Now What?

I  made a huge decision this week to step down from my role as Administrator of Arthritis Queensland Support Forum, a forum for women with inflammatory arthritis.

I’m still a member of this amazing group and will actively contribute but it has become increasingly obvious, to me and my husband, that I need to focus more on my health and well being for a while.

It has been such an honour setting up the closed Facebook group which now has 800 plus members. We started with 30 members 12 months ago. Lots to be happy about as I pass the baton to others. I know it will continue to grow and provide amazing support to so many women battling what is so often an invisible but debilitating disease.

I will miss the opportunities though that came with the role. The opportunities to really connect and care for amazing women who are struggling daily with elements of life that so many with good health can just take for granted. I will miss welcoming new women to the group and keeping them in my thoughts and prayers. I can obviously still do some of that as a member but just not with the intensity I have been. My passion and enthusiasm in serving others in the forum has, to a large degree, been a little detrimental to my health as I’m not good at walking away from something I love to do when I need a rest.

So, now what?

I feel I have made the right decision and I do want time to focus on writing and working out how that can best be used as a tool to serve others. Might be time to get serious about writing that book or maybe there will be more regular blogs. Who knows!

At the moment I do need to rest and recuperate from my last surgery, plus I have a battle ahead still working out with my medical team why my bone marrow is being affected (which is a little scary). There are more surgeries ahead too.

Life always has cross roads. We all at some point in our life have to make decisions that change our direction. I have had to do this on many occasions and I never do it lightly. As I look back nearly all the changes in my life have been because of a change in my health.

A new diagnosis, a more debilitating symptom, the need for time out to recover from a health episode. This is the reality of living with a chronic disease, no matter what that disease may be.

I feel blessed though that I have always had a stong faith and in times of change I can turn to God and seek his guidance. Each time one door has closed, eventually, not always straight away, a new direction presents. So as I take time out to contemplate and renew my strength, both physically and spiritually, I will await ( as patiently as I can ) the answer to “Now What?”