MS Strength

I’ve been off the radar for quite a long time (noticing that the last post to my personal blog was months ago. CRAP!) I’ve been so busy doing online graduate school as a social work student and also volunteering at my local hospital’s patient information desk. This work had been very fulfilling, and I might add, comical! So many silly things happen at the desk and I really go there now for the entertainment!…Aside from all this I am basking in the fact that I haven’t had– to my knowledge– a new, acute attack in THREE YEARS (when I originally started this website.) I attribute it to the slower pace and the pacing of myself. Sometimes I really want to do more, but this moderation has been good for my health…..If you come across this post as you peruse the internet, I wish you the most optimum health and joy and good fortune! Because life is SO much like Texas Hold’em poker: it requires a little bit of skill and a WHOLE LOTTA luck.

Peace and Joy—

Jen

Dalai Lama: “Spiritual practice involves, on the one hand, acting out of concern for others’ well-being. On the other, it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do so.”

Just thought this was so eloquent and true. I love the Dalai Lama’s ideology, quiet intelligence, and life force. I’m not a follower of organized Western religion (early Catholicism beat it out of me), but I definitely consider myself spiritual. I think this hits the nail right on the head and I appreciate the Eastern religions’ values placed upon the population as a whole— worship is not just viewed as a vehicle for individuals’ wants, needs, desires, and ultimate redemptions. Selfless and what I imagine true spirituality to be.

A few things are changing around here. For the past couple of years I’ve been (somewhat) satisfied with being a safe haus frau, writing from home, and having the occasional jaunt out during the week to volunteer or visit with family members/friends. Working from home has been a blessing in terms of keeping me employed part-time (I also receive Social Security benefits, which took 2 1/2 years of scanty employment, complete hardship, and tenacious interactions with the Social Security Administration to receive.) But now I need more. I need an outside, part-time career. For my own sanity.

I’m starting graduate school at the end of August. I’ll be doing an online distance ed Master’s of Social Work— MSW— program and it’ll take between 3 – 4 years, with clinical rotations, to complete. The clinical rotations will be separate from the classes, and they’ll require about 18 hours of in-person work a week. As the turtle, I’ll be very slowly and steadily taking this program one course at a time for 8-week increments pretty much year-round (I WILL get a little time off between 16-week semesters!)

At the same time, I am now making and will continue to make some needed changes within myself to be more than I currently am. Some important tweakings. How can I be of service to anyone if I have unaddressed issues of my own? So a more cohesive Jen. And two of the initial areas I’ll be addressing will be my inner and outer strengths. I’ve found a local yoga studio, the Center for Health and Healing, which will have me work the front desk on Thursdays from 9 – 3pm in exchange for unlimited free yoga classes and 1/2 price massages. It’s finally time to get out and do some yoga! I’m pretty excited and I think the 6-hour commitment each week will help me slowly build my outside work endurance (I’ve been maintaining about 8 hours of weekly sedentary volunteer work thus far.)

I believe in my mind, my heart, and in my soul that I can maintain about 12 – 20 hours of mostly sedentary work each week. No more long hours on my feet as an ultrasound tech. But this is fine with me, as I believe in my mind, my heart, and in my soul that I can be of service as a medical social worker, and now’s the time to begin this new chapter in my life.

Yoga job starts bright and early next Thursday morning…