Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's Disease as most of you know, relayed some very good advice in a recent Ladies Home Journal. He said that as an actor he learned never to play the ending. Actors read the whole screenplay and know what is coming but the characters do not and the best actors are able to play their roles like characters who do not know the outcome. In real life, we don't know what the future may bring and it is a mistake to play our lives as if we did.

I'm going to take this to heart because I often anticipate and worry about potential problems that never actually occur or if they do turn out to be more easily resolvable than I thought. What if Will had taken the test long ago and decided that his time was probably too limited to do much with his life? Instead here he is, still symptom free with two careers behind him and a happy marriage. What if Barb hadn't kept at her doctors to find the right medications? Instead she finished the heirloom quilts for her family, raised money for the HD clinic, and was able to take care of her husband when his heart condition worsened. There may be a cure for HD in a few year or it may take longer than we are expecting. We don't know but the last thing we need to be doing is 'playing the ending;' we need to be living our lives to the fullest.

well said its hard not to though
kellie

thank you Marsha this was lovely and so true. thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Beautiful! Marsha. Well said.

Wow! Great words of wisdom that I needed to hear.

MIchael J. Fox, as far as I can see, has been nothing short of amazing in his battle w/Parkinson's. His wife and children also I too find this hard to do- but I try every day. . haven't been successful much lately, but will contiue to try. Hope everyone is well today. .

Marsha-

What words of wisdom for those with an illness or not.

Thank you for simply putting down the way we should all live our lives.

Sharon

Marsha, i loved your post so much, and thank you what you said about me I'm still working on my daughters quilt, shoud be done this week, then i still need to finish this years raffle quilt, and then finish a quilt for a good friend. I admire Michael J Fox so much, he's really taken what was a bad deal for him in life, and turned it into something good for so many people. I have never believed anything doctors tell me. I have just always refused to accept what they tell me as law. I'm not in denial either though, that would be the downside of a belief like that. What i mean is, im not against doctors, far from it. I Value their input and what they say, and i look at things as a challenge. I go to them to find out what i'm up against, i have to know what im against, so i can make a game plan. The way i think is this. Doctors tell me what they now know, to the best of their ability, but i always think, well what if there is a way to solve this challenge that just hasnt been discovered yet, that's how i think. Years ago i had asthma really bad, so bad was using an inhaler and pills, every day. They did food allergy tests, nothing showed up, so they said it had to be just stress. I refused to believe thatit was stress, because that's the answer many times when they just cant find an answer. So i got out my grandma's huge stack of prevention magazines (no internet back then lol) and i read about sulpha allergy, i wasnt tested for chemical allergies. So i investigated everything i was eating every day, and discovered that the multivitamin i had been taking for 3 years every day steady, was exactly how long i had had asthma for, and it turned out to have sulphates in it. Yup, no more asthma meds needed, except when i accidently eat something with sulpha in it. That's the same strategy i use for hd. I love what you said Marsha bout not playing the ending. I think to play the role of hd in a life movie is scary, so some of us decide, even if we're at risk, that it's not the right time for us to accept the script yet. Others, when given the script, read the ending, and decide, well that's how it's going to be, so what's the point in putting in any effort. Others decide, ok, i have read the whole script, i can see what it says what the ending is going to be, but, i am going to play this role to my best, and play it like i don't know what the ending will be, because you never know, part ways through, the director could even decide to change the ending is the way i think. I try hard to change what i can change, to fight what i can fight, and to accept what i cant change. I see so many people here doing that, i'm so inspired by EVERYONE

PS I want to add, there are many people, who have to choose wisely, if they are ready yet to play this role. For some it's not the right time yet. And for others, they are trying to makes their lives solid, and as normal as possible, and achieve great things in their normal script first, and for others, the earlier you can get in on a script, the less character spots have been taken, so if you get in early, you have a much bigger choice in choosing what character you would like to try out for. Like look at Jeff Carroll, he was just a university student when he tested positive, he took those results, and asked if he could work in Michael Hayden's research lab. Look at Sarah, who is so new here, she has become our newest and greatest supplement guru lol, seriously, anyone asks anything about supplements, and she's got the answer Steve and Marsha, they keep playing their part, until we have a cure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2011 12:41AM by Barb.