So I’ve been feeling a little down lately. My health has been lousy for what feels like forever and I’ve barely written two words in months. I feel like a terrible activist. What have I contributed to the world? I’m not working a “traditional” job (what is that, anyways?) and I’m not writing.

Ugh. Feeling pretty useless.

I think it’s time to remind myself that sometimes just being has to be enough.

It’s a hard lesson I’ve had to learn over and over during these last six years since my spinal cord injury. Sometimes, when you’re sick, in pain and tired, and especially when these gawdawful periods of misery stick around for a while and won’t go away no matter what you do, it’s enough to just…. be.

Just “being” is a learned skill.

When you’re sick and in pain, it means learning to have patience with your body and not get frustrated. It means being grateful for the things your body can do. It means accepting your body’s limitations, trying to understand where the pain/illness/fatigue is located and doing whatever it takes to give your body what it needs (nourishment, rest, exercise, medicine, etc).

There are many days when just being means taking things one minute, then one hour and then one day at a time. Otherwise, the pain/fatigue/sickness would just be too unbearable.

Just being means there will be days, weeks, months, and yes, occasionally, years where the most you can do is lay on the couch and read a book or watch Law & Order reruns.

That’s okay. Sometimes just being is enough. You know why? Because tomorrow is another day.