Good morning beautiful people of the world! Yesterday I took a ride with my husband down to the road in town that drives next to the ocean. It used to be we would take our bikes down to this road and bike along pulling over now and again to watch and listen to the waves. We parked the van and as we sat there watching and listening to the waves, I was thinking about how some things have not changed at all since my husbands accident. We still love sitting in nature talking with each other about our hopes, dreams, and love for each other. We are still the same adventurous people with the same drive to seek out exciting and new experiences to enrich our lives. My husband made a comment about worrying of life being too boring now with the limitations of having less mobility. My thoughts were much to the contrary though, my thought was that now things will be even more adventurist because we will have to be so much more creative in all that we do.
At this point in the journey I am realizing that while we absolutely need to create a "new normal" and while in a sense, it is true nothing is the same, at the same time there are activities that we used to enjoy that are still accessible to us. What I notice about my husband when we go out and do these activities is that his mood becomes more peaceful and he is more able to be in the moment and distracted from thinking about his pain or disability. The enormity of adjusting to changes after spinal cord injury can be consuming and I have watched my husband cycle into phases that are deep and dark and hard to climb out from. I am seeing more now than ever the necessity of bridging the gap between what we used to love to do and what we can no longer do by figuring what activities can be done with adaptation and getting out and doing them. The trick I believe is in keeping it simple. If you love nature like we do, then go sit somewhere pretty and be in nature. If you are a city dweller and love watching people, go to a coffee shop and watch the drama unfold. The point is to find something that brings enjoyment and making a point to go do it, even if only for 20 minutes it is good for the soul. My wish for all this week is that you get out have some fun and experience a sense of peace inside. Aloha!