"Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million, count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items, to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom, and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify. Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, but five; and reduce other things in proportion." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Where I Lived, And What I Lived For"---------------------------------------------
I watched a movie tonight "New Girl In Town" with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr. about a high powered Miami executive (Zellweger) who volunteers to manage the downsizing and modernization of a food processing plant in Minnesota and, in the process, falls in love with a city boy turned small town union representative (Connick, Jr.) and the community of citizens who leave an indelible mark on her "corporate" heart. The "new girl in town" finds herself in a culture that she does not understand or even knew existed and, in the process becomes the person she was destined to become.
As I reflected on why this movie was such a warm-hearted, loveable production, I realized that the screenwriter captured the essence of the human growth and acceptance process. Growth, meaning opening up of one's heart and seeing beyond what is on the outside, peering into the goodness of people who are different, and allowing personal change. Finally, acceptance of the changed person we have become.
This process is an all too familiar companion for those of us who have sustained a spinal cord injury. We have been suddenly thrust into a new habitat, not of our own choosing, where we have to learn a new language, adapt to a totally different body, arrive at a place of peace and acceptance of "what is", and, if we are very fortunate and successful on this journey, learn to embrace our changed self and find meaning in our new life. Where are you in this process? I'm becoming more used to my body changes, am trying to live in the moment, discover the meaningful endeavor that only I can fulfill and that will keep me motivated for the remainder of my life.
So, that's the challenge of being human with the added task of coming to grips with a "catastrophic injury". Thoreau's solution to a meaningful life was to simplify, simplify, simplify. Good advice for everyone. Where are you on the journey, this acceptance process? My advice is to ask others to be patient with you while you navigate this uncharted territory and learn to lean on their shoulders when you need support.
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