So amazing –
The more I know, the more there is to know. With every new convenience there is also a new distraction. With everything I do, there is more to do.
Is it me?
A few weeks ago I shared on Facebook my appreciation for the many young faces of children with Down syndrome that their parents share with other parents and with the world. How they have each other and share their challenges and joys, making the world a smaller place.
Last night I was thinking about the other side of this coin. How I reach information overload and choose to hunker down with only my boy, with my family, and right now. Sometimes to digest where we are and what we are facing and sometimes to have a reality check.
When he was a baby, I read the book(s) I looked for information and assimilated. Then, as the story goes, he rolled over. He was only 2 weeks old and it made me realize, those people don’t know my son. Only Marcus will choose Marcus’ path.
Yet, I still have this issue today. I can get over-informed and wrapped up in the future and its concerns and not focus on the now. Which incidentally, I always feel I should be doing more in. As I juggle the demands of life, and my work, goals, ambitions, passions and also sleep, actually, it’s kind of amazing how I can still make time to worry about the future. Where did I start this? Oh – Right. Too much information and yet so much more to know.
That is the quandary we find ourselves in, eh?
And too much conflicting, inaccurate, or preliminary information. Not to mention the lies. It’s so hard to know and guess and feel what’s right.
But you are right about Marcus. I’ve always said that there’s no book that will tell you exactly what to do with your child (disabled or not) because they’re INDIVIDUALS who make up the rules as they go. Parents have to adjust accordingly and do what works for them.
The same goes for a lot of illnesses, especially if they’re mental. I guess the best piece of advice I ever read in a book was:
Remember for everything we say, the exact opposite might also be true.
Just like the side effects they list in every commercial – you never know 🙂
Definitely. I think we need to know, but then we need to pare down that information to what is important/impactful to us. One of the reasons we keep searching for answers, in our case, is that we need to know what Boo needs to get the most out of life. BUT on the flip side not knowing has meant we haven’t placed any barriers or “she can’t” in front of her progress. Yet without research and information gathering we never would find the therapies that allow her to be accomplish something in spite of her syndrome not because of it.
Yes – we have to let it swing like a pendulum – more and less and more as our comfort and our needs change.
Thank you for your comment.