When I told a friend I never expected to be migraine-free, her response was along the lines of, “But you can always hope and wish for that, right?”
This may sound really strange, but my honest answer is no, I can’t. Being migraine-free — or going from chronic to episodic migraine — would be wonderful. I don’t discount the possibility that it might happen someday, but I cannot expend any mental or emotional energy on hoping that it will.
Each day, I spend everything I have to live as well as I can with chronic migraine and working toward reducing the frequency, severity and/or duration of my attacks. I’m so focused on making the best of what I have that I don’t have anything to spare for wishing and hoping to be migraine-free.
Imaging myself migraine-free doesn’t propel me forward, it focuses my thoughts on what is wrong with my life. I can’t afford that distraction — I have to think about how I’ll live each day the best I possibly can given my current circumstances. That’s not to say I don’t sometimes complain and even rage about how horrible it is to live with chronic migraine. It absolutely sucks, but falling into a pit of despair will not help me move forward in my treatment.
The people who love me can hope, wish, pray, send positive vibes into the universe for me to become migraine-free. I’m otherwise occupied, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love for it to happen.