WE MOVE
204 West 84th Street
New York, NY 10024
E-mail: wemove@wemove.org
wemove.org • mdvu.org
Moving Beyond Luck
Move beyond luck: keep trying to find people, activities, and places that nurture you and keep you moving.
– Joy Hamilton
I have had symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease for nearly 10 years now. It was diagnosed just before I retired from my work as a psychologist in 2000. I was shocked and frightened by the diagnosis and read all I could about my options for dealing with it. I look back now with sympathy for that frightened person I was, thankful that Parkinson’s has not yet interfered with my life in important ways. I know that in part this is an issue of luck and for that I am thankful. But each of us has to move beyond luck and face our illness, doing what we can to allow ourselves to live our lives as fully as possible. These are the things I have done and I offer them humbly for whatever help they may be to someone else who struggles.
Relying on a good neurologist to help me make decisions about what medications might be helpful and when has been bedrock. One of the first things I tried to build on that bedrock was an exercise program. There didn’t seem to be much research-backed information about what exercise might be most helpful for early PD. Fortunately, I had been doing tai chi for several years at that time. This practice over time has probably contributed most to my ability to move through the winters and summers of my life without falling. I have continued a mostly-daily practice of this, recently adding chigong, a related movement and visualization practice that fills me with energy. Without guidance, I have tried many other kinds of exercise: walking, until arthritis interfered; snowshoeing; swimming; bicycling; yoga; lifting weights. I believe that any exercise is helpful, and that yoga and tai chi are especially so because they build an awareness of the body in motion that I can draw on in other situations.
A wonderful addition to exercise is massage to help tame the myriad ways in which our bodies tend toward the rigid and tense. I find an every other week appointment really helpful and a great relief.
I’m blessed with living in a small mountain town and having loving family and friends. It seems to me that finding at least someone that you’re supported by and connected to is pretty critical as you deal with the continual little and not-so-little surprises of this illness. And the mountain town part is important to me. The nearness of forest and lake and river has meant a great deal to me, and out of my love of this area has developed an avocation, photography.
I first used my camera to photograph wildflowers as a means of learning which was which. Now my husband and I share a photography business and show our work at art shows and in galleries. There are always new things to learn and new challenges. Photography keeps you vividly in the present and opens your eyes to beauty everywhere. With new things to learn and photographs waiting to be taken, my attention can thankfully be focused on other, more interesting things than my illness – a great relief!
So, my move beyond luck has involved caring relationships, exercise and massage, an appreciation of nature, and involvement in stimulating activities. I am thankful that this illness has challenged me to grow in these ways and hope that you, too, can somehow find the good in the difficult.
