Hi @Oaktree
Very pleased to hear that your study program is up and running and that you are sounding so positive. I am familiar with self sabotaging thoughts and feelings. So while I can empathise, I am also glad that, with the support of your psychologist, you were able to climb through and over the problems.
At the moment, I think that my recent optimism about medication changes has taken something of a beating. It appears that I am going to have to go back to the AP dosage that I had previously been taking. I have still reduced the quantity of pain relief medication significantly, by more than half, and am taking the basic amount that I need for pain management.
I am really having to come back to basics and review where I am at and what I want to accomplish during the next ten to twenty years - as far as I ultimately get. In another post I mentioned review and consolidation. A lot of the material that I have collected, during the past 30 odd years, needs to be sorted, disposed of as worthless (tip material), given away, sold, or decisions made regarding being retained by me or distributed to others who may be able to use or value the items, as much as, or more than I do.
All this while recognising that my physical capacity is diminishing fairly rapidly, as a result of age and the back issues that I have had. Keeping in mind that I have, I believe, retained as much capacity because of the medical treatment and operations that have been done.
In my mind is the desire to reduce what I have to just what I need to be able to continue doing what I enjoy and the items of personal value. The three things that I now wish to focus on are; garden, vegetable and pleasure, aquaponics (fish and vegetables) and repairs to my accommodation. I am fortunate to own the property in which I live and I can see that I can be comfortable, in that respect, for the remaining part of my life.
In a discussion with the counsellor last week, I said that I had decided that further tertiary studies was going to add a significant level of pressure to me. There is likely, also, to be limited opportunity for me to use the product of that study. Consequently, I had decided not to proceed with an application for admission to the course/s that I had been considering. Interestingly, a different outcome to what you arrived at. However, I do see the possibility of you using what you will have accomplished through your studies.
While, on the forum, I will be responding to tags, I intend being less active for a while. Where you and various others include me with a tag, I will be pleased to respond. Likewise, I will keep contact with those people with whom I have felt comfortable corresponding, being you and others, with whom mutually supportive relationships have been established. However, I won't be as actively engaging with as many members as I had before, at least for a while.
Look forward to talking with you again soon and, hopefully, hearing positive results of progress in studies and any other aspects of life that you may wish to share.
With My Very Best Wishes
@HenryX
