Hi,
I hope you will come to the website very often. My inner strenghth is driven from reading the board messages and participating. It is a great haven for me to share my thoughts and my feelings. I have had two strokes, and they still don't know why. My main thing at first was to find out the "why" but after a year and a half I am now not asking but changing the course of my life to shift and adjust to the turn in the road my life has taken. I have found a lot of good as I don't ever take anything for granted anymore. In an instant my life changed, twice. I have found ways to adapt to the way I have to do things, which has been quite an adjustment. But looking back I can say I have come a long way over the time. The body needs a lot of rest to heal not only the physical but the emotional as well. I find music of great comfort to me. My husband works a full time job and is my caretaker. He is great as he is always there for me. I try to do the things I can, and only then does my husband offer a hand as he allows me to try to do as much as I can without injuring myself. I am not afraid of asking for his help if I need it. He knows me so well he can guess when I need assistance and when I don't. We cherish every minute of life we have as it is so precious. I am a true believer in God and don't know what I would have done without his strenghth. I find great comfort in reading the book of Psalms and saying prayers as I believe strongly in the power of prayer. I feel we have to look at the things we can do, but sometimes it is in ministeps as far as progress, and sometimes with a few steps backwards as well. I know God has a plan and I accept every day as a new day to try to do what I can and don't sweat the things I can't. I try to conserve as much energy physically and mentally for the things I need to do. It takes a lot of time and we need to allow ourselves to adjust as we are able and not by others standards. They think because you look good you should be like you were prestroke which I think is never the case as we are all changed in some way by the stroke. Allow yourself to be human as we have a lot of emotions and they seem to be at the forefront once you have had a stroke. I am looking at the opportunities and goals I set in small increments and try my best to reach them, if I don't attain them I don't beat myself up for them as just something for another day. Best wishes to you and I hope you find inner peace within yourself, which takes time.