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Light at the End of the Tunnel

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With 2018 in our review mirror we can see how things turned out; and some of us are glad it’s over. Many of us might be looking to the future and wondering if there is light at the end of the tunnel. So many people on the journey of special needs/disability have so much on their plates. There’s always:

  • the full time care of their loved one (child or perhaps a parent)

  • the paper work that goes along with hospital stays or visits

  • doctors appointments

  • therapies (physical, occupational, and/or speech)

  • the governmental paper work for some 

  • and the list goes on and on.

Being in the special needs loop, I have many friends who walk this journey and we do it side by side. 

I watch the never-ending list of duties all done with love and often with exhaustion. 

I see the lists. 

I hear the stories.

I sense the frustration.

And many of us are asking, “Is there light at the end of the tunnel?” 

But it’s a new year. And with each new year we get a new start. We can make new decisions and choices. We can make resolutions (and break them.) We can take what we learned from last year and make a better this year.

For many of us, what tops the list is caring for ourselves. Likely we’ve gotten really good at caring for others, making decisions we know are good for them, and following through, but sometimes we forget about us. So, how about if this year we start making some changes so that light at the end of the tunnel is a bright sunshiny day and not the proverbial train coming straight at us! Sometimes we have to ask for the help we need. Sometimes we just need to stop and reassess. And most of the time we need to just do it. Just do something for us:

  • Read a book? 

  • Take a walk?

  • Take a nap? 

  • Watch a movie?

  • Go out for a cup of coffee? (…and finish it)

  • A short trip?

  • A long trip?

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 Let’s be real…it doesn’t have to fancy or costly; it just needs to refresh us.

So, here’s to the bright sunshiny day at the end of the tunnel for 2019! Go for it!

Dr. Joe and Cindi Ferrini are authors, speakers, and bloggers for several blogging sites on family and special needs. They speak nationally for FamilyLife Weekend To RememberMarriage Get-a-Ways, authored UnexpectedJourney – When Special Needs Change our Course, and have been interviewed on Focus on the Family, FamilyLife, and various other radio and television venues. Connect with them at www.cindiferrini.com and social media at: www.facebook.com/cindi.ferrini, www.facebook.com/UnexpectedJourney/,