Never Lose Courage

Today is the last day of August and for people who are not directly impacted by Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), it is the end of SMA Awareness Month. Today is the last day of newsfeeds filled with facts, photos, fundraisers, and post with pleas for "outsiders" to take notice of the world of we live in 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. SMA Families live with the knowledge that every day is an important day. There are no guarantees in life and even fewer when you have a life impacted, daily, by the restrictions of a label of a "terminal illness". It's important to recognize that life, no matter who you are or what you do, is terminal. We are all destined to live a life that will, ultimately, end in death. It is a fact and it may seem incredibly callous to be so blunt on such a sensitive subject. That is not, however, what we want people to focus on. We must remember that the important thing to focus on is the time between the day we are born to the moment we draw our last breath. This is never truer than when you, possibly, have an accelerated time table of the "in between" which is what many individuals with diagnosed with SMA are told they face. Whether or not that is true is, often times, the subject of heated debates that never truly cease with a definitive agreement on what "the truth" is. This is largely due to the fact that it is all up to the individual. It comes down to whether one chooses to focus on the quantity of time or the quality of time. That choice, of what to focus on, quality or quantity, can and, often times, does change depending on the situation, the day, the hour or the moment.

So as the month of August draws to a close, we ask that as you go about your day and the days ahead you make a conscious choice to never lose courage in the face of the fact that someday it will come to end. Make the most of your time in between. It will take an insane amount of courage to take the day as it comes. It will take courage to focus on whatever you choose, whether it be quantity or quality, and do so unwaveringly. Life takes a level courage that is unmatched. Having the courage to live in the life you have been handled is the most courageous thing that anyone will ever have to do. Courage is a choice and it is a choice that must be made repeatedly throughout a lifetime and, sometimes, one that must be made repeatedly in the span of a day. It is a solitary choice that individuals must make on their own. The choice to have courage or not is one that will impact others. It is not an easy choice but rather the opposite, maybe the most difficult. Whatever you choose in other aspects of your life, the choice of courage will undoubtedly make all the difference. Choose to Have Courage and Never Ever Lose It!