When you deal with chronic health issues, there are simply things you are never going to get to do.
That's okay. I heard a motivational speaker years ago, and I wish I remembered his name, who'd been in a devastating and crippling auto accident. He said something to the effect of, "before my accident I could do a thousand different things. Afterwards I could do five hundred things. I chose to focus on the five hundred things I could still do than to worry about the things I'd lost."
I love that attitude, and I'd like to salute Adored Wife who largely exemplifies it. She can't do any real lifting, she can't be on her feet or in a chair for long periods of time, she has to build any kind of activity around "will I be able to lie down for fifteen minutes every hour or so." She also has memory issues and has to structure her whole life around copious note-taking. She also has anomic aphasia and prosopagnosia (the inability to find the right word, and face-blindness) which give her some troubles interacting with people. Plus occasional tics and twitches. Plus anxiety and panic attacks. Few other odds and ends here and there.
As you might imagine, there are any number of activities that are simply not options for AW. There are things that, purely and simply, she's never going to be able to do.
And yet, she has a very full life. Photographer, highly involved mother, active on social media, great at planning and organizing events and activities, excellent cook, involved in church activities, directs, produces, and manages facilities at the local community theater, keeps up with family, interested and informed about politics, history, and world events, and participates in a few online communities.
She chooses to focus on the things she CAN do, and finds her life pretty full as a result of it.
Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.
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