My takes...from having been there, done that...my personal thoughts only...

WAYS TO ADJUST WHEN WORK FINALLY HAS TO GO...

Find a hobby or something of interest NOW. I have been amazed at the types of hobbies/pasttimes that have been taken up by PWPs post work-a-day-world.

In the 2006 World Parkinson Congress "Creativity and Parkinson's" website there are tons of ways that PWPs continue to be creative and stay busy...by way of a life long "hobby" or a newly developed "hobby."

And/Or...begin now to find ways to be involved in PD advocacy...the list seems endless. Track evolving therapies with the Parkinson Pipeline Project. Start a support group. Learn about fundraising. More simply, write letters to legislature as a member of PAN. The list goes on and on.

Read...Read...about those who have done it. Search this forum and other forums. Read the MANY items that have been posted to personal PWP website, as well as this forum; e.g. To Work or Not To Work

WAYS TO ADAPT TO THE EVER CHANGING GOAL POSTS OF PD

Don't get stuck...and I don't mean PD freezing

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. --Raymond Lindquist

For me, a good quote to constantly reflect upon. Prior to PD, most of us had goals and family situations that were moving along rather smoothly. PD invaded life and all that changed. But, how hard it was to "let go of the familiar" way of doing things...to let go of planned goals that will not be completed...financial retirement planning that gets completely derailed (like mine...my new familiar, as a single person, is "broke-ness") or has to take a lesser route.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it. --Yogi Berra

Then there is the personal choices and how we respond to the ever changing goals. Do we embrace the fact that we have new paths and do the best to walk upon them with adventure or do we walk the path with trepidation and fear.

Life is fragile.
It is short.
It is very fragile.
It is a matter of hour to hour choices we make.

I can personally attest to the fact that life can be altered in a heartbeat, in a fraction of a second. Then there is the support group I had in NYS, before moving south to PA and my story about two of our members. I posted the following along with the "familiar" quote back in July 2006 to the Edge board:

Two more short stories and I will stop.

I have 16 PWPs in my NYS support group. One is 52, and in my learned 16-years-with-PD opinion, doing quite well. But he chooses to have his wife drop him off at this parents home weekdays so that he can sit in a chair all day and have his mom take care of him. He has even stopped coming to meeting, so I formed a "phone buddy" group that is calling him "just to chat".

The second is 74. His wife always comes with him to the meetings. He has been in our group since last year, when the group began. He is very quiet, very stooped, and very off most of the time. I have always been sad for him UNTIL recently. When we don't have a speaker we have general discussion, which everyone seems to enjoy more. Recently I have discovered that this 74 year old man, whom I have felt so sad for, 1) tutors students, 2) does tax returns during tax season, 3) takes a daily walk with his wife along their road, and 4) volunteers at a community center.

Neither of these men is right or wrong in what they are doing. It is all relative...right? But, it is clear to me that one let go of "the familiar", while the other grieves for it and refuses to let go.

Personlly for me life has been happier for me when I review my familiars, decide when it is time to let go of them and redefine them.

WAYS TO BALANCE WORKLOAD AND STRATEGIES ON HOW TO PRIORITISE AND MAKE SOME SPACE FOR YOURSELVES

I have been fortunate to have had PD begin effect my day-to-day after my children had flown away from my home. I know from listening to other that this is probably the hardest part for many of the young onset PWPs. Again, read advice from others; e.g. information for newly diagnosed that can also apply to those of us who have pasted that newly diagnosed point.

l have my fine needlework hobby. (Current project. Past project. To hell with my CERE-120 "off" score this past Weds morning...which was primary based on my tremor. Stubborn as I am, I refuse to give it up. I no longer sit for hours and stitch. I no longer do it daily...sometimes I get it ready and just sit and stare at it. But, I WILL NOT give it up...it is dexterity maintenance rehabilitation. As Dr. Hauser (USF MDC, Tampa) said to me too often in my newly dxd years, "Move it or lose it!" He was not one to take special care with words, but was good at reality checks.

At this writing I am converting my second bedroom into a "studio" so that I can move from hours of beloved stitching to a more creative way of doing things...whether it will be successful or not...I am going to try designing.

So, I HAVE RAMBLED ON ENOUGH...rare to this board...not rare for my PTSD board and I leave with this...

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis. ~~Martha Beck, O Magazine, Growing Wings, January 2004

Grief is the agony of an instant, the indulgence of grief the blunder of a life. ~~Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear. ~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow