The Lighter Side of: Free Time

The idea of free time is a complex one.
People who work several jobs or do nothing but work are often desperate for some free time. We have a tendency to spread ourselves too thin by joining various activities, loading our schedules full, and then wishing we had more time to just relax or try something new.

Then there are those who are forced to stop working, or those who retire, or those who become injured, who are faced with this instant gift of limitless free time.
That may sound like a dream, but this can be quite overwhelming for people, especially those who have all the free time in the world but who also have physical or financial limitations. That much free time is wonderful if you can try a bunch of new activities or take vacation after vacation, but if you are on bed rest, stuck at home, or do not have the finances to take vacations, boredom can quickly set in.

Whether or not it is chosen, sudden unending free time can be a massive adjustment. Free time - like big spaces - can be overwhelming.

Free time, though, once you are faced with it, can be an immensely positive thing, even with physical and financial limitations.

The Lighter Side of Free Time is being able to explore parts of your personality that had been previously squandered. It means being more involved in the lives of friends and family. It can mean trying new things, learning new hobbies, and finding new ways to entertain yourself. Maybe someone who has always hated books suddenly finds a genre they enjoy reading. Perhaps we can listen to podcasts or take a free educational course online. We can reorganize our priorities, our lives, and our interests and find what truly brings us joy.

Being stripped of any specific portion of one's identity can shed light on how we can define ourselves in other ways.

Sacrifice (Part 2): Medications

This is part 2 of a multiple-part series addressing some misconceptions about people who are chronically ill or who have specific disabilities.
I am attempting to discuss some of the stigma surrounding the medically ill with some basic (some hypothetical) examples.

Here is part 2 of this series.

Medications

I think we are all painfully aware of the multitude of side effects that can accompany medications. Even taking allergy medications, over-the-counter, can result in reduce cognitive functions. It can impair memory, multi-tasking abilities, and other sensory perceptions.
If we add in common pain relievers, laxatives, sleep aids, antibiotics, or anti-nausea medication, we add in various unexpected side effects.
These side effects can affect many different systems. Our digestive system may be affected, our mental capacity may be altered, we may feel more ill, or have muscle spasms, feel more tired, or require special dietary changes. All of this can affect how we do everything in our daily lives. Even beyond medication, anything that we ingest can have unexpected side effects. Caffeine consumption, essential oils, alternative therapies, natural supplements, these all have effects on our systems (which is why so many people use them). If they have an effect on symptoms, they obviously create changes in the body, which means they can result in unwanted adverse effects.

A person who has a chronic illness is likely on more than one medication, treatment, supplement, or therapy. No matter what the illness is, medications or remedies will have some effects that are unexpected. So their illness is reducing their capacity to function to a certain degree in one section, and then whatever this person takes or does to help ease the symptoms of their illness is likely reducing function in one or more additional sections.

In effect, someone with chronic illness has issues that affect their every day life because of illness AND because of whatever they take for their illness.

Medications/treatments/remedies/therapies RARELY provide solely positive effects. Taking medication for an illness does not usually mean that this person's overall health will automatically be improved. It means that some symptoms may be easier to handle and others may become worse. Finding the balance that is most comfortable and most productive for the individual is the goal. Unless there is a known, all-encompassing, cure, every chronically ill patient will suffer in some capacity for life. They will have to sacrifice one symptom for another, one ability for another, one side effect for another.