I don’t know if you’re a Seinfeld fan, but I always enjoyed watching that show. I still enjoy watching the reruns. It was a show about “nothing”. It was supposed to be about whatever happened that day. Now, of course we know each episode had a theme and the characters played toward a certain topic, so it wasn’t really about “nothing”, but it was a good premise. They never knew from one day to the next what was going to happen.
Myasthenia Gravis is kind of like that. You never know what your day’s going to be like until you’re living it. One day you feel like taking on the world, the next day you can hardly get out of bed. One day you’re experiencing nearly no symptoms, the next day you’re choking on your own spit. (Sorry, maybe that was a little too graphic.)
The entire premise of Seinfeld was that each day was different and each day the characters were exposed to new situations. It might be Jerry sabotaging a relationship with his latest insignificant other because he discovered in them some minor flaw. It might be Elaine with her on-again, off-again relationship with Puddy. It might be Kramer adopting a section of highway and deciding to change the traffic pattern. It might be George getting discovered as a hand model, only to end up scarring his greatest asset. Each was challenged with daily adventures and each survived until the next.
By the way, didn’t you just love Festivus? The “Airing of Grievances”, the “Feats of Strength”, you gotta love Seinfeld!
When I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a good day. I woke up refreshed. I was still moving a little slow, but that probably has more to do with my age than MG. My symptoms were light. I think I’ll mow the grass today. No rain expected. Only 90 degrees and not 100. I don’t have anything planned. I’ll mow.
Yesterday when I woke up, I knew it was going to be a challenging day. I felt I hadn’t slept as soundly as I would have liked. I was still tired when I woke up. We took the dogs for a walk and I was drooling like Oakley when you’re standing in front of him with a treat. My eyes kind of gave me problems and my vision would vary from acceptable to blurry throughout the day. I knew there were things I needed to get done, but I really didn’t feel like tackling them. My legs ached, my voice was hoarse, and I was grumpy. My wife will tell you I’m always grumpy, but yesterday I was a little grumpier than usual.
How do the characters in Seinfeld deal with inconsistency? They focus on nothing and just go with the flow of the day.
Maybe that’s not such a bad philosophy. When I didn’t feel that great yesterday, I didn’t worry about getting a lot done. Today, now that I’m feeling better, I’ll take on some of my more physically challenging chores. I’ll go with the flow.
I’ve learned I’m much better off when I don’t plan a lot ahead of time. I’m much less stressed when I can react to each day as it comes. When I have something important coming up, I tend to worry that I’ll wake up that particular morning having a bad day. I stress until the day actually arrives. That extra worry makes my current day less satisfying. Worry equals stress. Stress equals not feeling good. Not feeling good equals bad day.
In other words, I can turn a good day into a bad day just by worrying that I’ll have a bad day on the day I’ve committed to doing something. Wow! That was a word salad!
Instead of worrying ahead of time that I might have a bad day on the day I have something scheduled, I need to just live one day at a time and adapt to whatever that day happens to bring me. Instead of focusing (and worrying) about something; I need to focus (and worry) about nothing.
Seinfeld should have had me on their show. My daily inconsistencies and my weird take on life would have made for some pretty comical episodes!