Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave
I now have a note that I read first thing each day...you must get things done irrespective of how bad you may feel.
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Abso-effin-lutely!!! When I had my stroke, my entire left half of the body was 100% paralysed. Being awake was bein in pain from the strain of tthe right side muscles trying to compensate for this dead body basically wanting to flop under gravity constantly. To break through the paralysis I had to constantly consciously move what I could to force the brain to find neural routes to get left side muscles working again.
My internal slogan to myself was "its all exercise". No matter how small and insignificant every single thing I did helped train the brain to figure out getting the left side doing the unconcious things that we arent aware our bodies constantly do. Bit like putting on noise cancelling headphones we arent aware of the hum thats around us at all times. Paralysis suddenly hits home how much our brains and body are working constantly. And 42 was too young to be stricken such, and nowhere near able to retire.
Plus being alone i have no choice regardless, stuff needs doing i have to figure out how to do it on my own. I saw so many type of people in mytime in hospital and those who sat around feeling sorry for themselves or were dependent on their spouses for help with everything these were the ones who failed to improve at all. So their short term comfort is a bit better but long term their spouses pass on etc and they are prisoner to their dependence.
So Alex "you must get things done irrespective of how bad you may feel" is so very correct. "it's all exercise" too and thus gets easier to stick to in time. Having the strong willpower I feel is important to your quality of life to the end. Theres lots of personal satisfaction knowing you "did that", etc.
Ending up in my situation wasn't planned or anything and certainly not a way I wish to live with. But don't sit by in life assuming you know where you are headed, the universe may have other plans. If you want to take the lazy route thats fine but when everything hits the fan and you're ingrained to not do stuff for yourself that you know are the right things to do, dont assume anyone will be there to help when you face being constrained from doing them yourself. Life can very easily become so difficult no matter what you think, what your worth, etc, none of that really matters. Alex is i think doing the right thing, persuing his interests at his own level in his own way as circumstances change. As Ive had to do, and one day it'll be a personal choice you all will face as you grow old.
What would be cool is a retirement village for astronomers / astrophotographers. Paid for with our gear, containing maintained permanent observatory setups for imaging around the clock for all aspects of observations and shared by all for use. So as we age and start downsizing our personal setups we could be pooled together for the help and likeminded companionship.
