The cloud is shrinking. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve felt great. I’m back in the gym and working hard. As long as I keep it static, I’m ok. Too long on the treadmill and that ankle pain flares up. I still have other aches the day after, and they’re not your typical gym related aches, but they’re MY gym related aches. And I’m ok with them.

I mentioned in my last blog that it is now my time to stop dwelling on what’s happened to me, and just get on with life. This week is National Inclusion Week (in the UK) and in the run up to it, at work, there have been requests for people to film segments of video – just a couple of seconds holding a piece of paper saying their name and a fact about themselves. The idea is that we’re celebrating how diverse we are as a workforce. Your sign didn’t have to specifically relate to a protected characteristic (i.e. a disability, sexual preference, race, religion etc). It could be something that you do in your spare time.

I really think that this is a great initiative and I was keen to participate. I was happy to wave the flag for MS and invisible chronic conditions. For one reason or another though, I missed the deadline.

A week or two later, I was approached (along with others) about recording one of these videos referencing my MS (or other protected characteristics in the case of others). And I chose not to do it. 

You might be asking yourself, why would I refuse? I’ve been really vocal and open about my journey. I’ve talked about raising awareness. I want people to have a better understanding and to not feel shy about asking me questions. Why on earth would I pass up the opportunity?

It’s simple really.

I don’t want MS to define me.

I want my #ThisIsMe statement to be something completely unrelated. I want to be the girl that people describe as “you know, the one from Essex” like I’m pretty sure has been the case since moving from down south to up north 8 years ago. Not “you know, the one that’s got MS.”

So here’s my #ThisIsMe statement, for the record:

 I could go on 😉