Decisions you have made that surprise others

[daisyslegs]

A take off of the never done thread:

Decisions / stances you have made / take that surprise others.

I'll start:

I have been diagnosed with Essential Tremor and am on the verge of being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. I tried several medications for my tremors and jerky movements but the side effects were horrible.

I decided to go med free as long as I can. I tremor heavily, need to use both hands to hold a cup or use a straw. I cannot eat soup off a spoon. My hand writing is atrocious and the tremor is starting to be heard in my voice. If I get excited or upset all symptoms skyrocket to the level where I cant even hold a half full glass of water without getting a shower.

I don't care what others think about it. I prefer to *feel* healthy, not sick all the time. I *like* not feeling droopy and exhausted. I *choose* to be med free until the day comes that I cannot operate normally and will need them to do so.

People look at me in several ways because of it: surprised I would let people see me in such a state if I could take a pill and have it help some, and others seem to admire the strength to not care about what others think. I don't care either way. I just want my life.

Your turn.

[Tzarina]

I'm kind of the opposite. I'm taking several meds that have horrible side effects, just to try to feel and look normal. No one really understands, especially since one of the meds is not approved for women at all. But I remain hopeful, despite nothing else working.

On the other side of it, I don't take any meds for my bipolar disorder. When I took them before it felt so very wrong, that I couldn't stand it. I've been this way my whole life, I can remember mood cycles as young as 5. But the meds just took away so much of "me" that I didn't like it. So I ride out my rapid cycling, and just live with it. This surprises a lot of people, especially those who know about all the other meds. It's not an aversion to medication, it's an aversion to taking my feelings away.

[Latiam]

I've been making decisions that suprised people all my life.

-becoming a teacher
-going to therapy
-staying at home so long
-my future plans

But I think the one that really surprises people is the physio, that I go to a gym 2-3 times a week. I've been doing it for 2 and a half years, and I've been close to quitting so many times. But I'm not there to look good, or lose weight, or any or that. I'm there because being there will delay the onset of my arthritis and will lower the chances of my having heart disease (my grandmother died of congestive heart failure, and I look a lot like her). So I keep on going.

I think one of the reasons my decisions surprise people is that I think all the avenues through before I choose one. So my choice may not be the most obvious one. But it's the one that makes sense in the end.

[rhiandmoi]

This is a complete hijack, but I am also a mover and shaker, and I was under the impression that ET and Parkinson's are unrelated, and are not the same kind of tremor. With ET being an intention tremor and Parkinson's being a resting tremor. Anyway, I am also not medicating my tremor, so that does not surprise me at all, since I know first hand that the medication can only do so much to slow the tremor down. I don't know what you have already tried, but my tremors are also postural, and I find that stretching and relaxation exercises help more than anything. Having an intention/postural tremor one major thing is not holding on things so tightly since that actually activates the tremor. Using gizmos intended for helping people with a weak grip help like super fat pencils.
http://www.penagain.com/ <-- awesome pen for intention tremor AWESOME

[FrogFeathers]

A big surprise to people who knew me as a kid and teen... I had three kids. They all pegged me to be the child-free-by-choice type.

Strangely, people who know me now can't believe I dislike children. I don't dislike children, I dislike rude, poorly-disciplined children.

[Zorro]

I've been thinking this over, and, sadly, I don't think I have ever decided to do something that surprised anyone. I pretty much always do what I am supposed to, what is expected of me.

[LyndaD]

I think the decision I've made that most surprises people is teaching middle school. Growing up, I hated school. I was quiet, shy, and due to a first grade trauma, avoided speaking in front of a class until college.
Not only do I teach junior high (which many teachers won't touch), I teach, by choice, in a poor, rural community that has a significant drug and gang problem.

[Auntie Witch]

Not having more kids seems to be a HUGE shocker to most of my family.

Not particularly wanting my Master's is another. Why would I want to decrease my monthly income for several years just for a piece of paper, when we're struggling to get by as it is? Sure, I understand in the long run it makes sense, but in the long run, my kids won't be in daycare, either.

[Cervus]

I gave up my apartment last year so that I could travel for several months, then moved away from a town a loved and moved back in with my parents. Kind of surprised myself with that one, but I didn't have many options.

[Heroic Muse]

Sometimes I wonder if my family (of origin) will be surprised when I finally meet someone and want them to meet her. They know I'm bi and am looking for a same-sex relationship, and seem to accept it, but when my mom asks if I've met anyone I get the sense she's thinking male lol. I know they're surprised that I consider my best friends family and always want to invite them to family events.

I don't pay enough attention to what other people think of me to really know whether I'm surprising them. I can think of several things with my FOO because I'm so incredibly different from them to begin with.

Heroic Muse

[Lainie]

My decision to leave the Seattle area and move back to Ohio surprised people -- not the people I knew in Seattle, who understood my desire to be closer to family, but a number of people in Ohio, who seemed to have some sort of geographical inferiority complex.

[Ramblin' Dave]

Going to business school surprised a lot of people (and in a way it surprised me too). But hey, I had tried for ten years to carve out a career doing something more noble than just make money, and I ran into more brick walls than I care to remember.

Prior to that, my stint as a teacher probably surprised a lot of my older friends, as I never liked school very much as a kid. Of course, the reason why I didn't like school was because there weren't more teachers like the one I did my best to be.

I'm sure my going out for the cross country team in college (and sticking with it for all four years) would have shocked most of the kids I grew up with, since I was a poor athlete back then. Of course, that's basically why I did it.

A couple of my friends have said they were surprised I moved to Singapore, but I have no idea why.

Last but not least, my not getting married to date has no doubt surprised some of my family's friends. It shouldn't have, since I was saying back when I was a teenager that I would never get hitched; but nobody believed me back then.

ETA:

Originally Posted by Lainie

My decision to leave the Seattle area and move back to Ohio surprised people -- not the people I knew in Seattle, who understood my desire to be closer to family, but a number of people in Ohio, who seemed to have some sort of geographical inferiority complex.

Same here regarding my time in Iowa. People couldn't imagine I had come out from New England and actually liked it there.

[GalateaDancer]

I used to be a ball-bustting corporate ladder-climber, happily working 50 - 60 hours a week under crazy stressful conditions and absolutely thrived on it. I made lots of money, had an "important" managment position, and indulged in expensive clothes, meals and other material things. I quit the rat race completely a few years ago to become a Belly Dance teacher and performer. I work just a few hours a day, make a quarter of the income I used to, and do most of the housework since my workload is a fraction of DH's.

People who knew me back in my corporate days can't believe what I'm doing now. Hell, even DH was wondered what happened to this person he'd been married to for over 10 years. But no one can deny how much happier I am - almost like a completely different person.

Prior to that, I think the most shocking thing I did was getting my tubes tied at 27, just a little over a year after my one and only child was born. I had many people insinuate that I was crazy to do something so permanent. Although, like the Belly Dance thing, it turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done.

[Thing 1]

I surprised a lot of people with my choice of high school--I open enrolled in the one that had an (undeserved) reputation for being weak academically and only taking kids that couldn't do well anywhere else (I've always been a good student, I could have excelled and been happy at either school).

I also surprised some people (not close friends, really, though) by deciding to go to a women's college. Also one so far away from home, since up through middle school I was determined to live at home and go to school, and I do miss being home terribly.

I'm not sure anyone I knew (including myself) expected me to want to be an RA, but here I am.

Not mostly huge descisions, but then, I haven't yet had time to make many really big descision in my life.

[Christie]

I know I surprised a few people by deciding to get married. But then that was my own fault for being the typical knowitall teen who figured she knew exactly how her life would unfold and didn't mind telling everyone and their uncle about it. Not a good plan if there is even the remotest chance you will change your mind .

[daisyslegs]

Originally Posted by rhiandmoi

This is a complete hijack, but I am also a mover and shaker, and I was under the impression that ET and Parkinson's are unrelated, and are not the same kind of tremor. With ET being an intention tremor and Parkinson's being a resting tremor.

No, not quite related, but similar in *some* aspects. My problem is that my issues do not seem to be ET alone. I sure wish it was, but I am trying to not read into it. I have very intense muscle cramps/spasms in particular areas outside the basic tremor (which is bad enough), my feet are turning in towards the center no matter how hard I fight, My hands are doing the same thing. I have muscle movements that force me in directions I fight against, etc.

ET is suppose to be non existent at rest and noticeably lessened with alcohol, a couple glasses of wine. not true for me and my body seems to make up for what little rest it does get upon waking, Mr. Legs gives me hell about not doing anything about it as it seems to frighten him.

It might be a form of Dystonia, but I am avoiding a DX as long as I can. In the meantime, no meds as long as I can.

BTW, HUGS to you! Not easy being a mover and a shaker! Fight the good fight and please share in a PM, are you on any meds? Did they help? I use to take Propanolol until the breathing problem got out of control...... cant take anymore.

[Mosherette]

My decision to get married surprised the hell out of my mother. And me as well. I don'#t think I'd ever ruled it out to myself, really, but about three weeks before we announced our engagement I had a long talk to my mum that involved me saying I didn't think I'd ever get married. Oops

[kitap]

Dyeing my hair- at the time a dark blonde- red: Scully of The X-Files red. It looked excellent- it was professionally done and I'd chosen a color at random that looked good on me- but I have such a natural Goody Two-Shoes reputation that they figured I'd never be bold enough to do that.

Moving to Tucson to be near my family shocked everyone in Wausau.

Yeah, I'm not the wild party girl shock 'em type.

[Auntie Witch]

kitaps reminded me of another one: Letting my fifth graders cut my hair last year and pick out the color floored most of my coworkers and all of my family.

[jw]

Having quickly climbed the corporate ladder during my twenties, I thought I had it made.
But when I was thirty years old, with a mortgage and three young children under five, I quit a company directorship with a big fat salary and tried to make a living playing music. Albeit, I also had a part-time real job, to help pay the bills.

Whilst my family and friends and especially my business partners thought I was mad, my wife didn't, as she knew from living with me on a daily basis, how badly I was coping with the stresses and strains of the business I was in.

Making a living from music proved to be unrealistic, (although, it's still a source) but it forced me to seek other ways of providing an income for my family. I really believe that if I'd not gotten off that particular carousel, I wouldn't have lived to see forty.

I've often radically changed many things in my life and they've generally worked out somehow, either by fluke or design. Mostly, I've been lucky with timing.