Ireland End to End Cycle !

As I start to type this, my husband and friends should be cycling the last couple of miles to Malin Head after their epic #Mizen2Malin  cycle relay.

They decided their big cycle this year would be a fund-raiser, and several charities were selected including Tim's choice of Invest in ME.

Tim's Ireland End to End Just Giving Page for Invest in ME

Start line-up at Mizen Head:

Their epic cycle started on Friday 20th June at 9am and with only two pit stops the three teams relayed through the night and ---- word just in ---- finished today at about 4.30pm.  

One of the support vehicles

Athlone - midway, middle of the night!

On the road again!

And here's the finish line-up at Malin Head.

 So now they are checking in for a shower, a well earned rest and a big dinner and celebration.

I'll get my husband home tomorrow!

Well done Tim and co.  Proud of you all - and the fantastic totals raised for charity.

£2120 + Gift Aid for Invest in ME as the total currently stands.  Yay!  
(Up dated Thurs 3rd July)

Keeping Going... Keeping Happy...

So I got a complement the other day.  I was praised for how I can stay cheerful throughout this ordeal that is ME.

People have told me that they think they would not cope "AT ALL!"

I guess I would have thought the same thing too, a few years ago.

Yet somehow the mind adapts to the new reality, and somehow we can keep going...

There was a BBC article this week that got me thinking: A Point of View: Happiness and disability

The author made the point that the public at large seem to assume that disabled people should be permanently unhappy about their situation.

Yet he also noted that individuals tend to have a default level of happiness, and that after major injury (or even a lottery win) that happiness levels will change for a period, but then return to this default state of "happiness" once the situation has become normal.

I imagine there are some situations, such as unresolved pain, unmet needs, or escalating debt that would not follow this pattern.

Likewise an ME sufferer who has a declining state of health and no feeling of control, would also find it more difficult to feel content.

I know that I have had periods of decline through out this illness, and each one of those has required a new and unpleasant re-adjustment.  However over the past 6 months I have been able to stabilise my health through careful attention to pacing techniques.

With this stability, I find I am now more content to see the good things in the world around me and to feel grateful for what I have.  Of course sometimes I'm frustrated - my daughters have just gone shopping without me - but I'm learning now to balance my life and to feel less anger at how my life has changed.

Happiness, in the light of illness, certainly takes on a different flavour.  Yet I agree with the article: provided a situation is not worsening, we can adjust and find something of our old selves once more.

And even in illness happiness can bloom again.  ;-)