The Best Kind of Medicine

If there is one thing that living on artificial nutrition has taught me, it is this. You have to stay strong, and you have to stay focused. Some days that is far easier said than done. But the days I feel most like myself are almost always the days I get outside.

I am a firm believer that being outdoors is the best kind of medicine. Not the sort you pick up from a pharmacy, but the sort that clears your head, lifts your mood, and reminds you that the world is still out there waiting for you. Fresh air, a bit of green, the sound of water. It does something that no tablet ever could.

So here is what I would say to any fellow tubie reading this. Set yourself one small challenge. It does not have to be a skydive or a lap of a race track. It can be as simple as a short walk, a quiet sit beside a lake, or just getting to the end of your street and back. The size of it does not matter one bit. What matters is that you take that first step.

Because that is the real secret. The first step is always the hardest, and the moment you take it, it leads you to the next one. Then the one after that. Before long you have done something you were not sure you could do, and you feel a little more like the person you were before all of this began. One small step at a time, you build a life back.

Living on a feed line does not mean that life stops. It just means we do things a little differently, and often a little more bravely than most. We tubies can have a full life. I am proof of that, and so are many others.

So on the hard days, keep strong. Keep focused. And whenever you can, get yourself outside. Take that first small step. It really is the best medicine I know.

Stay strong, stay focused, and I will see you out there.