Years before joining the Army crossed my mind, I was a Boy Scout. We learned all sorts of skills, earned merit badges, and, of course, spent lots of time hiking and camping. I have many fond memories of those scouting years, but one lesson I remember in particular was what to do if you’re lost. The first and most important step: “Stay where you are.”
The Boy Scouts may not have invented that piece of advice, but it’s a sound one. You’re more likely to be found if you stay close to where you were last seen than if you wander so far afield that you need a passport. There are other things to do when you’re lost, but staying put is the priority.
Living with a chronic disease like multiple sclerosis (MS) is, in a way, like being lost. I often feel separated from others while staying in one place and waiting to be rescued (cured). Yet staying putwith MS is a hard thing to do.
When I check out new research and clinical trials, I often hear that I’ll have to wait and see. Since patience has never been my virtue, that waiting is hard sometimes. I want to see right now, to be patient zero in a groundbreaking trial. But my level of disability excludes me from most, if not all, such trials.
You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I’m tired of feeling lost.
Holding on to practical hope
While I’m waiting, I do my best to be what I call “practically hopeful.” If I were lost in the forest and didn’t know when I might be found, I’d still procure water, make a shelter, build a fire, and use that survival whistle I brought along. While lost in MS, I try my best to adapt my home, clothing, and more to fit my situation, and I use varied gadgets that I find helpful. What I don’t want to do is let my practical hope turn into desperation.
I won’t say that I’m always successful at that. I know that, under my usually calm surface, desperation is waiting to tell me there’s no chance of being found. Desperation wants to run in any direction, set fire to the whole forest as a way to be found, or use the trinkets sold by someone who preys on the desperate.
The American pioneer Daniel Boone has been quoted as saying, “I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks.” I’m still confused, but I’m hopeful, practically hopeful, and I’m waiting, even though I don’t like it much.
The U.S. Army Special Forces have some (very) unofficial rules similar to but more involved than the Boy Scout one. As one source describes it, the first is to “always look cool. The second rule is to always know where you are and what you are doing. The third rule is that even if you don’t know where you are or what you are doing [then] you should still try to look cool.”
Thanks mostly to multiple sclerosis, I’m not doing great at any of those, but I’m trying.
Originally published by: Multiple Sclerosis News Today
Written by: Benjamin Hofmeister