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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » What’s on My MS ‘To-Don’t’ List – Everyday Health

To pass the time during this third wave of COVID-19, Ive found myself dipping in and out of several diddly little volumes. A bit of craic here, some sage advice there, and some mindlessly entertaining drivel now and again.

Funny, it seemed to me, to find a sage bit of advice in a book called Grumpy Old Wit. Even more absurd was that the piece of wisdom passed off as grumpy wit was attributed to the management guru Tom Peters.

Create, goes the quote, a to-dont list that contains tasks, rituals, and meetings that you should never waste your time on again. Then stick to it.

While Im confident that Mr. Peterss list is intended for important executives and high-powered leaders of business and industry, I think there is a solid plank in this pointer upon which to build a strong platform for living my life with multiple sclerosis (MS).

I know well the importance of a to-do list. Back in the day, I was even fairly good at managing myself and others using graduated running lists of priorities for multiple outlets and locations in various time zones.

Checking things off from such lists (or confirming that others had) gives one a sense of accomplishment, but also requires accountability to oneself to ensure that things dont fall through the cracks.

All well and good in either the business or the MS world. But what about to-dont lists?

The idea of looking back at various attempts Ive made during my decades of living with MS and jotting down those that were a complete waste of time (along with those with little or no net return) seems like a great way of turning negative experiences into positive outcomes.

Modes of exercise or weight loss that didnt work for one reason or another would be a good place to start for me. Various coping methods that were either unproductive or, worse, harmful would be up toward the top of my to-dont list as well.

But beyond the obvious, I think there is a lot of ore to mine in the discards of our previous attempts.

It could be some attachment to puritanism in our DNA, but we seem too often to regard ourselves as at fault if something doesnt work for us. We think we mustnt have tried hard enough or for long enough if an attempt falls flat. Rather, Id argue, some things just dont work or they dont work anymore.

Further, some things just arent worth the return on investment, monetary or otherwise. I think back on the long-term side effects of treatments for MS attacks, and Ill put those on the list. Perhaps they dont quite qualify as to-dont, but rather as only if as their echo can still be heard reverberating on my health.

Perhaps the most difficult, but possibly the most important, subjects to place on our running to-dont lists will be the people who have made the difficult parts of our life with MS more difficult or the good parts of life less good.

I know that for me, the toxic people in my life may be the hardest to untether from my habits. But they are likely also those who are most imperative to catalog and, paraphrasing Mr. Peters, stick to to avoid them sticking it to us again.

As I reflect on this idea, it may seem a bit harsh. A list of things to never waste time on again is a pretty damning list to put something or someone on.

If I think on it for more than a passing moment, however, I can see the extent of energy, pain, and self-doubt that would have been saved if Id recorded endeavors and antagonists, attempts and btes noires that led me down paths better not revisited.

Weve a finite reserve of energy and an ever-dwindling expanse of time upon which to spend that energy. Why then, please tell me, would we think it positive to step again on stones we know to be unsteady and that have before sent us unceremoniously skidding on our backsides?

No more. Im making an MS to-dont list and Im sticking to it!

Wishing you and your family the best of health.

Cheers,

Trevis

My book,Chef Interrupted, is available onAmazon.Follow me on theLife With MS Facebook pageand onTwitter, and read more onLife With Multiple Sclerosis.

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What's on My MS 'To-Don't' List - Everyday Health

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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » What’s on My MS ‘To-Don’t’ List – Everyday Health