I dreamed a dream ... big deal! At least it proves that I finally managed to get comfortable and my mind finally stopped racing enough to allow me to drop off. Back to that dream before this becomes another "no sleep" rant, but first a little background. Yesterday I posted about employment and Parkinson's in general terms on a friend's closed forum. I can honestly say it was the first time I have addressed my employment related 'hangups' since leaving full time employment. At the time of posting I felt no emotions, lingering thoughts or anything negative. So I carried on with my daily routine and forgot all about it. Or so I thought ... So here's the thing, I was passionate about my career and really enjoyed what I chose to do for many years. Yes, it was physically hard work and some days were better than others but it drove me, challenged me, provided for my family and mapped my future. But my version of Parkinson's stopped my career prematurely, with my symptoms being so varied and irregular my job became impossible to manage. So now I move forward without the structure of a career, massive family insecurities and nothing but question marks about the future.
Now I'm no psychologist but I know that stress, holding onto difficult situations/memories and bottling up emotions aren't good for Parkinson's. So yesterday's post has released the pressure, allowing me to start to process my current situation. My dream was simple, I informed my employer about my condition. Which in turn, they recognised, accepted and most importantly worked along side me to ensure success. This ongoing process allowed me to build my professional confidence, which in turn allowed me to hit my targets and provided a positive version of the future. This wasn't exactly how my story played out but this sub conscious version of it appeared to somehow be a therapy!
That's enough about the employment angle, this blog is actually posing a question. How do we deal with the psychological barriers and stress associated with Parkinson's? Huge amounts of time and resources are invested in the motor function and cognitive aspects of Parkinson's and yet one of the biggest issues to those dealing with the condition is managing the stress it causes.
Getting together and sharing experiences and information is critical to understanding a subject and gaining a positive outcome. The power of shared knowledge and an understanding of the subject is the key!
Our family focused Parkinson's forum is there for you. See link below
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