Day 30 - Dystonia and 30 Days - Done!!

I feel like Sally Field at the Academy Awards when she exclaimed, "You like me! You really like me!" Except that I'm exclaiming, "I wrote for 30 days about dystonia! I really wrote every day!!" It's September 30 which means that I have officially blogged about dystonia for 30 days straight and hopefully at the same time brought awareness to it. This is absolutely unbelievable to me. What's even more unbelievable is that you have read what I've written!

I have a confession to make. I didn't think I would or could write for 30 days straight about dystonia. :) This whole idea came to me on a whim. It actually didn't even evolve until I physically sat down and wrote my blog post on August 23. I had originally planned that day to do a "catch up" post on what had been going on during the summer. But God stepped in and took over and by the time I had finished writing the post, I couldn't believe what my fingers had typed. I just committed myself to writing for 30 days to bring awareness to dystonia. WHAT?!! I had barely talked about dystonia in the past 9 years and I was going to write about it for 30 days straight?! What was God doing?!!! Then I went one step further and posted the link on Facebook. I secretly hoped it would get lost in the Facebook feed and no one would see it or comment on it. But then, you did. And I was stuck. :) I knew I had to do it, whether I was feeling like it or not - every day.

I'm not going to lie, it's been a struggle for me to write every day about dystonia. Some days I just didn't want to even think about it, much less talk about it. Other days, I couldn't come up with one single idea to write about. But, I prayed and God always gave me something to blog about. Some posts are much better than others, but all posts were prayed over!

I have talked to more people about dystonia in the past 30 days than I have in the past 9 years. I've been more open about it and more accepting of it in these past 30 days than I have been in the last 9 years. And I owe that to you and to God. Those who have read, those who have commented, those who have "liked" my Facebook posts on it - it's all given me courage. You have given me courage. God gives me courage. As I said in my post yesterday, I don't like showing my weaknesses (even when they are obvious!), but through these past 30 days, I have grown so much more courageous and that's due partly to you, but mostly to God. I felt Him saying that now was the time for me to step up, step out, and be bold. I felt Him urging me to open up and let people in. I have a hard time with that sometimes. :) 2 Timothy 1:7 says " For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." I know the Lord gave me courage and power and love and self discipline to write about dystonia.

So, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for encouraging me, for loving me and for accepting me for who I am, dystonia and all! My life is sweet because you are in it!

To end this 30 day awareness PSA for dystonia, I thought I'd share a video of me walking UNASSISTED on the beach. The video (taken by my Dad) was filmed this year in May when we went on vacation. I shared it on Facebook and was overwhelmed with the response I got. I don't share it (or share it again!) for any reason other than to show the pure joy on my face that for one small moment in time, God allowed me to experience life again like it was before dystonia. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you again for reading and (hopefully!) learning a little more about dystonia. Who knows what my next blog posts will be about. I guess you'll just have to stay tuned!