General
Redefining Normal
Updated May 19, 2025
in General
If you could design your ideal normal, today what would that include,
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If you could design your ideal normal, today what would that include,
1 - 11 of 11 Replies
Traveling Again...
My new normal is having spontaneous moments to be with family and friends. The greatest feeling is having consistent energy to keep a daily routine.
I’m with you @Ldybug97. I remember being happy inside that I could do that. I also wish for more good days than bad ones. As you know it can be really tough sometimes. So just having good days kind of gives me an emotional high. Hope all is well.
@KevR i’m doing well. I hope you are also. I truly had to get used to having good days because I’ve lived for years having so many bad days and it almost felt this though it was like learning a new language to have a good day.
Transplant Patient
I don't even know if I would know how to answer this question. It feels similar to something @DannyH and I were talking about recently in who we could have been without rare disease (which led to transplant for both of us).
I've never known life without being sick. Asking me to envision what I would dream a new normal would look like almost makes my brain short circuit because it's not something that has ever entered my consciousness. This is my life, this is my normal. And I really do love my life, even with chronic illness and grief and challenges. I wouldn't be who I am if I hadn't gone through what I went through in my life. So honestly my ideal normal today would probably be exactly what it is.
@AliEm14 I agree with you. Although my journey to begin until adulthood, after years of sickness, I just thought being sick was just a part of my every day life and I wouldn’t know anything other than being tied to a machine. I guess I also got used to the challenges. I’m starting to learn to navigate life in a different way now and embracing a different type of normal.
I really do not know what normal is anymore. I like not being in the hospital. I like being able to function with activities of daily living, being able to drive, etc. I often ask myself, what is normal? Pre-transplant normal is very different from post-transplant normal. I know for me, normal would be a day not being sick to my stomach, being able to eat and feeling energetic.
I love traveling and can't wait to get back out there.
@Deb329 I hope you are able to travel soon. My first trip was six months post Transplant and I spent 10 days in Florida. I have no plans to travel right now, but I’m working on the passport to do my first international trip.
I just had to cancel two international trips but it made me hopeful to hear that people still do travel far and wide post transplant.
redefining normal...thats such a great question, i know that for me i remember living life before my kidney disease came about from really childhood to mid 20's, and as i look back at what the normal was then, and how i have been sick since 2006 its been 19 years of it. i guess i was like to feel like what my college years were like to be able to travel free of dialysis and free of taking alot of meds. As I look at these 19 years i have learned to live with my "new normal" and i pivot and adjust accordingly. I work on my gratitude towards life