My Supports

The greatest support I have in my life each day is inner purpose, that is, to know that God has work for me to do in His world each day. This is what drives me to do what others may not understand, such as making my salary subordinate to my desire to work with young children, a notoriously low paying career. I love this work, and I believe that God will provide all I need in my daily efforts. Without the support of my faith and purpose, I would not accomplish all that I am able to do, I am sure. Actually, I cannot imagine what purpose my life would have if my faith deserted me.

Everything else is the icing on the cake;

Relationships with family, children, friends and neighbors are all supports for me. Those that aren't are divorced, or ignored. There are family and friend supports who are already gone, and their departure is a great sadness and hardship for me, and I still cry.

Routines help me to carry out daily tasks with minimal effort and confusion, and with a goal in my mind's eye.
Work is a routine that I recognize as giving me daily fire, a reason to get out of bed and use my blessings for others. Many become bored right after they reach their coveted prize of retirement, and then take another job. Work is good.
Other routines keep me physically well and fit, so that life feels good. My medication, fitness classes, and the routine of walking my dog supports my optimal physical health. I can live without all of them, but the quality of
my life would greatly suffer (except for the dog. The quality of my mental health might actually improve.).

Basic living essentials surely provide me with all that I need to fully live in comfort. A modest home, enough good food, a solid education, a reliable car, access to medical care, and opportunities to play and admire beauty support my happy life. To be without any of these would mean an adjustment of some sort, but it is difficult to project such circumstances. (The car is really an extra and not an essential. I didn't own a car until I was thirty, when I returned from New York City, where a car is an albatross. I prefer public transportation, or simply public pavement. My current job, however, requires me to drive.)

I do not need to imagine a challenge that is not imminent, one that I can already feel and know the changes it will bring throughout the course of my life. As I age, as everyone ages, the challenges mount. My eyesight has shifted, and though I am not nearly blind, I find it difficult to read or to do close up work like sewing or home repairs, and I may avoid them as a result. Arthritis makes jumping out of bed slightly painful, and my morning routine is minutes longer to complete as I slow it down. I have spent the last few years supporting my mom as aging took much more from her, and I can imagine that one day I may need one of my children to provide the same for me.

And so, aside from faith, close relationships, purpose, and basic essentials for physical life, there is nothing I can't live without, and may have to live without at some time, now or later. The impact that losses will have on me is that I will need to adjust my sails to stay afloat and to enjoy the new direction of the ride.