Be Brave, Be Kind

Today is one of those days where I can't seem to zero in on a topic. Even with my convoluted way of writing/talking/thinking I can't link them into one blog post, and none of them are enough for a whole post. I can't find any way they are connected, except in my head (which as we all know is a very special place).

Some of them aren't my stories to tell, anyway.

Maybe that's my post. We'll try it and see where this goes.

I know a bunch of things, and recently learned a bunch of things. Some of these things fall under my “accidental knowledge” heading, and some things are just things that happened.

You might notice from time to time (like today) I'll say things like, “it's not my story to tell”. I wonder how many other people feel that way. For example, if someone I know needs prayers, I'll ask for prayers, but not mention the person's name. It's not that I'm trying to be deceptive or mysterious, I do it out of respect for their privacy. Especially if the friend hasn't posted anything publicly about it, I would never want to be the one to “out” them, or their condition.

I wonder what makes someone decide that it's okay to post about a situation or medical condition that is happening to someone else? What I mean is that I write about my MS. I don't write about my friends' conditions or my stuff that happens to other people, because none of those experiences belong exclusively to me. If I do mention something that doesn't directly concern me, I'll put it in the most generic terms possible because I don't want to tell a story that isn't mine. I write about my experience in a situation, but if it wasn't mine, you won't know the reason why I had that experience.

Am I making any sense? Well, let me keep writing and see if I can clarify, or if I have to start over. Again. And if I have to scrap this post, so be it.

Why this topic is weighing on my mind is because of something I learned yesterday.

I won't say what I learned, but I was thinking, “What if this happened to me, if I hadn't told anyone, and someone put it on the 'front page'? My family would read it in the 'paper', rather than hear it from me, personally.”

It was my choice to go public about having MS. MY choice. How would I feel if someone else made the choice to do it for me? What if I hadn't told members of my family yet, and they read about it in a casual mention somewhere? I would be angry, sad, and hurt if someone decided to tell MY story.

If you didn't know me before I started this blog, you don't know that I'm actually a fairly private and an introverted person. Except for family and some friends, no one outside of my neurologist's office really knew I had MS. I decided to share my experience living with MS, and I'm glad I did. I've learned so much from doing this, and I hope I'm not boring you too much.

I'm just glad that I didn't have the choice taken from me by some well-meaning person who decided that my condition needed to be made public.

Am I the crazy one? How do you feel about it?