New week...new beginnings

So it's Monday. Not a Manic Monday as the Bangles sang about, but rather just another day in my life. Being on disability and not working has a tendency to meld all my days together. If it weren't for the morning paper or my friends complaining about going back to work on Sunday evenings, I probably wouldn't even know when Mondays are here. Oh how I miss the days where I too was lingering through the house on Sunday evening, winding down from a long fun filled weekend with friends or family, doing laundry and getting myself mentally prepared to the week ahead.

It is silly, but I miss it. So many people say to me, "Gosh, it must be nice to not have to go to work." No, not really. I have had a job since I was 12 working in my mother's craft store, babysitting, or doing odd jobs for the neighbors. A real tax paying job since I was 16 and finally legal to work. I have never been unemployed in my entire life until now. People like me, don't NOT work. People like me are not built to be idle or to not crave interaction. We need to work. We need to move. So I have come to the only logical conclusion...I have the WRONG disease!

RA sets so many limitations. On days like this I tend to immediately begin lament on the days of the past, working in an office or running around chasing little ones as a nanny. I miss it and Mondays always seem to remind me of that. It is only until days like today, when I am sitting at my computer blogging to the world , that I actually think that I must be more optimistic. Mondays are beginnings of a new week. All beginnings are good. They are good by definition. A fresh start. So I remind myself to not sit and think about what I am missing in my life since the RA diagnosis, but rather to think about what this week may bring. What are my goals for the week? What would I like to accomplish? It doesn't have to be anything grandiose. It could be something as simple as writing that long overdue letter to my friend who is stationed in Iraq or cleaning out my dresser and removing the winter clothes, readying myself for spring. Simple yet productive.

So that is my advice for you and for me. New week means new beginnings. New beginnings means new goals. New goals means new accomplishments. And there ain't nothing bad with that, right?

Wishing you all good health and happiness.