Over the past few years, I’ve spoken with hundreds of people living with multiple sclerosis. One thing has become painfully clear: if your entire strategy is centered around your neurologist – your hospital visits, your modifying medication, and their promises that breakthrough medication is almost here – then you’re not strategizing. You’re outsourcing.

If that’s your only plan, and you love life – you need to rethink everything.

Medication can be part of the plan. But it cannot be THE plan.

Once you’re diagnosed, the clock starts ticking. You’ll need a few good years to build the skills I’m talking about – skills you’ll rely on when things get harder. I would begin rearranging my life so that, over the next year or two, skill-building becomes a top priority. Make space for it – mentally, practically, daily.

If I were you, I’d start looking ahead – not with fear, but with clarity.

Imagine a future where things get harder – physically, mentally, emotionally. Then ask yourself: what skills will I need to face that? What practices can I begin now to prepare?

Resilience is not handed to you in a prescription. You build it, day by day, before you need it.

#GilMS