To Health and Making a Difference: An Article by Melanie Bowen from MCA

Looking Outside to Improve the Inside

Life is hard at times. In fact, for most people, there are times in life when it seems like the obstacles in your way are simply insurmountable. This is the time when it is most important to look forward and find that place of inner strength.

Journaling as a Way of Going Forward

One way to work through the issues that we face is to start writing. Many individuals find that keeping a journal is a great way to work their way through feelings and thoughts in life. In fact, journal writing is often recommended by therapists as a way to explore inner feelings.

Writing in a journal is a safe place to explore your feelings and thoughts. In most cases, your journal will not be read by anyone except you, so you can write about frustrations or feelings of anger that might be difficult or hard to talk to anyone else about. Often, when we have things in life that are hard, we feel bad about being angry or upset and have a difficult time expressing those feelings. However, a journal is a perfectly acceptable place to express those emotions without anyone getting upset at you in return.

A journal is also a wonderful way to document your progression. For example, if you are facing a difficult illness like mesothelioma or life threatening event, you can write in your journal daily as part of your process of dealing with everything. Often, looking back and reviewing your journal, you can actually see your process and how you conquered your difficulties – you can actually see your strength shining through with each progressive journal entry.

The Value of Documenting Life’s Events

Sometimes, people use a journal as a periodic tool when life gets hard. One of the values of writing in a journal is that it is a way to document what you are going through and coping with as you journey through life. It can also have an added value of being a resource later in your life. When you are faced with adversity, you can go back and look at journals from earlier in life and see exactly how strong you are and that you have the ability to pull yourself up and go forward.

Journals can also be an inspiration for other people in your life. When you document what happens in your life, you create a legacy for others to look at later. Your children or grandchildren might be amazed when they come to realize that you faced a major illness or hard time in life and you fought through that prognosis with courage and succeeded. They might use your actions as they see them in your journal as an inspiration for dealing with their own hardships in life.

Keeping a personal journal can be a source of solace, a place to turn to when you just need a place to explore your inner feelings or a way to keep track of your own personal journey through life. Regardless of what kinds of challenges you face in life, keeping a journal is a way to document your own unique ways of meeting those challenges and can be a source for future inspiration, for both yourself and for generations to follow.

To Health and Making a Difference

At the end of March, I received a comment on my blog post "Adventure is out there" from a young lady who just happened to come across my blog. Her name is Melanie Bowen and she asked me to contact her because she had a question about my blog. I e-mailed her welcoming whatever questions she may have had for me. Below is the e-mail I received back from her:

Hi Jerrel,

I asked that you contact me after coming across and reading the great content on your blog— to log and catalog desires, wishes, and things you plan to accomplish is by far the most important aspect to actually undertaking goals! Most people do not put their thoughts on paper—consequently leaving them without tangible reminders and constant ambition. I’m sure you can imagine how important this idea could be for those going through health struggles regardless of what they may be. An individual going through treatment, in remission, and even the family members of those with chronic or terminal illnesses face everyday challenges of maintaining a quality of life—self-motivation and inspiration is the key!  
I’ve recently been invited to be a contributor on the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance blog and have the ability to reach a wider audience. Awareness is an important factor when it comes to health and healing, so please let me know if you would be interested in allowing me to contribute a small guest post on your blog or if you would consider putting a link to my MCA blog on your site as a resource for your readers. I am eager to build up this concept of encouragement without intruding in on your own personal goals and accomplishments. So, if there are other ideas you have about ways we could work together, I’d love to hear them and I hope you are interested.

Thank you for all you do in making a difference,

Melanie Bowen
Part-time Blog Contributor: Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance
Blog: Milady Knows

First of all, I was excited to see that my blog had reached someone that I did not know. The only blog views and comments I got before this were from my friends who I had harassed to read and follow my blog. It felt great to learn that my posts were reaching a broader audience.

More importantly, I was honored to receive such a request. Although I nor anyone I know has been affected by Mesothelioma, there are plenty of people who are/were very close to me who have suffered from other types of cancer; some of whom lost their battle and some of whom can proudly claim they are survivors.

Fighting cancer is important to me and many others. Encouraging and supporting those who are battling all types of cancer and other illnesses is just as important as the medical and scientific research that is done to find cures for life-threatening illnesses. This is why, without hesitation, I decided to help Melanie and the MCA by using my blog to help spread awareness for Mesothelioma and promote their initiative to encourage self-motivation and inspiration.

Melanie has sent me an article that she would like me to post on my blog. Please see my next post to read the article. In the meantime, check out the MCA blog at http://mesothelioma.com/blog to learn more about how you can help the cause.

In the words of Ms. Melanie Bowen: "To Health and Making a Difference"

Sincerely,

J.A.B.

Baseball is Back!

I love basketball and football but baseball is, hands down, my favorite sport; which I'm sure is evident based on previous blog posts. I promise that I go to other sporting events. I went to a Celtics/Wizards game at the Verizon Center in DC this past January but failed to blog about it. Since so much time had past and it was before I decided to take the "adventure" route with my blog, I figured the opportunity had past. This baseball game, however, was less than a month ago so I figured the statute of limitations isn't up yet.

Danielle and I were looking at Nats and Orioles tickets as soon as they became available since they are the two teams closest to us here in Northern Virginia. As Boston Red Sox fans, our first priority was getting tickets to Nats/Sox games in DC and O's/Sox games in Baltimore. We ended up with tickets to an exhibition game between the Nats and the Sox on a Tuesday afternoon in early April.

We both requested half-days at work and made our way, via metro, into DC to Nationals Park. It was just as beautiful as we remembered it. The weather was gorgeous, especially for an afternoon in early April. It's one of the perks of living below the Mason-Dixon line, moderate temperatures. Being from New England, this is a big deal for me.

Another perk of living in the DC area is that a lot of people are originally from another part of the country. Many of the area residence migrated here from their hometowns/states for jobs. I am a prime example of that. With many people being from other places, you find there are a lot of fans of seemingly random teams. We first noticed on the metro that there were going to be more Red Sox fans at this exhibition game than Nats fans. I guess it's not too surprising given the population factor I just mentioned in addition to the Nats track record in the MLB. Either way, it was comforting to know we could be at an away game and still feel like we were routing for the home team. Check out the Pedroia jersey in front of us as we entered Nationals Park in Southeast DC.

The last Nats game we next to was on 9/11 this past year. We sat in cheap nosebleed seats but enjoyed our time anyway. This time, we had amazing seats which made our game time experience much more enjoyable. We sat behind left field in the second row behind the wall. Those seats are the best in my opinion because most people are right-handed and if a right-handed batter hits a homerun, the ball is more likely to come in my direction. I've always wanted to catch a homerun ball during a major league baseball game. I can only imagine the sense of accomplishment felt by those who have been lucky enough the caught one. Of all the people in the stadium, only one person gets to catch each homerun ball. Plus, it's like getting your fifteen minutes of fame. Everyone around you is excited for you because someone near them caught the ball; even though they're jealous that they didn't catch the ball instead. Also, if the homerun is featured on ESPN or another sports news broadcast, you're most likely going to be on the news, too. Let's face it, everyone loves to be seen on television.

Unfortunately for me, I was the jealous person excited that the ball was caught by someone near me. Two homerun balls came our way. The first one was almost caught by a middle-aged man but, instead of catching the ball, the ball hit him in the chest and it dropped back into the outfield. It was still ruled as a homerun though. The left fielder threw the ball back up into the stands and someone else near us caught the ball.

Then, another homerun ball came our way later in the game. It was caught by some one a couple rows back from the first guy who dropped the ball. The guy who caught it this time was right across the aisle from me. I was so close! When he caught it, he gave the ball to a little boy in the row in front of him. I know if I had caught the ball, despite how excited I would have been, I would have given it to the little boy who was sitting in front of me; even though he was a Nats fan who was openly rooting against my team.

I would have felt like a jerk if I didn't hand it over to him. Even if I didn't keep the ball, I at least could say that I have caught a homerun ball. That, in itself, would have been enough for me. Regardless of the fact that I had come so close to catching two homerun balls and failed, I had a blast at the exhibition game. And, the Red Sox won. It was a one run game which made me a bit concerned about the season ahead (which I was right to be worried about based on the season so far) but a win is a win.

The next day at work, some of my co-workers were complaining about the extra traffic that the ball game caused for them during their evening commutes and jokingly blamed me. I laughed it off knowing that they were joking but also that they were jealous that they hadn't gone to the game rather than working all day.



I love taking little day trips. They're like small doses of adventure that carry you over to the next big adventure. For me, this adventure was special because it got me out of work early for the day, it involved my favorite sport and my favorite baseball team, and I had great company. People should reward themselves with little adventures more often. It makes you happier.

Get out and enjoy the weather and the fun things that come with spring and summer time!

Sincerely,

J.A.B.