The Moving Word

Fibromyalgia: Will We Fight?

by Richard Mansel

Fibromyalgia is a terrible illness, and there isn’t a cure. It isn’t going away. It suddenly appeared but it isn’t likely to vanish overnight. It’s a dark and evil thing but it’s here and must be faced. Ignoring it won’t help.

If we can’t get rid of it, we have to decide how we will react to it. Failing to make a proactive decision is concession and defeat. Action must be taken on a conscious level. We fight for victory or we surrender with timidity.

We can admit that this illness is here, and we must DO something in response. We must take a stand and fight or it will destroy us. We must be men and women and prove we are stronger than this enemy. Our lives have too much to offer to curl up in a ball and die.

We can do two things to fight Fibromyalgia.

First, we decide what kind of attitude we will have about this illness. This is a thorny issue among Fibro sufferers. Some find it ridiculous that anyone could have a positive outlook when they are so miserable. How can they when they do not see any hope or answers?

The answer is reality. Imagine we are trapped in a house and a killer is somewhere in the building.  After a moment of fear and grieving, we decide that we will either win go down fighting with honor. It is no different with Fibro.

Negativity is blackness and it can smother us. It becomes a power of its own and the stress that results from this darkening of our mind and spirit causes more pain. The more we become wrapped in negativity, the more like surrender it becomes.

Feeling sorry for ourselves is human. But what we choose to do after that is our decision. We will grieve for a long time that we have lost so much of ourselves. However, we still face new days and we can choose to see the sunshine or we can burrow into blackness.

By choosing to have as positive an attitude as we can muster, we are taking up arms to fight. We are realistic, but we are fierce. We will CHOOSE to smile, regardless of the pain. We will CHOOSE to make the best of a terrible situation.

Second, we control what we will do with our aching bodies in terms of rest, diet and fitness. While Fibro is beating us up, we can fight by taking care of ourselves in defiance. When we destroy our bodies, we are helping the Fibro win. Fibromyalgia may be attacking us, but we will not surrender our health completely!

We cannot avoid this decision. In fact, we have already made it. All we can do is decide if we will continue down the path we are taking or take a better path.

Be strong. Be Fibro strong!