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The Present |
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The Past
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All of a sudden, I realize I need to choose my words carefully. I say this because I could start to sound like I am showing off. Life is full of ups and downs especially if you have Ataxia. I do feel, however, that you need to live through the bad times to reach the good times. No matter how bad things may appear one must convince themselves " Look, one day soon, I am going to wake up with a smile on my face". Since CA diagnosis in 1999 I realized the importance of having a close knit circle of friends who also have Ataxia. I would take this a step further, and say, it is nigh on impossible to cope, without becoming part of the worldwide Ataxia community. It has certainly worked for me. Having a computer is a brilliant communication tool, whether you have Ataxia or not. For me, learning about Ataxia and what symptoms I am likely to encounter, was part of the acceptance process. Depressing but real.
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I have found myself saying to friends " that there are some advantages to being disabled". Another way of looking at it is we must squeeze the positive aspect out of every situation. I am retired on grounds of ill health so I don't have to worry about going to work everyday. Society supports me in a never ending number of ways. I have a free parking space in many public car parks ( if somebody has not parked their 4-wheel drive, there illegally). Having Ataxia is hard some of the time but after dealing with the hard times there is no reason not to enjoy life day to day. 'hope I can inspire you to deal with and try to accept the future and then start to accept that things could be worse.'
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