Groomed

This morning, I took our dogs to be groomed. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you know we have two Standard Poodles. Oakley is a 4 year-old male and Teeter is a 1 year-old female. We have them groomed about every 6-8 weeks.

Standard Poodles are different than a lot of dogs in that they have hair, not fur. Most dogs have fur, which means each fur follicle will reach a certain length and then stop growing. They will blow their coat (shed) as the seasons change. Standard Poodles, on the other hand, have hair, kind of like a human, which means it never stops growing, so you periodically have to get it cut. That’s called grooming. Just like human hair, a strand of hair on a Standard Poodle may fall out once in a while, but they don’t shed or blow their coat. That makes them easier on people with allergies.

Going to the groomer is always a stressful time for Oakley, whereas Teeter just goes with the flow. Oakley, for some reason, hates change. He prefers just staying home, sleeping, going for walks, and eating treats…. especially eating treats. When you introduce change into his world, he begins to stress. It’s not that he’s afraid of the groomer; it’s more that he knows his normal routine will be interrupted. He actually likes our groomer and loves the attention she gives him, but he would prefer living his normal routine.

It’s always an exciting time when we pick the dogs up from the groomer. Prior to their grooming appointment, their hair is usually overgrown and they look a little shabby. When we pick them up, they look so beautiful and regal. They even enjoy it more because their shorter coat is so much easier in the hot weather of Louisiana. Besides, who doesn’t feel better after a day at the spa?

On my drive back home from dropping them off, the idea hit me. What if people with Myasthenia Gravis started grooming?

Myasthenia Gravis is kind of like having too much coat. It wears you down. It’s hot. It’s uncomfortable. The only thing that would make us feel better is removing the burden of MG. That doesn’t mean cure ourselves. At the current time there is no cure for Myasthenia Gravis….for now. What I mean is what if we removed ourselves from the emotional burden of MG? Wouldn’t that make us feel better?

I can’t stop the symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis, just like my dogs can’t stop their hair from growing. If, however, I become determined not to let MG get me down, maybe I could alter my attitude and perhaps refresh the person I am inside. Maybe that starts with how I look and feel.

Yesterday we talked about habits. What if I made it a habit to look at the world as a gift from God? Instead of focusing on the aches and discomforts of MG, what if I could focus on being an ambassador of happiness and good will? What if I always wore a smile, regardless of what’s going on in my world? What if I showed compassion to others instead of constantly focusing on my own personal issues? What if I become someone others wanted to be around? What if seeing my smile caused others to smile?

That’s a lot of “what ifs”, but ideas don’t become alive until we consider the “what ifs”.

The MGFA slogan for this year was “For a World Without Myasthenia Gravis”. It would really be nice if that happened. The problem is that’s not within our individual control. What is within our individual control is the way we react to having MG.

I can choose to let MG get me down or I can choose to make MG inspire me to do more. That’s what I’m talking about when I suggest getting groomed.

If I meet each challenge with determination, if I focus on who I am instead of what I have, if I become the smile that infects a crowd, if I can become the person others want to be around, then my grooming will refresh me. I’m still the same me, I still have Myasthenia Gravis, but my true beauty will shine through for all to see. All the despair, the feeling of being helpless, the fear, will be shaved away to reveal who I really am inside.

When I pick up our dogs from the groomer, for the next several days they don’t walk around, they strut around. They know how good they look. Eventually their coats will become dirty, their hair will become overgrown and they won’t feel so good about themselves. They’ll go back to walking. A trip to the groomer refreshes that.

If you groom yourself to display the very best of you, people will take notice and you will strut, not walk. If you don’t continually groom yourself, you’ll start looking shabby, but you know how good it feels when you’re at your best. That will provide you the incentive you need to keep grooming.

What if this year’s slogan was: “Myasthenia Gravis doesn’t define me; my smile does.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a future research study on Myasthenia Gravis made the following declaration:

“A strange phenomenon has been discovered in people with Myasthenia Gravis. A positive trend has developed among patients who have begun practicing the art of grooming. Data indicates MG patients who have implemented grooming techniques are demonstrating improved attitude, which significantly improves their symptoms and positively affects outcomes. Participants have a tendency to smile more frequently and have often been described as being uplifting to others. The underlying mechanism eliciting these effects has not yet been determined, but the data is sufficient to confirm positive results. When someone with Myasthenia Gravis initiates this grooming method, the benefits outweigh the negatives both in the patient and in everyone around them.”

Want to help me start a new trend?