I am a big believer in visualization. For example, when I used to play baseball in high school and college I
put up motivational signs or goals to look at every day. This helped remind me of my objectives and
visualize a successful outcome. I even
do this today regarding my yearly performance metrics or business targets. Some may think this is silly, but I really do
believe it can help encourage you to reach your goals.
So I have taken this practice and applied it to what
Lindsey, Bexley, and I are facing with her disorder and treatment. I have the following checklist up in Bex’s
nursery to help push us to keep working with her to prevent spasms and improve
her developmental areas: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, etc.
I know this is “sports” themed, but being a competitive
person and former ballplayer this resonates with me. I can explain each bullet point to help
illustrate how it applies to Bex if that helps...
Pregame Prayer – Before you take the field, or before we
take on the day, we should pray for the strength to do our best. Bex deserves nothing but the best and we need certainly need help from above.
Stay Within Yourself – Don’t try to do too much! Basically, don’t press or push yourself. Right now we can’t cure Infantile Spasms…but
we can work on certain things with Bex that can limit or even prevent
damage/delay.
Compete on Every Play – Never give up, even when you hit a
dribbler to the pitcher. You run hard and never assume you’re automatically
out. The same can be said with our
effort with Bex. Even if it’s a simple
task like helping her play with toy rings to work on transferring…don’t take it for
granted because this could be critical for helping her develop.
Pick Each Other Up – You are part of a team and sometimes
you have a rough day at the plate. That
is when you need your teammates to pick you up.
Lindsey and I are a team and we know there are going to be days where
one of us will struggle, but that is when the other needs to step up and
provide support. There is no “I” in Team
Bex.
Learn from the Losses – There will be days we lose…whether
it’s a day Bex doesn’t want to cooperate with exercises/play time or a doctor’s
appointment that isn’t the most optimistic.
You take those losses and you figure out how to do better the next
time. We shouldn't be discouraged. We just
have to be realistic and learn from the experience so we can hopefully have a better outcome the next time.
Celebrate the Wins… - And most importantly, when Bex has a
great day or hits a milestone or we get great news from a Dr’s appointment, we
need to party like its 1999. There is
nothing wrong with enjoying victory and when you put in hard work you deserve
that celebration. However, you also need
to quickly look at the next opponent…or milestone to go after!
I don’t mean to be the prototypical jock with this list, but
I do think it works for me...and Lindsey agreed it works for her too! That is one thing I love about my wife...she is just as competitive as me. In the end,
if it helps keep us motivated then that is all that matters. Besides, I always loved playing sports because I was
part of a team. I can’t imagine a better
team to be on than Team Bex!
#gobexgo
Well played!
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