Healthy folks need encouragement too

Many moons ago I was in a Christian band. We played nearly all the prisons in Washington State, plus many churches, and a homeless facility.

It was a great 8 year run. I was the dummer and, to say the least, a mediocre one at best. Still, it was a good time with good friends.

But I’ve always felt bad that I wasn’t a better drummer.

Recently my good friend, who had been the leader of that band, texted me saying how a dummer he’d seen on youtube reminded him of my drumming. Turns out his timing couldn’t have been better. On that particular day when I received his text, I was feeling a bit down.

His words really encouraged me. Here’s what he wrote:

You were a feelings drummer. Something you don’t hear very often, but when you do, as in the case of this fellow, one realizes that they were saying something, not just pounding out a song. That’s what you always did. I appreciate that now more than I saw it then. I took for granted what we had back then, but as I look back it was more special than I realized. Thank you for speaking your heart!

That really picked up my spirits and got me to thinking about encouragement in general and how we, dispite our leukemia, need to think about others.

Those of us with leukemia receive encouragement and care from our loved ones, friends, and caregivers. And that is great.

But I think we sometimes forget that the people around us need encouragement as well. Even though we have leukemia, it is not just about us.

It really helps if we can get out of our own mind and focus on others. Healthy people need love and encouragement too.

I’ve found that getting involved in life, thinking more of others than myself, really helps take the attention away from Leuk. He doesn’t like that much, but I prefer to ignore him as often as possible.

[Photo by David Jdt]