Keep a Positive Mindset with Parkinson’s Disease: Find the humor in your faults

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Lesson #6: Find the humor in your faults (lesson learned from others with Parkinson’s)

It has been said that comedy is pain plus time. This is kind of an extension of lesson 3 and finding the positive and ignore the negative. It is also helpful to learn to laugh at yourself.

I was super fortunate to connect with Karen and Marc Jaffe a few months after my diagnosis. Karen is an ob/gyn physician who was diagnosed with PD about 10 years before me. Her husband, Marc was one of the original writers for Seinfeld. They started a foundation called Shaking with Laughter that has raised over a million dollars for Parkinson’s research and programs. Marc also wrote a hilarious article for the New York Times about how the side effects of his wife’s PD meds affected their marriage..

https://www.wbur.org/…/03/09/seesawing-libidos-modern-love

I also love this Michael J Fox video clip, where he helps us find the humor in our challenges.

Find a way to laugh at your weaknesses and embrace them for all that they are. They won’t just go away so you might as well learn to laugh at them. It is easier to keep a positive mindset when you can laugh at yourself for your challenges rather than try to hide them.

From Parkinson’s Silver Linings Facebook Group with permission of:

Julia McDonald: Diagnosed with PD in 2012 at age 60.

I discovered a silver lining to having pd. To set the stage, I was diagnosed 12 years ago at age 60. My main issue is tremors which are mostly controlled by 4 daily doses of c/l with an entacapone “booster”.

Ok, now for the silver lining. Whenever I get together with family we love to play games. The latest was yahtzee which involves “rolling” dice. With my tremor, the dice rolling took on a distinct action, which somehow allowed me to get several yahtzees and win several times. My family tried to duplicate the action, but were unsuccessful. Think I should try Vegas?

Sara at Paralympic Trials attempting to run the 200 m dash… still laughing about this one…

 

Next: Think optimistically about your future

Menu: Tools to Maintain a Consistent Exercise Program