I’ve been feeling a bit guilty about my blog, and wonder if this mea culpa isn’t a bit too little too late.

This is the time of year — Yom Kippur – when Jews ask forgiveness for sins committed during the year. I’m asking now for my fellow Parkies who face challenges more disabling than mine to forgive me any insensitivity or blindness. I may not see you at my boxing class, or at Ping Pong Parkinson’s, but I know you’re out there. I will try to be more empathetic and compassionate to all of us battling the demon PD. I may be at a different stage from you right now, but who knows what twists and turns (literally!) this body of mine might take in the future. Yeah, I’ll keep exercising as much as I can. Plus, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

My guilt stems from what might be the self-congratulatory, even smug, tone to my blog. “Look at me. No disease progression because I exercise Look! Here I am boxing, or dancing (if you want to call it that), or climbing a wall, all activities aimed at slowing the progression of Parkiinson’s.

One might interpret my posture as a scolding of those who don’t exercise much. Sure, maybe they don’t have a reasonable excuse. But they just might have other health problems. Maybe they’ve never developed the fitness habit.

Have I been….blaming the victim?

I know full well that many, many people with Parkinson’s are simply incapable of exercise. They may be physically disabled. Depression or apathy or both may have left them seriously unmotivated . Maybe they’re just too stressed, and as we know, stress brings on symptoms, which may make exercise difficult.

Look, all too often, I succumb to my symptoms. What people see or hear about is the ways in which I aim for as normal a life as possible. They don’t see me under the covers on a gorgeous fall day because I just don’t feel like going to the farmer’s market today.

I don’t want everyone to think my message is “If I can do all this stuff, so can you,” because maybe they can’t.

And while we’re talking about exercises, weight-lifting is another I’m supposed to do. Let’s see if I can lift and discard the weight of all that guilt.

And BTW (I”m guessing you know what that one means) AITAH stands for “Am I the Asshole?”

Recommendation:

And now something for you seniors out there. And I’m not talking about high school. Here’s a piece from the New York Times on what is your favorite – or least favorite – topic. Memory.

Speaking of which, don’t forget to listen to the fascinating! Informative! Fun! show that is your new favorite podcast, Parky Conversations. And when you’ve finished marveling at all you’ve learned, please rate and review. Thanks.

PS I just learned that the way to leave a rating and/or a review is to do it on a podcast provider’s site such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, etc. You need to go to the podcast platform that you use, search for my podcast, Parky Conversations, and find the review button. Thank you!