Looking out for a new outlook - new year, the dawn of change...

New year is one of my favourite days of the year. It's the day of resolutions, of dreaming of what the future will bring. Of hoping that this year will top the last. Usually I don't do much at midnight, but my favourite thing is getting up at the crack of dawn to drive to the beach with my mother in Australia. We stand there in the the semi-light, watching the sky get brighter and brighter. All of a sudden, a sharp shard of sunlight would break over the mountain and paint the ocean in shades of orange and yellow. 

Getting up for the first sunrise of the year was always something special with Mum. We love the beach, and to see the very first time the sun graced the new year; before it hit anywhere else in the world (well, apart from New Zealand and the other Pacific Islands on our side of the date line!). It always brought me a lot of hope for what the new year would bring. Of course, sometimes the new year brought in more difficulties. Nonetheless, I always had a small wish for the pain to go away; that maybe this year would bring remission from my symptoms and less pain. That has never happened. However, from the sunrise of 2011; it brought with it a big change in my attitude. Passing my 10 year mark really changed how I viewed my life.

10 years was a huge hurdle. Once I reached that; I knew that life would never be so difficult as it was during the first decade. I know myself a lot better now; I see how far I have come. I've done more things than I could have ever dreamed of. I know my condition much better than anyone, doctors included. I am finally in control - not of the pain, but of how I manage it - I am in control of my life!

Dancing away despair and putting pain in its place...

With the past few months of flare-ups in my pain and the intense allodynia (pain from harmless things touching my skin, such as clothing or bedsheets), I haven't been my usual cheery self. However, I wouldn't say I'm depressed, nor even all that negative at the moment. It's interesting to note that I'm going through what I went through 3 years ago, but back then I was deeply depressed and suicidal. I felt I couldn't do it anymore - I couldn't live with this pain.  

Of course, over the past few weeks, there have been some tears, some cranky moments and some times I wanted to give up completely. I've had times where I've become so overwhelmed again by the weight of my pain-companion, that I'd bawled like a baby. I do feel hopeless on occasions, though these days I know that is only temporary. Sometimes I lose my control purely from the frustration I feel. 

I get in these moods where I stubbornly and rudely refuse any help, then end up bursting into tears from my own pig-headedness. I get into a mindset where I MUST do whatever it is, no matter how ridiculous or unnecessary. For those close to me, they would have seen this behaviour many times. Where they watch my pathetic attempts to do the simplest of tasks; "no I can do it ON MY OWN thanks!" while struggling to open something, or carry a bag. I can be downright rude, which isn't something I'm proud of.

It is usually something that they could very easily and very willingly do to help me. When they do help me out, I sometimes show some real ingratitude, which isn't good. Of all the times they cannot help me nor take away my pain; opening a bottle or chopping food is certainly do-able. I forget that my pain is something they live with too. I'm not the easiest person to live with! And if I graciously accepted their offered help, I would save my energy for the other tasks; the more fun and interesting things I do. Surely that makes more sense than working myself into a state!