10 Things to Inspire – Fibromyalgia Awareness Day

May 12th each year has been designated as Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. For most of us suffering with Fibromyalgia Syndrome every day is really awareness day, as explaining this condition to others is part of the game. It is a “silent condition” that it is ill-understood. We don’t always look sick, but we may be exhausted, in pain, and suffering silently from one of the hundreds of symptoms associated with this. Fibrowarriors many of us call ourselves, as we just keep on keeping on. People may have heard the term from a drug commercial on TV or from the news of Lady Gaga cancelling part of her tour, but do they really understand it?

My mantra is: “I have fibromyalgia. It does not have me.” Cynthia Baughman

Tweet

Definition

Here is a description of fibromyalgia from the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association: Fibromyalgia (fy-bro-my-AL-ja) is a common and complex chronic pain disorder that causes widespread pain and tenderness to touch that may occur body wide or migrate over the body.  Along with other symptoms, pain and tenderness wax and wane over time.  Fibromyalgia (FM) affects people physically, mentally and socially.  Approximately 10 million Americans (2-4%) have FM with a ratio of about 8 to 2, women over men.  It occurs in people of all ages, including children. The literal translation of the word fibromyalgia is pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons. But FM is much more than pain and presents with many other symptoms that vary from person to person.

10 Quotes to Inspire

This year I don’t want to dwell on what FMS is or isn’t, because one day a year isn’t enough for conditions like this. I would rather inspire others with some words to get you through the day, make you smile, give you hope, and let you know you are not alone. There are others that empathize with what you’re going through and that care.

1. “Count your RAINBOWS, not your thunderstorms.” ~ Alyssa Knight
2. “I realized this week I can’t do it all. So I will choose to do what I can, FABULOUSLY.” ~ Clinton Kelly
3. “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not STOP.” ~ Confucius
4. “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
5.  “Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” ~Dorothy Neddermeyer
6. “Don’t judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes.” ~ American proverb
7. “I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.” ~ C. S. Lewis
8. “Hope is a renewable option: If you run out of it at the end of the day, you get to start over in the morning.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver
9. “Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” ~ Helen Keller
10. “Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation. It means understanding something ‘is what it is’ and there’s got to be a way through it.” ~ Michael J. Fox

Be strong, be kind, be aware. Have hope, have strength, have courage.

Wishing all of you a wonderful, pain-free, stress-free day! Do something nice for yourself.