Don’t Rush

This is something I’ve learnt over the last few years. Trying to rush when you have ataxia does not work, it will lead to further loss of balance, tripping up and falling over. Once when the lovely dog walker came the dog rushed back to the sofa so I went to rush and get her. This resulted in me tripping, hitting a cupboard and falling to the floor where I just sat in shock.

So physically I can’t rush, I have to move slowly, take my time and think about what I’m doing.

Last Friday the dog threw up on my lap and in the sofa. In the old days I would have freaked out and rushed to clean it up but nowadays I think about how to handle things so I just sat with vomit on my lap with the following thought process and action

1. Eww the dog just threw up on me
2. Ok it’s on my jeans and the sofa blanket
3. I need to get off the sofa without touching the vomit or spreading it as well as getting the dog off without her trying to eat it.
4.  Get the dog outside whilst stripping the blanket off the sofa and putting it in the garden as my balance was not good enough to deal with it that evening
5.  Get the dog inside, remove my slippers.
6.  Get upstairs and into pyjamas taking care not to get vomit on anything else.
7. Put jeans in washing machine to get clean.
8. Put a new blanket on the sofa.

These thoughts and actions may only take the average person a couple of minutes but it took me 15; doing everything slowly and carefully and not rushing.

If I go down the stairs slowly and am not hurrying it really p****s me off when the person I am with tells me not to rush. I can’t rush. If I try to chances are I will fall and injure myself.

So I take my time, do things at my speed and DO NOT RUSH!!