One more day after today and you won’t have to put up with any more jokes…for a while!
A man goes on photo safari to Africa and sees an elephant standing perfectly still, tears streaming down its face. He’s moved by the sight and approaches the elephant carefully. As he gets closer, he notices a large thorn stuck in the elephant’s foot. The man gently removes the thorn, and the elephant looks at him with gratitude in his eyes.
Years later, the man is visiting a zoo and sees an elephant in the enclosure. The elephant looks directly at him, then slowly walks over, reaching out with its trunk. The man can’t believe it – could this be the same elephant? Overcome with emotion, the man steps closer, thinking of their connection.
The elephant reaches out, wraps his trunk around the man’s waist, lifts him up in the air…
…and slams him against the wall. Turns out it was a completely different elephant.
I know, I know. Usually you want jokes to be happy, right? This joke doesn’t do that. Instead, it catches you by surprise. Now that I’m thinking about it, you might have to be a little sick to enjoy this joke. In any event, it mirrors a subject all of us with Myasthenia Gravis often face.
If you’re like me, things will be going along pretty well, when all of a sudden, and without warning, MG (my elephant) picks me up and slams me against a wall. Oftentimes, I can’t figure out what triggered it. All I know is I feel like I’ve been thrown against a wall. Perhaps I was too complacent. Perhaps I was so busy enjoying life that MG thought it better remind me who’s boss.
That’s the key. MG might think it’s boss, but it isn’t. It can affect my body, but it can’t take over my mind, as long as I don’t allow it.
That’s a pretty important phrase “as long as I don’t allow it”. Myasthenia Gravis can affect my mind, but only if I let it. If I remain strong and determined to fight it, my mind will be protected. If I see myself as a victim, MG will control my mind, as well.
Victim mentality is when you succumb to what’s going on around you and mentally feel helpless. Here’s the thing: You’re not helpless! When MG or anything else gets you down, you can do one of three things. You can either pull from your inner strength to regain control, you can seek professional help, or you can turn to God. Those are your only three options.
How do you pull from your inner strength? You look deep inside yourself, pull out your values, and use the strength your values provide to make positive steps against whatever is battling you. Have you ever been in a really tough situation and had to go deep inside yourself in order to overcome it? I bet you have. I also bet you relied on your values during those moments. Once you found your strength, you started to see light at the end of the tunnel. You summoned more strength and it continued to grow until you were able to fight whatever it was that was challenging you. You not only fought it, you defeated it. You battled, you won, and it felt amazing.
You’re not going to get rid of Myasthenia Gravis, but you can put it in its place. When I get weak from MG, I’m going to be physically weak, but no matter how physically weak I am, I can still summon my inner strength to fight with my mind. The last thing I want to do is to allow MG to also control my mind. It can only do that if I let it. If I remain mentally strong, there’s nothing MG can do to win my mind.
I can also seek professional help. There are all kinds of resources available. I’d recommend starting at https://myasthenia.org/ There you will find a host of information about Myasthenia Gravis and resources where you can obtain professional help either online or in your area.
What about those times when you feel too weak to mentally battle MG? That’s when you turn to God and rely on His power to strengthen you. I’ve had to do that more times than I care to count and each time He’s gotten me through. There’s nothing more powerful than God.
I know what you’re going to say, “If God is so powerful, why doesn’t he just heal me and relieve me of Myasthenia Gravis altogether?” He could. He has that ability, but that’s something you need to discuss with Him. If he removed all our struggles, we wouldn’t be prepared for any challenges that may arise ahead. Just know that whatever God has planned for you is what is going to happen.
I went into remission once. I didn’t get rid of MG completely, but it kind of went to sleep and barely caused me any problems. This lasted for a lot of years before MG returned. Maybe it was just God’s mercy or maybe it was because God felt I wasn’t ready to handle that battle at the time. My MG is back now, I don’t know why, but I know God has a plan. Because I put my total faith in Him, I know I will have the strength to battle MG this time. I’m grateful for the years of remission and ready to perform the work God has planned for me going forward. I’m ready for the mental battles.
I still get slammed against walls once in a while by MG, but I’ve learned to avoid strange elephants and to pick myself back up so MG knows I’m still in control of my mind.
An elephant is bigger than you, and so is Myasthenia Gravis. Thankfully nothing is bigger than God and you have Him on your side.