Goals

When people have an illness or injury they often set goals for when they would like to recover by. I have always been confused when people who have M.E. try and do this. It's all very well and good saying that you are going to be able to walk a mile by the end of July, but that isn't going to make it happen. Everyone's case of M.E. is different, and some are able to increase their activity by a little each week, but in my experience this is very rare. As I said in my last blog post, most people with M.E. who see improvements get them from resting. I am generally on bed rest all of the time, and thanks to that occasionally my body will give me enough energy to go outside and have a coffee or something. My point is that the body decides when it is ready, you can't make it be ready if it isn't otherwise. The illness is very much out of our control, and for me one of the biggest steps to enjoying life with M.E. has been to accept that. 

So my goals are not based on recovery (which of course I would still like to do!) they are acceptance, contentment, purposefulness, kindness and joy. These are things which I believe can be achieved without my health improving. If achieved they will give me quality of life, and after all isn't that what we all want! They cannot be attained overnight, and must be worked on to be maintained. Sometimes emotional intelligence can be hard to find, which makes these things even more difficult to find.

In order to achieve my goals there are a few things which I try to do. I spoke about some of these in a previous blog post, so won't go into too much detail here. They are self care, mindfulness, volunteering for charities, forgiveness, removing anything which makes me feel bad about myself (especially on social media) and focusing building other people up.

These pictures to me all represent ways in which I am trying to achieve and maintain my goals!

What are your goals in life? Do you place value on outward or inward goals? Do you have any tips for living well?