What keeps you going through the hard times?

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Digits

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what keeps you going through the hard times?

Everyone has something, some story, item, momento, or feeling that keeps them going throughout the horrible days when you dont want to get up and face the world or the porcelain throne.

when i was younger (and still) i would read constantly to keep my mind off the pain, all the myths and fiction and murder mysteries i could get my hands on, and i become transfixed with the story of the Phoenix, and thats what kept me going, i even got one tattoed on the top of my foot, where during treatments and in bed i can look down and stare at it, and say to myself i can do it too. i can come back from anything, even deaths door.

what do you all have that keeps you going?

(oh, its a phoenix that looks like a bald eagle, because eagles are vicious and my states icon...)

tattoo001.jpg
 
Just the solemn realization that life, no matter how shitty it gets at times, is WAY, WAY better than our only other alternative... so one might as well make the best of it.
 
Hey, if one tries to look at the lighter side, one could say it's my IBD big 'D' that keeps me going... and going.. and going.. Wellllll, you get the (lame) idea
 
My family is what kept me going. When I was at my worst my son was only 10 months old. There was no way I was going to give up on life. I wanted to see him grow up. He's now 2 and continues to amaze me and keep me going.
 
hmm...

Well to escape, movies and video games are about all I can use, but as far as an idea that I can utilize to keep positive, I'm sad to say that I have no such thing except picturing myself better in the future. I want to be a fireman but this flare up has undone much of my progress. I won't let it stop me and I keep trying to remind myself as soon as this flare dies down, I'll be in remission, and I keep remembering how grand life was without Crohns (remission is almost like being without it to me).

edit: oh and I should add my girlfriend and a future with her I suppose keep me going, I'm young and I hope to have a long life of joy ahead of me...
 
:) I'm with Butt-Eze - I have four children inder 8 and their little faces do wonders - and their hugs.
 
First and foremost my family. I would feel like I'd be letting them down if I just gave in and didn't fight to get better.

The second thing is, is that I feel there is some lesson for me to be learned from this. I haven't figured out what that lesson is yet but I am sure in time I'm figure it out. And if I can learn from the lesson and be able to turn it into something positive for someone else then none of this will have been in vain.
 
I did give in for a while. I then realized I'd rather feel miserable and be happy than feel miserable and be miserable. ;)

I love the tattoo by the way!
 
Drew, sometimes I think kinda like that. I think that if I do something great in my life not only will I have scaled a mountain, I did it with a incurable inflammatory disease. Just seems so much more impressive. Not that I actually want to scale a mountain.
 
AbstractDonut said:
Drew, sometimes I think kinda like that. I think that if I do something great in my life not only will I have scaled a mountain, I did it with a incurable inflammatory disease. Just seems so much more impressive. Not that I actually want to scale a mountain.

same here. I want to be a fireman but this flare up has destroyed my life as far as that by putting it on hold from expenses, health, weight loss, medication, it all is a barrier I intend to knock down.
 
Good music and films can be a distraction unless you get that pain where your glad you don't have a gun near by.
 
I know one lesson I have learned so far is that I used to be judgemental of people who I didn't even know. I'd look at someone's weight or whatever and think they weren't taking care of themselves or something. I also made a joke about my good friend being super skinny and milky white and as it turned out he has crohns too, I didn't know until we went out to lunch together one day and I asked him why he wasn't eating a big kahuna burger and he told me and I responded "well that must just suck". Not more then 6 months later, I was the skinny, milky white crohns guy myself.

Point I'm making is that I learned that far be it from me to judge someone at face value without even knowing what they may be going through in their life. We each face obstacles and issues each day that we don't promote to the world for various reasons (like us crohns folk who are embarrassed) and it'd be nice if people would give us the benefit of the doubt before making blanket assumptions. So I can say, despite the pain, the meds and everything else; Crohns has made me a better, more compassionate person then I was pre-illness.
 
Hey, we all make 'face value' judgements... And I'm neither excusing it nor am I 'condemning' it. I think these 'snap judgements' , 'first impressions', whatever one wants to call them... stem from our knuckle dragging ancestors and the whole 'fight/flight' instinct. No matter how 'archaic' those leftovers are, thing of it is we just cant' turn them off/on at will. Just need to realize they are within us, and at one time served a purpose... and to rein them in whenever they do raise their heads. Like, frinstance... the company I work for now, they are the nicest group... really social, warm, friendly. Absolutely great atmosphere, not at all like the cold, tense atmosphere where I worked in IT for last 10 years. I have already been to one of their socials, and had an absolutely great time. I am tempted to attend the next... a pool party, followed by dinner and movie. There are a number of really attractive women working there, and the thought of seeing them in their swimsuits is quite appealing. But the thought of me in bathing trunks at a pool is far less so.. The six pack is now soft, I'm as white as a sheet, I'm all scarred up from the operations, and I'm sooo old to boot! It cuts both ways... that instant 'judging' thing. Figure if I went, I'd look like the leftover turkey carcas from Christmas sitting in the fridge in late January even.
 
I read... I've always been a book worm, so it's worked out nicely. I cant count how many times I've been sitting on the "throne" with my face pressed in a book or a magazine. Keeping your mind focused on something else during the worst pains does help alot. Afterwards... IDK, I just think about the people I love and the people I've met since I was diagnosed that live with WAAAY worse health issues then I do. It's humbling.

And always remind yourself that "This to shall pass" ...literally.
 
Digits said:
Everyone has something, some story, item, momento, or feeling that keeps them going throughout the horrible days when you dont want to get up and face the world or the porcelain throne.

when i was younger (and still) i would read constantly to keep my mind off the pain, all the myths and fiction and murder mysteries i could get my hands on, and i become transfixed with the story of the Phoenix, and thats what kept me going, i even got one tattoed on the top of my foot, where during treatments and in bed i can look down and stare at it, and say to myself i can do it too. i can come back from anything, even deaths door.

what do you all have that keeps you going?

(oh, its a phoenix that looks like a bald eagle, because eagles are vicious and my states icon...)

tattoo001.jpg


I Luv eagles. I have several from the franklin mint and other places. Some from friends.
Hey I should post some of them on pictures.
 
Lots and lots of reading, and my folks. Thank goodness for family, because it has been eye opening to see who your real "friends" are after all when going through hard times. When I feel better and strong enough, ballet class (ballet is my biggest passion in life) or even just thinking about ballet class when I am not well enough to go helps me a lot. :)
 
Well when I get sick I think there must be a reason. I feel like I'm suffering for other people. Maybe my being sick will lead them to a place they have to be. Maybe it get's them onto the right road. I also play my guitar. I have a really small acoustic guitar that's perfect for sitting up in bed and playing for hours on end. It takes my mind off of eveything bad that I'm going through and brings me to a new place. Have you ever seen those people that do shows putting bricks on their stomach and having someone hit it with a hammer. Well these people are able to do this by placing their mind in other places. One guy puts his body into water so from the neck down all he feels is warm water. Then they hit him and he get's up and walks away. I kind of take that approach by putting myself in a world of music so I don't feel anything anymore. I have come out of the trance like state with lot's of crap in my pants though so that sucks because I didn't feel it.
 

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