When I was asked if I am the type to see life as glass half empty or half full, I told them neither. I will say "keep filling it up till it is full again." I do not know why I see life as full of possibilities in spite of living with an incurable disease except that is how my Creator made me. As far as I can remember, I have always been very positive and it is difficult for me to be negative. Last week, Joe and I were at a training to be mentors for couples looking to get married in our church. The marriage ministry taught us there are 4 different groups of people and depending on how each person is wired, certain combinations work best in a marriage and certain ones are time bomb waiting to happen. The four groups are the popular sanguine, powerful choleric, peaceful phlegmatic and perfect melancholy. Each personality describes their role on a team (creative, leadership, support or details), emotional needs, best at, is apt to be, presentation style and warnings. I started to look at my personality and came to a conclusion that I am the way I am because of the personality God has given me.
Needless to say, I am the popular sanguine. My place in the team-creative person (therefore, this blog and my song/video I created to encourage others). My emotional needs are attention, acceptance as is, affection and approval. I am best at making initial contact with people, creating enthusiasm and excitement, encouraging and uplifting others and ensuring the group is taken care of and having fun. Busy with all this character traits which I attest is all me, I do not have time to worry about myself and be consumed with negativity. Family, friends and perfect strangers have been impressed with how well I am handling my parkinson's disease and my positivity. I really cannot take any credit because it is not really me. It is how God has chosen to give me that personality and the will to overcome anything negative in my life. That is the role I have been assigned to. Also with my personality, my presentation style is humorous and with a light touch. That is too funny because it was exactly how I wanted this blog to be when I first thought about writing a blog; humorous with a light touch. I had no idea my personality traits has helped me to envision which direction I want this blog to go. I read many blogs with heavy information about all aspects of Parkinson's disease and immediately, I knew I did not want to do that. It is amazing how the choices we make in life is so deeply intertwined with who you are. I am grateful God made me a popular sanguine :)
With that in mind, I know I have an obligation to keep doing what I am created for; to be a role model and example in overcoming adversities. When you are positive and others-centered instead of negative and self-centered, you tend to forget about your own troubles and tribulations. When I get up every day, I wake up with pain everywhere and immediately, I am reminded I have a disease I need to battle today and every day for the rest of my life (unless a cure is found). I can either choose to be miserable or to be a source of hope, encouragement and motivation for others. To keep my glass full and filled to the top, I want to keep looking for opportunities to be a positive source of influence to others. With God's grace, I know I have already accomplished part of that desire. With almost 2,000 views on the video I Will Choose, I know I have positively impacted many. The comments and messages I have received from complete strangers have been overwhelmingly humbling. I pray to God that He will continue to use me and my disease to reach out to many.
Well, today is my 52nd birthday. Happy birthday to me:) When you have PD, birthdays are really not celebratory because instead of aging one year at a time, it feels like 10 years as your body feels and move like an older person. I already know how an 80 year-old feels and so, technically I can skip all my birthdays from now on. LOL. Then again, I do like the fact I do absolutely nothing on my birthdays except being pampered. What the heck, bring it on birthday blues! Also, I get off from work on my birthday which is a really nice present. How many of you get that? Not many, I bet. I used to tell my children when they were young I was so important that America declared no school for all students and no work for some. I intentionally forgot to tell them it was really because it was Columbus' Day. So, they grew up thinking they had no school because it was mom's birthday:) Hope you enjoy reading my blog. Be sure to page through the other pages of the blog. Remember cellphones do not allow you to navigate to the different pages so please use anything other than a cellphone. God bless and enjoy the beautiful fall season!
