Time is running out! Join us before September ends to make the ninth month of the calendar Dystonia Awareness Month. If you haven’t already….. #signtheDAMpetition
Guest Blogger: Pamela Sloate provides a commentary around the one question every person with a chronic illness asks, why? See her full post on her personal blog, Useless Why?
We’ve all read inspirational stories of triumph over physical or mental challenge…or met people who believe they were given their illness for some higher if unknown reason.
While I undertake the utmost admiration for these points of view, I don’t find a grand design in my circumstance beyond writing this blog…and I wish I’d never encountered Dystonia in my bout of chance in our family’s genetic lottery, whether stronger for this experience or not. One of my greatest battles is the “Useless Why” that relentlessly besieges me.
Over a span of 40+ years living with Dystonia, I’ve frequently traveled to the Land of Why: Why me? Why Dystonia? Why the unnecessary obstacles? Of course, these are dead-end detours in pursuit of unanswerable questions, pointing me in the useless direction of life’s random unfairness. My daunting “whys” deliver a knock out left hook to productive focus as I grapple with comparisons serving no practical purpose.
I’m not alone in a wasteland that swallows more voraciously than quicksand. The “Useless Why” game is intrinsic to human nature.
Our instincts compel us to seek explanations for senseless adversity or what we perceive as worldly injustice. Check in with your internal barometer – “Useless Why” plays out on many levels: Why is my hair insistently frizzy? Why can’t I find a more satisfying job? Why doesn’t my child behave? Why haven’t I met Mr. Right?
Amid my searing search for answers to life’s more perplexing questions, I’ve found the antidote for “Useless Why” resides in “Useful How” – the tactics we embrace to dig ourselves out of our holes and lead purposeful lives. So make a plan of action and trash those Useless Whys!
Content and images originally posted on January 24, 2014 by the Dystonia Muse. Pamela is a Patient Worthy Guest Blooger. Like what you’ve read? Check her out, and some of her earlier posts:
#DystoniaAwareness Guest Blogger Pamela: Life Before Dystonia
Patient Worthy’s Introduction of Pamela: Join Us To Make September Dystonia Awareness Month!
