b'Life with MSTThheeLLiiffeeooffaannAArrttiissttwwiitthhMMSSBy Hannah Celeste GarrisonIm here to give you a little bit of insight regular practice in art and helping others ininto my own life as an artist who just happens similar predicaments has been important to myto have MS. I currently live with RRMS and healing. In the months following my diagnosis,was diagnosed in the summer of 2017.IhaddoneasmuchreadingasmybrainI enjoy teaching art to people, in addition could stand to do. I had read here and thereto using the arts as a tool for my own mental that mindfulness and meditation were helpfulhealth management. As someone who has to some people. For others, practicing a hobby,experienced various symptoms, to various to the best of their ability, was important. Idegrees,IliketobelievethatImpretty had read everywhere that a support systemwell-rounded when it comes to my ability to is extremely important. All of this was easy torelate to peoples struggles with hobbies and read, but at the time, I needed to gure outfun activities. Thats what I tell myself, anyway. how to cope with my new predicament. MyI volunteer as a support group leader as well, way of life was disrupted. Living life on myso being able to empathize has been extremely own terms seemed next to impossible at thehelpful. Its already hard enough to live life to time. How in the world is a edgling artistthe fullest without an MS diagnosis, so the supposed to navigate this and her career? struggle is certainly far too real. I cope and After all of that reading and pondering, Ideal with it as best as I can, and I never want came to the conclusion that if I looked at theto give in to the MonSter that lives inside my bigger picture, it would seem that taking lifehead and body.a little bit more easily, and with intention, wasI have dealt with a plethora of things that the core issue. Maybe an intentional way ofhave quite literally stopped me in my tracks. living life was what my brain needed in orderMy sense of time had been distorted, probably to calm down. Id also read that the brain isdue to all of the symptoms that were increasing capableofcreatingnewneuralpathwaysin severity and number over half of the year. throughpracticeandrepetition.IftheresSometimes two weeks felt like two months. something Ive learned over the years aboutFatigue and dizziness would prevent me from making art, its that practice and experimentationdriving. Optic neuritis would distort the colors are paramount to progress. Maybe there wasin my vision. It was such a startling thing for hope after all.someone who took so much pride in being I was nding that, in general, more and moreabletopreciselyrecreatecolors.Balance people are looking to alternative, complementaryproblems and motor function issues had me therapies. Some people nd solace in theirthinking I was just crazy. The MS hug literally spirituality. For some, their form of relief can betook my breath away. (Yes, pun intended!) yoga, music, journaling, and so much more.Luckily for me, I am doing so much better. A 2017 scientic publication states that PreviousIt is my belief that, to some small degree, a research has demonstrated the benets ofmsfocusmagazine.org 24'