Advice: For our own good?
Have you ever heard that phrase from others? Or found yourself using it when speaking to others? I came up with this topic because I found myself thinking this very phrase about a friend. When I 'heard' myself, I had to stop and think.
As a woman with MS, countless friends and family members have felt the need to tell me things or offer advice 'for my own good'. In point of fact, their messages have rarely actually been in my best interests, although I'm sure that was (usually) their intent. But had I listened, I would have missed some of the richest, most fulfilling moments of my life. The comments were usually based on a belief that my limitations (that is, my MS) should be the primary deciding factor in how I structure and live my life.
I disagree. MS is a fact in my life. So is my grey hair and my sense of humor and my smile and my age and... Well, you get the idea. Yes, I have to consider the fact that I have MS when I make decisions about a huge variety of things. But it is only one 'fact' about me and the world I live in. I would be selling myself short if I put it at the top of the list or allowed my friends to limit me 'for my own good'.
Related Links: Vacationing With Multiple Sclerosis, Why More Women Get Multiple Sclerosis
Technorati Tags: MS, multiplesclerosis, livingwithMS
As a woman with MS, countless friends and family members have felt the need to tell me things or offer advice 'for my own good'. In point of fact, their messages have rarely actually been in my best interests, although I'm sure that was (usually) their intent. But had I listened, I would have missed some of the richest, most fulfilling moments of my life. The comments were usually based on a belief that my limitations (that is, my MS) should be the primary deciding factor in how I structure and live my life.
I disagree. MS is a fact in my life. So is my grey hair and my sense of humor and my smile and my age and... Well, you get the idea. Yes, I have to consider the fact that I have MS when I make decisions about a huge variety of things. But it is only one 'fact' about me and the world I live in. I would be selling myself short if I put it at the top of the list or allowed my friends to limit me 'for my own good'.
Related Links: Vacationing With Multiple Sclerosis, Why More Women Get Multiple Sclerosis
Technorati Tags: MS, multiplesclerosis, livingwithMS
2 Comments:
I am also living with MS. I feel as though some of my relatives, my mother in particular, are trying to limit my decisions, cause they could "potentially, maybe, cause a flair up". I'm having a hard time with this, because if she's right, I have no right to put her through that pain, but if she's wrong, why should i live in fear. I'm 19 years old, and my first, and thus far only, MS attack was over two years ago. I want to celebrate this milestone by getting a tatto on my lower back, I've had earings and other things since, with no side affects, but my mother thinks something like a tattoo would cause a flair up. how would you handle my situation?
Oh my God... GET THE INK! I am 28 with MS and have been through pregnancies, tattoo's, lot's of late fun nights and you know what kills me the most? The heat of the damn summer.. if tattoo is what makes you happy, GET INKED!
Post a Comment