The Tough Mudder is a hardcore obstacle course designed to test your strength, stamina and mental grit. There are even electric shocks along the way to keep you motivated?! The course emphasizes teamwork and camaraderie, but its more about completing the course and pushing your limits, than it is about speed.
Caregiving is my Tough Mudder. It's a long race I'm on, and just when I'm feeling pretty good about it and think I have got it under control, I hit another obstacle (an electric shock if you will). There is nothing consistent or expected with Parkinson's. It's a constant rehearsal of things you hope will continue but pray won't. There is no training for this job. Even those who have run this race before you, have run a completely different race with different obstacles and different outcomes. So, we muddle through the mudder as best we can.
We have been on this journey for more than 27 years now, and in some ways, it isn't any easier now than it was several years ago, in fact, it's a lot harder in many ways. The key is to keep being persistent and not give up or give in.
Lately, I've been feeling discouraged and worn out--certainly a human response for a journey like this one. But I've decided I need to look at all the great blessings we have instead of wallowing (as much as I'd like to wallow--I get more sympathy😏). And we DO have an enormous number of blessings! It could be so much worse. All I need to do is look around at my fellow seniors in our Independent Living Community, to see how much worse it can be. Yes, our lives are challenging. But would I want to trade places with someone else? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I believe God knows what we can handle, and he gives us just enough grace for the day to take care of it. Isn't that amazing?
As the PD Dementia gets worse and the body no longer cooperates (his or mine) 😉, I'm trying to remember all of the positive things that we have and all we've learned throughout this process. That really makes the road much more pleasant to live with, and to love with.
So, here we are, almost 3 decades into it. This is one tough mudder, but we'll keep on keeping on and focus on the good things we've been given to take us on to the next part of the course!
We're up for it. Are you?
