Are You More Than Your Disease? Tell Us How in the #MoreThan Campaign

There's a new campaign in town that I'm very excited about. It's called #MoreThan and it's sponsored by the phenomenal website PatientsLikeMe whose mission is to put patients first by partnering with over 500,000 people who live with 2,700 conditions. That's extraordinary, don't you think?'

ALS * Bipolar disorder * Brain injury * Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME * Crohn's Disease * Depression * Diabetes * Epilepsy * Fibromyalgia * HIV/AIDS * IBS * Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis * Lupus * Mood Conditions * Multiple Sclerosis * Organ Transplants * Parkinson's Disease * Psoriasis * PTSD *  Pulmonary Fibrosis * Rare Diseases * RLS/WED * Ulcerative Colitis * and much more

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The campaign is a unique way to showcase why we are so much more than our disease. We won't let illness define the incredible, beautiful people we are. We may live with some crazy symptoms but we're also mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, friends, coworkers, artists, engineers, mechanics, lawyers, athletes, teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs......

You can read my story on why I'm #MoreThan my MS at PatientsLikeMe.

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[ctt template="5" link="59Ayk" via="no" ] Are you more than your disease? Join the #MoreThan campaign Tell us why U ARE more @cathyches @patientslikeme[/ctt]

Take a look at this video to get a sense of the incredible people who are already part of the #MoreThan campaign.

“We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.” ~Author Unknown

Now it's your turn to join the campaign. It's simple. Follow the next three steps and you're done!

Together we are the answer!

campaignBefore you go I hope you take a look at why John is #MoreThanMS. I loved hearing him tell his sweet story on why he is so much more than his disease.

I hope you join this campaign. I can't wait to read why you are #MoreThan your illness.

Why The Hell Should I Keep Writing?

After our summer of sadness we're now focusing on the sale of our house. Don't say congratulations! I know you mean well, but as I'm sure the immediate world knows by now (because I talk and write about it ad nauseum) I don't ever want to leave my home.

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We're in the throes of looking for a place to live. The rental market is HOT in our area so it's easier said than done. Our days are filled with cleaning closets, donating books and clothing, calling realtors, visiting properties, interviewing movers and hiring contractors to finish up the buyer's punch list. 

I'm also trying to keep up with the responsibilities of my job as well as taking care of my family, our fur babies and my MS.

I’m doing my best to gain a healthier perspective about pervasive feelings of sadness. I've never been good with change and we've had more than our share lately. I’m trying to focus on the idea that life unfolds in ways we never imagined. We have to try and lean into the ride, be flexible about our circumstances and accept what is. It's all about letting go and moving on with as much grace and dignity as possible.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I thought I'd offer an update on what I've been working on for the past few months. Writing and helping others is my passion. It's the fuel that keeps me going despite the craziness of the world. I hope you'll take a closer look at whatever strikes your fancy.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

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Photo Credit: MultipleSclerosis.net

This is my third year as a contributor and moderator for MultipleSclerosis.net, a Health Union platform. I am proud of my association with HU. They are kind and compassionate people who are devoted to giving a voice to those living with health challenges. As a moderator I answer readers' questions - peer-to-peer - on their Facebook page. As a contributor I can choose any topic to write about without editorial control. Here are three of my recent posts:

Five Ways to Help You Battle Stress and Anxiety

Four Ways to Help You Cope with Loss After a Miscarriage

Six Ways to Help You Manage Grief After Losing a Loved One

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Photo Credit: mscare.org

It’s a great honor to be the official blogger for The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) whose members provide care for more than 200,000 individuals all over the world.

As their blogger I've been blessed to conduct interviews with CMSC members for my blog, AnEmpoweredSpirit.com, and for MultipleSclerosis.net and The Huffington Post. Take a look at past interviews and stay tuned for more interviews in the coming months. 

What is a Rehabilitation Therapist and How Can They Help You? 

How a Professor is Using Social Media to Make Healthcare More Accessible

How Yoga Can Transform Your Life One Class at a Time

What Happens When Brilliant Minds Focus on Improving the Quality of Patients’ Lives?

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Photo Credit: MangoHealth.com

I've been asked to write several articles for an exciting new app called Mango Health whose aim is to “make it easy and even fun to develop good habits around daily health management.” Aside from their blog Mango offers ways to keep track of medications, record your weight, check your blood pressure and more. Give their app a try!

Check out my published piece for Mango Health, Living with Multiple Sclerosis: 4 Ways My Diagnosis Made Me a Better Person and look for more posts coming this fall.  

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Photo Credit: The Huffington Post

I'm proud to be a regular contributor to The Huffington Post where I educate readers about what it's like to live with a disability. Two of my recent posts are meaningful to me. If you have a chance please take a look:

How The New York Times is Creating a Compassionate World 

How is the Patient Perspective Creating Positive Change? 

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Photo Credit: msconnection.org

I was asked to write a piece titled How I Use My Voice for Better Patient Care for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society's blog, MS Connection. Using our voices and being active in the international registry,NARCOMS, is what will lead to better research and more effective treatments for MS.

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Photo Credit: themighty.com

I've written some pieces for The Mighty, a wonderful new website that helps us "face disability, disease and mental health together." I encourage you to check them out and while you're there here's one of my posts:

How Multiple Sclerosis Helped Me Like Being Different in a World of Copycats

Finally I've been doing my best to write weekly posts here for An Empowered Spirit. I hope you'll check out what I've had to say!

So why the hell should I keep writing? Because what helps YOU in turn helps me. What empowers YOU empowers me. What inspires YOU inspires me. What matters to YOU absolutely matters to me. So I'll keep writing until I can no longer write.

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ~Charles Dickens

Namaste.

 

 

 

I'm Back From My Writing Break And I Can't Wait To Tell You...

I'm back from my writing break and excited to share what I've been up to. I can't wait to tell you about our vacation in the picturesque Finger Lakes region of New York, and then my travels to Indianapolis for the annual meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC). In between I also tried some new products that I know will be of interest to my disability and midlife readers. 

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I thought the best way to begin my journey back would be to give you a brief synopsis of why I went to Indianapolis, because by now you're probably asking yourself, "What is CMSC? Why did she go?"

I was more than thrilled when June Halper, CEO of CMSC, asked me to be CMSC's first blogger! I was excited at the prospect of being part of the press corps on behalf of CMSC. As a patient I was happy to have a unique opportunity to speak with so many dedicated medical professionals who are my rock stars. In my work I read about them every day.

What is CMSC? There isn't a simple answer to this because the mission, goals and activities of this pre-eminent MS organization would fill an entire blog post. And then some. So let me start by handing the reins over to the CMSC website to explain their history. Then you'll have a general idea of who they are and why they are so important to the MS community:

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That is the (very) short answer of who they are. Over the next few weeks I'll be writing separate posts about the different talks and experiences I had in Indianapolis. Get ready to be fascinated.

I heard content that included the relationship between cannibis and cognitive dysfunction, approaches to psychotherapy, cognitive rehabilitation, dance therapy and robotics. There is something of interest for everyone.

In between these posts I'll  be writing about other topics that I mentioned above. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

It's good to be back in the saddle again. My fingers missed typing on a keyboard, and I missed interacting with you. So here we go! Thanks for waiting for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Would You Do If You Had Freedom From Fear?

Every day the good people at BlogHer send an email with a "prompt"  in case you need a little help figuring out what to write for NaBloPoMo. Yesterday's prompt resonated with me:

"If you could permanently get rid of one worry, what would it be?"

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If a Fairy Godmother were to miraculously appear before me asking me to make three wishes, I'd pull an old Abbott and Costello type answer by saying, "I want a hundred more wishes." Just to be on the safe side.

Screenshot of Katharine Hepburn from the trail...

Screenshot of Katharine Hepburn from the trailer for the 1942 film Woman of the Year (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But back to the worry question. It resonated with me because I was reminded of something Katharine Hepburn said many times. That the greatest gift her parents ever gave to her was freedom from fear.

“I don’t think I’m an eccentric, no! I’m just something from New England that was very American and brought up by two extremely intelligent people…who gave us a kind of, I think the greatest gift that man can give anyone, and that is…sort of freedom from fear." ~Katharine Hepburn

Freedom from fear. Can you imagine that? It must be an extraordinary feeling to fear nothing. Be your own person, do you own thing, never worry what others say or think about you, blaze your own trail. How marvelous.

Right now I can't imagine it, but I can almost feel how calming and empowering it would be. Ahh..

If I didn't have any fears (and if there would be no worries about money because c'mon, this is a dream!) the world would certainly be my oyster. Off the top of my head there are a few things I'd do immediately. They may sound trivial but for one reason or another I feel trapped and unable to do them for various personal reasons:

Freedom from fear must feel so liberating. But wait! What am I saying? There's still plenty of time for me to work on freeing myself from some of my fears. Let's face it, as we age it's healthy to keep moving by keeping busy doing what we love to do. Who knows? Maybe someday you'll read about me:

Academy Award Winner for Best Screenplay and Grammy Award Winner for Best Song Cathy Chester sets new world record for oldest woman to skydive at age 99! 

What would you do if you had freedom from fear?

NaBloPoMo: My Thirty Day Challenge Of Writing To Hone My Craft And Build Stronger Connections

I have joined the wonderful insanity of the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) Challenge. For the next month I've made a commitment to write a post every day as a way to challenge myself to keep writing and hone my craft to become a better writer.

NaBloPoMo

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." ~Benjamin Franklin

I also decided to join because I love the community feel to this challenge as well. It's a bit terrifying to write a post a day for 30 days. But a bunch of incredible bloggers convinced me at the last minute to take the plunge and dive into these uncharted waters, so now I feel less anxious and much more excited.

Floating alongside of them will be a pleasure, and it will be a joy to cheer each other on.

It's important for my readers to know that my posts will continue to be relevant to the mission of An Empowered Spirit, to live a healthy and vibrant life after age 50. So I hope you continue to come back here as often as possible to read what fascinating and topical material I'll be covering, no matter how short or long my pieces will be. Here we go!

NaBloPoMoHave a wonderful Sunday.

A Post About Nothing But Friendship

Call me crazy, but this post is for me. Right now, I need to write for the sake of writing, to find words, sentences and paragraphs that will lift my spirit and soothe my soul.

I hope it will lift your spirits, too.

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Writing is cathartic for many; I am no exception.

This week I wrote about ways to cope with stress, including being silly with friends and spending time with loved ones.

Life is getting in the way of taking my own advice.

BFFMy three closest friends live far away.  We've known each other since grade school. The last time we were all together was thirteen years ago.  Two are identical twins.  The four of us drove to New England to spend a long night of partying to celebrate their fortieth birthday.  It was pure Nirvana.

My other friend lives close by, but as a filmmaker she's constantly travelling the world.  We are as close as sisters.  So I know when I don't hear from her for awhile, she's firmly ensconced on a movie set.

I took two enjoyable philosophy courses in college. Boston College is a Jesuit school, and this Jewish girl learned a lot from the taskmasters who were my professors.  I am deeply indebted to them.Besties

I remember learning about Plato's Perfect Plane, interpreting his theory to mean we are all meant to find an ideal world to live in.  My ideal world would be living near my best friends who lend me comfort, understanding and unconditional love.  As I've written before, like Lucy and Ethel or Mary and Rhoda, they are my BFF, my besties, my BFFL.  They are my comrades in arms as we journey through midlife together.

I have one more new bestie who is my MS bestie, yet she's so much more.  We met through our shared job as Peer Advocates for Teva.  She calls me her Yankee and I tell her she's my midwestern mama.  We laugh, cry and empower each other.  She's my new BFFL.BFFL

We are each blessed if we have one best friend for life.  I've been blessed four times.

I've also made new, good friends since turning 50, ones I hold dear in my heart.  They hold my hand as I learn this new thing called blogging.  I hope they hold me close to their hearts as well.  They are each intelligent, compassionate and extraordinary women.  I am blessed once again.

There, I finished my post.  I was right.  It WAS cathartic.  I've felt my friends surrounding me with outstretched arms, loving souls and understanding hearts.  To each of you, I say thank you.

 

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