Part of what I love about our community is the willingness to create and hold space for tough conversations. We know that living with and caring for someone with a movement disorder brings hard conversations and together, as a community, we lift each other up and support each other through them.
In our homes and around the world, we are likely having similar conversations about the elephant in the room – the rise of the Delta variant and the return of COVID restrictions and with it, panic. As I watch the news, I find strength reflecting on what you, our community, have taught me.
People living with chronic illness are all too familiar with peaks and valleys. How sometimes you try a new medication and it’s one step forward and two steps back. Or you implement a new physical therapy regimen that works wonders, until it doesn’t. Symptoms that change rapidly and sometimes without warning. Navigating these ups and downs, you’ve taught me we MUST enjoy today, not worry about tomorrow or rue the broken promises of yesterday.
COVID has forced these uncertainties on millions of people. Welcome, rest of the world, it’s hard, isn’t it? As we continue to hang in the limbo of ‘are we moving forward or backwards’, I return to you and all that you have taught me. That resilience isn’t just being tough or bouncing back from adversity. It’s born of and fostered by living through challenges. It is how we persevere.
So, let’s keep moving and facing the new-old challenges that COVID is presenting us. Together, we are stronger. Together, we can have hard conversations and do hard things. You are already doing them – and for your inspiration and friendship, I am more grateful than ever.
Sarah Jones, MPA, MS Strategic Design
CEO, PMD Alliance
