Love & Hate

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

It seems as though there has been a collision between love and hate in this world! We may find it difficult to find a balance in life when there is so much controversy everywhere we look, but it so important to at least try! I believe some allow themselves to be influenced by hatred and it tends to consume their lives. I can not help but ask myself why this is happening. We all deserve to be treated with love and respect no matter what our personal beliefs are. Why is it that it is so much easier to adopt hate into our lives and abolish the love in our hearts? It is my opinion that if there was even a little more love and a lot less hate the world would be a much better place!

I am a firm believer that it is essential to be kind to others! We never truly know what someone else is going through in life, but our kind words might be just what they need to change their perspectives. We may not fully understand what that person is battling, but we can at least try to empathize with them. No matter what is on the surface we all have struggles in life and sometimes need a little encouragement! We all want to triumph the struggles we face with dignity and grace! No one should ever be scrutinized for how they choose to deal with their daily struggles but be fully supported with love!

I hope y’all had a great day today! I am continuously astonished by all of your fantastic comments on my posts as well as your own posts that you share! Each and every one of you have so much strength and passion that is incredibly inspirational! It takes so much resilience to push through chronic illnesses and pain, but y’all do a phenomenally with this everyday! Continue to be positive because as I have said so many times it is so important as it pushes away the all negative from your life! Thank you for stopping by today and please leave a comment on my thoughts for the day! I am always sending y’all love and comfort!

Always, Alyssa

Mystery Blogger Award Nomination!

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

I am completely astonished and honored to have been nominated for this amazing award. Thank you so much Mackenzie for your support and faith in me! Mackenzie is incredibly positive and inspiring, y’all should check out her amazing blog, lifewithanillness.com. I am more than certain you will enjoy her phenomenal writing as much as I do!

Mystery Blogger Award:

“It’s an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion.”
Created by Okoto Enigma.

The rules are:

Put the award logo/image on your blog.
List the rules.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify).
Share a link to your best post(s).
My answers for Mackenzie questions!
- What’s your biggest goal for 2018?
My biggest and most challenging goal for 2018 is going to be reduced my stress levels! I am and always have been one to stress myself silly about everything, but I want to change that!
- What’s your favorite holiday?
I think my favorite holiday is New Year’s because it can be the start of wonderful new things in life!
- If a genie gave you 3 wishes, what would they be?
If a genie gave me 3 wishes the first wish would be to cure illnesses for everyone! The second would be for there to be more happiness and hatred for everyone. And the third wish would be probably a little selfish but to live in an area where there really are 3 seasons!
- If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go?
I would absolutely love to go to Australian.
- If you could only have one type of sandwich the rest of your life what kind would it be?
My one sandwich for the rest of my life would be turkey and cheese.

Three Things about me:

I love all animals but am way more attached to my 2 cats
I guess you could call me a girly girl who loves to shop online! It is not that I have to stay current with fashion, I just love shopping when there are deals!
Even though I deal with my chronic illness that causes a lot of pain, I am a pretty decent snowboarder!

My fabulous Nominees:

Kim91
I tripped over a stone
Msgracefulnot
Wrightwithms
Crystal with MS
Upwardjourneys
Camie’s Cozy Corner
The Bipolar Brat
MS//Mommy
Dinosaurdonkeysandms

Just a few questions for my Nominees:

What is your favorite exotic animal?
If you had a magical wand, what are 5 things you would do?
If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go?
What is your favorite color?
I know y’all have many, but what do you feel is your biggest strength?

All of my posts do come straight from my heart but I think 2 of my best posts were

What is right for YOU?
Be True to Yourself!

To all my fantastic nominees and everyone else reading this, I hope you are having a great day and feeling well. I am looking forward to reading your answer to my questions! I love getting to know y’all, even if my questions are unusual! Always keep your positive attitudes because it will make a huge difference if your life! Much love to all of you!

Always, Alyssa

Community blog- keep it mindful group now up and running.

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

My very dear friend Kim is very passionate about starting a Facebook group for those suffering with illness. Both Kim and I have MS, so we have been chatting a lot about what we deal with. Her blog has been wonderful and what her plans are to have a nice support group is very admirable! All her information is included in this post that I have re blogged. Her blog is definitely worth checking out and joining her support group will be great!! Sending you lots of comfort and love!!

KeepItMindful

Hi everybody, this is more of an update really. I wanted to create a community. I want a place for those dealing with difficulties to be able to come to and share and express feelings day to day with the comfort of knowing we will help, we will listen, we will be there. I am dealing with MS and a lot of people with chronic illness showed interest, I want us to have a safe haven and this will be the place for it. We can get to know each other and be there to help people’s down days, problems but also we are all normal people. We can laugh together and get along knowing we are not judging and most importantly we understand.

I’ve created a closed group so it is just between us so just request to join and I will accept and just leave a comment, let…

View original post 46 more words

What is right for YOU?!

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

There can be so much confusion, frustration and sadness when you are first diagnosed will any illness. The doctor’s want to talk about medications “they” think you should take and sometimes they want to rush you to make the decision that affects your body. I think it is obviously important to listen to what they have to say; after all they are the “experts” so they should know what is best for medicine, right? But they maybe the expert with medications and illness but you are always going to be the expert in your own body!

I can remember when I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis my doctor wanted me to start something immediately. He had it in his own mind what was going to work best for me. Considering I was young and in complete shock I did not question him too much and just went along with his suggestion. Of course 17 years ago there were not as many disease modifying medications as there are today, so my choices would have been limited anyways. The disease modifying medication he suggested did not work for long because I was not capable of doing my own shots, but we live and learn through events like this!

My best suggestion for anyone that has been diagnosed with any illness is, do as much research as you possibly can! Research the illness you have been diagnosed with, so you have a better understanding of what you are dealing with. Then research the medications available for your specific illness. The decision on medications is very important because it can slow the progression down of your illness. You need to feel comfortable with you decision because you are the one in control of your health!

Dealing with any illness is very difficult so it is extremely important to have a very strong support system! There might be times you need to vent out your frustrations! It can be vital to have at least one person that will be understanding, encouraging and listen patiently! During times when your illness causes you to feel worse than normal having someone there to help with daily tasks is fantastic. Of course I am not one that is good at asking for help, but if my pain issues get bad enough I will eventually ask for some minor help.

Acceptance is probably one of the hardest things. But, once you know what you are battling, have done your own research and made an initial plan for how you want to manage your health, you are off to a good start! As time passes your plans may change and that is okay. You have to learn to be flexible because life is always changing! I have also found it very helpful to find a hobby that is almost an escape from whatever you have been exposed to. It is mentally helpful to have something that helps you relax and hide away from reality in short-term!

I hope y’all have had a nice weekend! Are you ready for another Monday and start to a new week? I can honestly say that I am never ready for Monday because it is just a rude awakening to another long work week! On a positive note at least we are still here living our lives! I have been working 6 hours days so I may try to increase my hours for this week but we will see how the days go!

Thank you for visiting my site today and making comments! I always love to read what you have to say. Y’all have the ability to open my eyes to new views which is so amazing!! I hope you have a great and relaxing evening! Much love to y’all!

Always, Alyssa

Reflecting on 2017

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

I know there is normally no use dwelling on the past because it is more important to look towards the future, but reading some of my previous posts got me thinking. There was a lot of talk about pain in 2017. Everyone probably already knows that Multiple Sclerosis does come with a fair amount of pain but does talking about it really help? I know that writing about the pain did not make the pain magically go away, but in a way it helps to get those negative feelings out. Sharing my story with many people I unfortunately have not met in person and hearing their stories made the situation a little less lonely.

Living with an invisible illness can make people feel a little isolated at times. Granted for the most part my family understands my illness and is understanding, but when I go to work not many if any of my co-workers really know what I live with. When I park in a handicap parking space at the grocery store, not because it is impossible for me to walk but because it does cause unnecessary pain to walk far distances, people look at me like I am committing a crime because I look perfectly normal. I have learned to not allow the judgments of others to affect my life but sometimes the looks are a little disturbing. I will never take the last handicap parking space at any store because another person might have a more severe condition and need it a lot more than I do. I always try to be considerate of others even if it does in turn cause me a little extra pain.

I have had Multiple Sclerosis for almost 17 years, but in October I had a ferocious flare up that caused me immense troubles. I was out of work for over a month on short-term disability which caused me some emotional troubles as well. All I could think is why am I only 36 years old and already on short term disability? Is this only going to continue on this path and force me to be viewed as a disabled woman? As crazy as it might sound I felt a vast amount of shame with this. I did not want anyone besides my direct manager to know anything about this so I did not have to deal with any ignorant comments when I did returned to work. Thankfully the short-term disability did not extend and I am slowly getting back into the swing of things at work. I am not working a full 8 hour day yet because it is not worth pushing myself too hard just to have a setback. It is called prioritizing, I am learning to put my health first and put my job second.

Pain is inevitable and continuing to live life is not optional. I still battle pain each day, but I refuse to give up. I want to be able to live a normal life even if my normal is different from others. We are given a chance to enjoy our lives no matter what challenges are we encounter. I am trying to fight my pain and MS with a positive and optimistic mind-set, it might not work every day but I will not allow these issues to control me!

I hope y’all are having a good weekend! Hopefully you are feeling well and staying warm! These crazy cold temperatures have made me want to stay inside with my blanket and heating pad. According to the weather channel the temperatures will be on the rise next week, but whose to say that will last or really even happen.

Thank you for visiting and commenting on my thoughts of day! I always appreciate hearing what you have to say and do always respond as quickly as I can! I hope you have a great and relaxing evening!! Much love to y’all!

Always, Alyssa

Positivity can be motivating!

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

Throughout our lives we are faced with many challenges. At times we may feel defeated by these challenges when in fact they are making us stronger. It is often very difficult to see the bright side of a bad situation because everything seems so dark and hopeless. But I do believe in some way these trials that leave us questioning life are building our strength for the next step in life.

In my opinion it takes a lot more energy to stay negative than it does to be positive. I am also a firm believer that positive thoughts can change our lives for the best! Whatever our struggles are in life we were dealt this hand for a reason. One reason without a doubt is we are strong enough to handle it! Maybe we were meant to help others that might be having a difficult time accepting the same ordeal. We might be offer sound advice or offer a lending handle to someone in need.

Many people each day are being given life altering news that they are trying to learn to cope with. More than likely the news is causing some fear and anxiety in their lives. Most of us have experienced this before and we probably have people in our lives currently dealing with something similar. It is astonishing how much a phone call or doctor’s visit can change your life completely. It is in times of bad news where having a positive attitude can be very beneficial.

Life will never change if you spend all of your time focusing on the negative aspects life can have. Negativity can be emotionally and physically draining. Please tell me if you feel different, but I find that when I am down and negative I feel so much worse. I can remember back when my flare up started in October, I was so down about it and felt so cynical about everything I hardly wanted to get off the couch. During my pessimistic time, my condition did not improve at all but persistently got worse causing me so much additional pain. Now that I am thinking with a more optimistic mind, I am starting to feel better each day. I still face a terrible amount of pain daily but it could be much worse than it is now.

It is so important to always remember the good things in your life. Try taking a few minutes everyday to appreciate your life and what you love! Sometimes all it takes is enjoying the simple pleasures our lives offer to bring us happiness!

Thank you for stopping by to read and comment on my thoughts for today! I hope y’all had a great day and are staying warm. Continue holding onto your positive thoughts and fantastic outlooks on life. It really is amazing just how much these happy and positive views can impact your life for the better! Much love y’all!

Always, Alyssa

Freezing Cold Temperatures

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Positively Alyssa

It seems that the frigid temperatures are not just isolated to the north anymore but have expanded into the south. The temperatures in the south have not gone about 32 in several days and we are facing more chilly days this week. Some areas are even expecting 1-3 inches of snow. Snow is beautiful to see but not so friendly in the south. With just the anticipation of snow businesses and schools are talking about closing tomorrow. I grew up in the north so to me 1-3 inches of snow is very mild.

What I can say about these freezing temperatures is it makes my pain skyrocket! I guess it is because I get so tense with the cold air I cannot help but stiffen my muscles. I have found the best thing to do to combat these issues is dress very warm, make sure to heat my car before leaving the house and always have heating pad available at home and work! I know it is winter and it is supposed to be cold, but living with a chronic illness that already comes with a lot of pain, the cold weather never makes it any better!

This might sound crazy considering I am not a big fan of the cold, but if it is going to be this darn cold we need a little bit of snow! They are expecting snow to the north of where I live but not actually in my area. So we just have to deal with freezing temperatures without the sight of beautiful snow covering the ground which does not seem right! I will admit one reason why I would love for it to snow is my office would definitely close for at least a day! If it snows I would not have to leave the house and could just stay nice and warm snuggled up on the couch with my adorable cats!

Now that it is finally a new year, how is your year going so far? I was very excited for 2018 because I think it is going to be full of wonderful opportunities. I am hoping for so many positive changes both for me personally but also around the world! I know I have already said this, but I am hoping 2018 is going to bring love and respect back into everyone’s life. I feel strongly that respect has been lost and I am not sure why. It seems that people are very quick to pass judgement onto others without getting to know them first or at least trying to understand them! I am the type of person that treats everyone the same and always try to be kind and compassionate. The truth is, we never know what another person is going through in life unless we ask and offer our assistance. Kind words and actions can go a long way in making someone’s day better!

I hope y’all had a great day today! I really appreciate all the comments y’all have made on my posts and I love getting to know you better! I feel like I have learned so much from so many of you and it really has been beneficial to me! I said in my New Year’s post that I am going to start writing about more things that I am passionate about which will give you an idea of who I really am as a person. I hope you have enjoyed my previous posts and I hope you will continue to enjoy my future posts! Have a fantastic night and try to stay warm! Always hold onto positive thoughts because they will help through the hardest of times in life! Much love and comfort to all of you!

Always, Alyssa