This writer with multiple sclerosis (MS) had a birthday recently.
As they are for most other people, birthdays are a time for me to reflect on the year that has passed. I see milestones attained or missed, I see opportunities created and those that slipped away, and I acknowledge the good along with the bad. Of course, the progression of my multiple sclerosis (MS), along with some other health issues I’ve experienced this year, come to mind as well.
As the years stack up, my birthday reflections go beyond the previous year. And as someone who has lived for nearly two decades since MS diagnosis, my birthday isn’t the only time I find myself marking the passage of time.
MS Diagnosis Date Is Another Time for Reflection
My diagnosis date isn’t one that I mark in my calendar, or really anticipate. But when the day draws near and I notice the date April 21 somewhere — whether it’s on a calendar page or a carton of milk — I am brought back to, and through, those strange and life-changing days in the spring of 2001.
I think of the date I had to stop working, my first mitoxantrone (Novantrone) treatment, our first Walk MS as Team Gleason, and the anniversaries of MS-induced interruptions in my personal and professional life.
I suppose all of us with MS mark time in our own way, and to our own extent, as we move down the path of life with MS.
Marking Time Brings Marching Days to Mind
This year, the thought of marking time brought back a memory from a very distant past.
In my days at school, I was part of a very successful competitive marching band. In the video, I’m the guy in the big white hat at the front of our band, and it was a great part of my youth.
In marching band, marking time is taking a momentary pause from moving forward (or backward or sideways), while keeping your feet moving in time to the music. Like all aspects of maneuvering, music, and performance on the competitive field, marking time is judged on its precision and effect.
But in the overall performance of life, marking time is a pause, and no real progress can take place while you’re reminiscing about what has happened in the past, rather than getting on with things in the present.
Not Standing Still, but Getting Up to Speed
Marking time for a beat or two can be a way to ready yourself for the next thing to come.
If we take advantage of our reflections and use them as a way to learn from the past and incorporate the lessons learned (Da says they’re not mistakes if you learn from them, but rather lessons), then marking the passage of time isn’t just standing still. It allows other aspects of our life to catch up and get in time with our new tempo.
So for now, I step off into another year, another phrase, and another phase. It was good to mark time, reflect, and apply the lessons I’ve learned. Now it’s forward march.
Wishing you and your family the best of health.
Cheers,
Trevis
