When I'm Struggling

The prompt for the March Migraine Blog Carnival is about what keeps us going when we're struggling with our migraines. I love this topic because so often I find myself writing about the things I do to cope living with my chronic migraines and fibromyalgia along with the things I do to optimize the "good" times. The distinction between the things I do to cope day to day and the things I do to keep me going when I'm struggling is stark.

The day to day coping strategies I employ are not enough when I'm really struggling either because I'm in the middle of a long stretch of migraine days or because some depression has taken hold of me. This is an opportunity to dig deep and simply hang on until the worst of it passes and my usual coping strategies can be employed again.

Hanging on until things get better isn't a good description of what goes on. Here is what I actually do. I go into my emergency mode. All of my energies (what very little I have at such times) have to be focused on keeping me mentally and physically relaxed so as not to make matters worse by increasing my pain and getting caught up in the inevitable fears and anxieties. In my head I know that if I do this, time will eventually bring me enough relief so that my usual coping techniques will become effective and things can return to "normal".

So what keeps me going? I guess a sense of self preservation and the love of my family.

Loving Hubby

This is my life and when it comes down to it I have many blessings and lots to live for. I am still a person capable of living and loving. That's about all I can ask for in this world.

It's like my favorite playwright, Samuel Beckett wrote: "I can't go on. I must go on. I'll go on."