Friends,
Happy New Year! Wow! Another year is about to begin. When I reflect on 2018, a lot of us had a lot of challenges living with MS and a lot of us made a lot of progress. How many firsts did we have? A lot! If you had a first or even a few firsts, I would like to hear about them. We’re a community of sharing and it’s fun to share our firsts.
Speaking of firsts, we had a pretty special first last week. Well I guess it was Sue’s second time but it was my first time seeing her on the stair mill and doing amazing. Keep in mind that this is the same Sue that hadn’t walked unassisted in 27 years just a few years back.
This journey has not been easy for Sue. She’s worked hard and she’s allowed lots of people to help her along the way. Sue’s very thankful they did. I’m thankful that Sue’s brave enough and determined enough to keep trying new things and willing to share her journey with us. Thank you Sue! I’m looking forward to seeing Sue continue to make progress again in 2019 along with many others.
By the way, if you didn’t see the video Sue’s daughter made after she saw her Mom walk unassisted for the first time a few years back, here’s a link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO1myTMTuoo It’s a tear jerker for me every time I watch it.
It’s always fun to set some goals at the first of a new year. What goals are you going to set? As we live with MS, I love to set goals but we do better if we don’t put a time frame to them. As you know, we have good days and bad days. As we live with MS, everything seems to takes a little longer and that’s ok. It has to be ok because we don’t really have a choice. If we take the time frame off our goals and just keep working toward them, we’ll have a much better chance of achieving them at some point. People without MS may not understand this concept. Us with MS can relate immediately.
I took a picture of the goals some of you were working toward in 2018. As you can see, we’re still working on many of them and making progress.
That’s where that time frame thing doesn’t work for us with MS. As you can also see that many of them were made and were amazing experiences. Thanks to all for sharing your goal and your journey of working toward them! I’m still looking forward to seeing Todd tap dance…on broadway. Never give up Todd!
Let’s have some fun again this week!
We all need to “Just Keep Moving”! It doesn’t matter where we start. We can start with laughing which is great exercise in itself. Other than that, we start with the body parts that will move and keep moving them as much as we can. Let them rest and then move them again.
I know there are still many of us going through other life challenges in addition to our challenges with MS. Let’s stick together, keep our chins up and keep sharing our journey. Better days are ahead. For those of you who haven’t been able to make it by us on Wednesdays and Fridays lately, please know you are missed and in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you’re able to make it back soon!
I hope you’ll join us both Wednesday and Friday again this week. Remember…consistency is key. With MS, it takes a lot of consistent effort every day to make small improvements. Yes, it’s frustrating so be patient and consistent and you’ll be amazed how your quality of life will continue to improve. It’s been about 17 years of exercising just about every day for me and I’m still making improvements (encouragement, love, support, nutritionand proper rest help immensely too). It takes time so please be patient. It sure is better than MS getting worse. I really don’t know what my life would be like if I didn’t do this (nor do I want to find out). I’m so thankful you are all joining me on this journey of making progress with our MS and quality of life…THANK YOU! We’ll continue to learn together…there’s so much power in the love and support we all share with each other.
In the past, I’ve been telling you to bring a friend. Unfortunately, we’re going to need to start a waiting list for new people. Please feel free to continue to share your experience and what we’re doing together. Let me know of anyone who would like to join us. I’ll communicate with these people through e-mail or phone and help them any way I can. When we have room for them to join us, I’ll encourage them to do that. If you’ve joined us in the past, please continue to join us.
We are here to help you and anyone with MS…no strings attached (well maybe an occasional story about the progress you’re making, smile, high five or a hug). I remember how challenging life used to be when my MS was bad. I get great joy sharing what I’ve learned and feel blessed with the progress I’ve made. I hope you make progress in some way too!
Place: W228N791 Westmound Dr.
Waukesha, WI
When: Wednesday morning from 9:30am – 12:30pm (open gym concept, come for all or part of it)
Friday morning from 9:30 – 12:30pm (open gym concept, come for all or part of it)
Any questions? Give me a call.
Dan Erschen
Cell: 414-305-0418