Keep a Positive Mindset with Parkinson’s Disease: Suffering with friends is more fun: find a buddy

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(Lesson learned at U.S. Air Force Academy and in the military)

4th Class cadets (freshman) at USAFA get yelled at a lot. Sometimes it is for things that are completely ridiculous, other times it is because you didn’t do something correctly. There were often exorbitant amounts of pushups involved as part of whatever lesson they thought was being taught by all the yelling…

It was expected that if you heard that one of your classmates was being yelled at for something, no matter what, you stop whatever it is you were doing and go stand by their side and get yelled at with them, if they have to do pushups, you get down and do them too. Later on, together we would often find the humor in the ridiculousness of it all and soldier on.

Almost 20 years later, when I deployed to Afghanistan as an anesthesiologist, leaving behind my husband and two young daughters, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. When I arrived at Bagram, I was grateful to see so many familiar faces. The Chief Trauma surgeon had been the cross country team captain at USAFA when I was a freshman, my best friend from USAFA was one of the orthopedic surgeons. The psychiatrist and ophthalmologist had been running buddies during other military assignments. Having friends who were going through the same thing made it much more tolerable and together along with several new friends, we found a way to have fun despite everything else.

In 2024, I ran in the para-athlete division at the Boston marathon. It was so awesome to meet other runners with Parkinson’s disease. I learned so much and gained so much inspiration to meet others who have been living with PD for much longer than me and are still running and having fun doing it.

When you take on a challenge or are learning to deal with a difficult medical diagnosis having someone by your side who also has the same challenges makes everything 100x easier and can even help turn something that would have otherwise been hell into a very positive memory when you look back on it.

Find your people and help each other…it will help you accomplish your goals and you will get even more joy out of helping others achieve theirs and helping them through difficult times.

In Parkinson’s social isolation can be a very big problem, especially if you are trying to keep your diagnosis a secret or are no longer working. Find a social network and others who are going through the same thing— even if you are a giant introvert (like me)!

Next: Set Achievable goals: celebrate their accomplishment

Menu: Tools to Maintain a Consistent Exercise Program

Boston Marathon 2024 -Everyone in this photo has Parkinson’s Disease