End of 2022 reflection

As the year is coming to an end, I reflect on how this year has been. My biggest accomplishment was that I got married, in our wedding postponed since 2020. There was a lot of planning that went into this of course, but in addition to work on our relationship. (And incidentally getting married is one of those things that can make your pain flare up, supposedly, so that may have been related to my pain flare in august/September). 

I (mostly successfully) went on our first long trip since Covid, our honeymoon of sorts. We went to the south of France, Italy and London. It was fun except that I finally got sick for the first time too since Covid. It wasn’t Covid, but a terrible “cold” virus that it seemed like half the population had in Europe. RSV? Rhinovirus? I was sick and pretty miserable for 2 weeks, pretty much the whole time in Sicily. 

I managed to have all of my disability policies approved which was also a major accomplishment. Filling out all the paperwork, going to appointments, doing all the physical therapy exercises, dealing with health and disability insurance companies is almost like a full-time job. I became a little bit tired of being a “professional patient” but will try to see what I can do to give back and share my experiences with others who may be in a similar position.

I have made a lot of progress physically, last year being barely able to walk around the house and only then in a boot, to being able to walk 10,000 steps a day. I still have some work to do particularly with my hands. My symptoms still act up using a computer (I’m writing this blog using dictation on my phone mostly). However my hands are still much better than before without daily constant pain and not having to wear my splints anymore which I did for 3 years nearly 24 hours a day.

I have been working on personal development and feel I have made some progress in my mindset and thinking, trying to live with less fear and with more love. I certainly have progress still to be made especially with relationships. I’m feeling thankful as well for the Positive Intelligence coaching program that I did this year with my friend Kristine in her program at ars nova coaching https://arsnovacoaching.squarespace.com/ which has helped me feel more grounded this year with the daily meditative exercises in her course.  

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