. Situations in life, concepts, and people are all interconnected and there is a reason for everything. This much I have always known as true and I have lived by this. For the past year however, I have been angry at my situations and concepts. I have been bitter because I have a disease that there is no cure for. I have been upset that my whole life had to change right down to the diet that I eat. When I would talk about these things, my words would always seem to be edged with disappointment, exhaustion, and sadness. I was now… Different. Even though I look no different than anyone else.

It took someone stopping in my life so briefly for me to realize just how much I was denying myself. It took someone not really caring about my disease for me to realize that I was the one drawing attention to it. And that I was the one letting the disease control me. Last summer, my basic mentality was that I could not do much because well, I’m sick. After all, when someone is sick, they often can’t exert themselves and do things that others can do. A pretty narrow view; I know, however, this was the difficult state I found myself in. And it was supported by some of the people around me because again, the disease was controlling me rather than me controlling the disease and incorporating it into my life.

Let me be clear…. I am a year and almost three months into a lifelong diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Disease. It will continue to develop and evolve as I evolve. This disease will not however have as much control over me as it has had in the past. I am no longer satisfied with sitting on the couch and squandering away the hours. I am for once living my life and not waiting for anything or anyone. Each night, I jog a trail which equals about three miles from my house to my stopping point round trip. Each Saturday during the summer and probably into the fall, I am hiking a state park trail just for variety and sometimes after I am done hiking, I will jog the trail just to book end the day. I have a goal of hiking to the top of Mt. Monadnock before the season is over and again, i will do it with or wiothout someone next to me. And just to relax, I head to one of my second homes; the beach. It is here that I feel the most peace and I can reconnect with myself. I would ultimately like to see myself get up on a surfboard before the summer season is over.

To be fair, I am still cognizant of my symptoms and my health. I never push myself beyond what I can do. I will however take myself right up to the edge to look over and admire the view. I will not settle for just sitting around and being stuck in my disease. I believe in challenging myself and in stretching my ability to function. And when I need to, I know when it’s time to be quiet and lay low. I am thankful that it has not happened too much this summer. I am also still living medication free and I don’t plan on taking much beyond my vitamin supplements any time soon. I believe my secret to longevity is the right combination of exercise, gluten free and organic diet, and a certain amount of mental grounding. The mental grounding was simply the last piece I needed to be in place. It has taken me a long time to get it and again, it took someone just stopping long enough in my life to teach me as well as the help of a very qualified professional to get me to resolve some pretty difficult states of mind. It is an ongoing exercise for me and I have incorporated it into my hikes where I have finally realized that everything has lead me to this particular point in my life. The hikes themselves have become a kind of walking meditation and a conversation with something higher than myself. And there was a reason for me getting sick as well as for the past year that I have squandered. I am only regretful that I did not realize it sooner. Then again, there is a reason that the timing is like this. To prepare me for what is to happen next.

So, I want to teach people that you can live with this disease and feel good. It doesn’t have to be a disease that locks you away and keeps you from enjoying life. You have to want it though. And that might mean that you have to stop looking up every symptom that you have. If you keep looking, of course you are going to find that you are sick which will make you feel worse and then you won’t be living. The disease will be living for you. If you resolve to incorporate the disease within your day, you’ll find that you can do a lot more. Fight it with changes in lifestyle and changes in diet. Eliminate chemicals and other unhealthy toxins in your life. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how good you feel. And this would include toxic states of mind. Be the person that you want to be. Not the sick person you appear to be. In therapy, I hear people tell me that they are Bipolar. I correct them and tell them that they have bipolar but they are actually, let's say "Bob". Maybe the same can be said of Hashimoto’s and other incurable autoimmune disease. After all, I have Hashimoto’s but my name is Rachel and I live like everyone else does.

Longevity hangs on my wall as a reminder that I have a long life ahead of me… And I am not going to let much stop me or keep me down.