Adversity Defined  

Fortune or fate; a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, or distress.

If you have a Chronic illness you do not need someone to tell you what adversity is because you come face to face with it everyday. It can start from the moment you crack open your eyes. When you painfully force yourself to get out of bed because your kids need to be sent off to school or to feed your pets that are trying to wake you up by licking your eyeballs open. We could just stay in bed but we know we have a greater cause or purpose in life. So we face adversity and move forward.

When adversity, passion, and determination are thrown together they can be very powerful, Many of the people that inspire us have overcome great adversities. The only difference between those that succeed in overcoming adversity and those that do not  is that they never gave up when they failed or were told they were not good enough. Failure is a part of success. Even when it comes to managing a chronic illness.

Short Video of some of the worlds greatest that faced adversity, failed, and succeeded

 One of the most devastating things for me when I was first diagnosed with fibromyalgia was going to the Doctor, being prescribed a medication, having so much hope that it would help me, and it failing to help me. After doing this for about 11 years I had to accept that mainstream medicine failed me and in a way I failed myself. I wasted years of my life with the hope that the next Doctor, medication, or therapy would be “The one” to make me feel better. I felt strong failure when I realized it would not help me and I wasted so much time. It was devastating. For a few months all I did was lay in bed and feel sorry for myself.  No one likes to admit they failed and I was giving into the failure. I had lost my job of 10 years working at Disneyland, I was 32 and living with my parents for the first time since I was 16, and on medications that made me not care about anything or anyone anymore.  What got me out of that funk I was in was doing research about fibromyalgia on the Internet and connecting to people that had fibromyalgia and were living full and productive lives. I asked a lot of questions and that is when I realized that I had my entire life ahead of me. I had no right to give up and just survive! I was determined to live again! From that day forward I changed my mind set from “fibromyalgia sufferer” to fibromyalgia survivor”

It’s All About Attitude

The old me would wake up in the morning and dread another day of pain. That would be the first thing I would think about when I opened my eyes. No wonder why I was so miserable. The new me opens my eyes and thanks The Universe/God for another day on earth. If I am in a lot of pain in the morning when I wake up I thank The Universe/God that I am alive to feel pain! It sounds silly and may even be irritating to some that I would be grateful for pain but did you know there  are people that do not feel any pain and their life is at risk everyday?  Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA) is a rare disease. Individuals with CIPA lack the ability to feel pain, sweat, regulate their own body temperature and are hyperactive. They don’t fear things that hurt. The inability to sweat puts individuals at high risk of heat stroke which can result in brain damage and death. The body generates heat just by moving around. Typical people expel this heat by sweating. When CIPA individuals do daily activities their body temperature elevates because the heat has nowhere to go. So YES I am grateful for pain. There is always someone worse off then me and I remind myself that on days I feel sorry for myself. There are those that continue to amazing me with overcoming great adversity. Some of them are members of FibroTV! These are they people I strive to be like and these are the people I look up to daily.

This next video is something I watch when I am not having a good day. It gives me a attitude adjustment and makes me laugh in the face of adversity!

Nick Vujicic. Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, without any medical explanation or warning, Nicholas Vujicic came into the world with neither arms nor legs. Throughout his childhood Nick dealt not only with the typical challenges of school and adolescence such as bullying and self-esteem issues; he also struggled with depression and loneliness as he questioned why he was different to all the other kids surrounding him; why he was the one born without arms and legs. As Nick grew up he learned to deal with his disability and started to be able to do more and more things on his own. He adapted to his situation and found ways to accomplish tasks that most people could only do by using their limbs, such as cleaning teeth, brushing hair, typing on a computer, swimming, playing sports, and much more. As time went by Nick began to embrace his situation and achieve greater things.According to Nick, the victory over his struggles throughout his journey, as well as his passion for life can be credited to his faith, his family, his friends and the many people he’s encountered during his life who have encouraged him along the way.