Making Every Moment of Everyday Worth Living

Where did this year go? When I was young, I always asked my parents, “Is Christmas coming pretty soon?" I always got so excited. "Can we go buy presents?” "When do we get to open presents?"

Now, I want to pull in the reins and say, slow down there. I’m thinking let’s go back to May first. Why? Well, we could have almost an extra six months in the year.

Would I get these projects done that I keep talking about? Probably not. Would our finances improve? I doubt it. Would our families find more time to visit, especially those who live quite a distance from us? No. They're so busy, too.

Reflections on the potential of more time

What would we do if we had an extra six months to live? No, it wouldn’t even seem like extra days, I don’t believe.

Now, remember, I'm only talking about my own goofy and often serious self. This is my journey in this COPD life.

We all handle our journey differently. We likely all look back on them differently, too.

So, I say, “Today, at this moment, I can live!" But tomorrow? There are no guarantees beyond this moment.

I don’t want to live this special moment by worrying about things that I have no answers to. I could worry and come up with new scenarios. I could write a mystery novel, or would I tweak it to be a romance novel? My ending might be better, yet it could be worse.

Navigating life's challenges

We have to be careful what we ask for. Maybe we would spend so much time focusing on what we think we could do to live a better life that we forget to live.

The last couple of years have been tough. Health seems to get in the way.

My husband recently had a triple bypass surgery. One daughter has serious health problems. Our great-grandson was delivered early, in January, because of his health and my granddaughters. My granddaughter is still considered missing. A close friend passed away today.

My COPD is better. However, asthma can be worse for some people.

For all of the time that I spent trying to improve this life, it was passing me by. That isn’t providing a quality of life or giving me more time.

If anything, it’s likely that I would be setting myself up for failure. So focusing on it only causes more time to flow.

Failure for me would be getting more frustrated because I couldn’t fix or change it—losing time. The good times that I could have spent with my husband and our families might possibly have been wasted. Knowing me, I could have spent it in guilt, thinking, “If only I woulda, coulda, shoulda have been available more, chatted less, etc.”.

Choosing positivity and connection in hard times

It’s important that “I” realize that "I’m" the best person at my pity parties. One of my favorite sayings is, “I like a little cheese to go with my whine.”

I’m actually feeling pretty good about things. As time goes on, things are looking different. I’m learning to put things into a different and more positive perspective.

Times are tough. Finances tight. Environments can be overwhelming with the scents, smells, environments, and more. I might only be able to do a few group gatherings in person: birthday parties, restaurants, and even outdoor events. Our families are 70 miles to 1400 miles away from us.

Those that I don’t see really seem to be that far away. We meet with phone calls, messages, and FaceTime. It’s fun to send snail mail cards and letters out to family and friends. The youngsters and the oldsters really appreciate the cards and letters the most. I so love FaceTime. Did you know that you can snap photos from FaceTime? They can be so fun.

Overcoming loneliness

COPD can be a very lonely disease. It can be normal to feel sad, especially when getting the things that I appreciate the most, like photos, videos, and phone conversations about the event. I feel sad when I feel left out.

I realize, too, that much of my sadness comes from fear of being forgotten. They wouldn’t know how very much I loved them or how much I cared.

COPD has empowered me to know that I need to open my heart so that I can see and feel strong, brave, accepted, worthy, trustworthy, and trusted.

Check out our stories and forums. There are so many wonderful stories that our authors and members have written and shared.