How to Live Day to Day

Living well with a bad diagnosis may be easier said than done. Bad diagnosis. Suddenly, your world changed. Everything was different. Rehab was the most important time consuming activity that kept some of my days busy.

It still is my major focus. It is now my job.

Every Sunday, I look at the week ahead and begin to make my lists. Always have a list. It gets me out of bed with the anticipation of what the day will bring. Of course the plans can be immediately changed if someone contacts me for a last minute cup of tea or lunch. It is always a fluid list.

It is important to get up, pick up the house, make the bed, get my makeup on and do my hair, and get out of the house. Isolation is the beginning of depression. Get up. Get out into the world.

I try to build the week around the orchestra rehearsal, doctor’s appointments and rehab. Everything else is fill-in. Grocery shopping, Target, paperwork, yard work and errands all must be spread throughout the week so not too much is happening in one day.

This usually works. I am tired at the end of each day but not exhausted. Energy conservation. That is always the goal. It is the constant challenge of living well with a bad diagnosis.