No Good Excuse - a Column by Sean Baumstark

It seems that the best time to plan ahead is always yesterday, or several hours ago. No matter how much thought or energy I put into planning ahead, it rarely seems sufficient. I suppose I should remember the alternative to not planning ahead at all; such a situation could easily…

If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of mental energy thinking about “what might be” and dreaming about “what could be.” I’ve always had big aspirations, and I reach for the stars when I set my sights on something. I don’t easily give up or settle. I have…

I pride myself on getting a lot done and being a productive individual. Although I enjoy some downtime here and there, I often feel pressure from my unfinished tasks or my never-ending to-do list. That pressure makes it hard for me to watch TV, especially a series I can…

Today at work I participated in a meeting, which was really just a gathering of co-workers for the purpose of connecting and visiting with one another for a couple hours. We all worked through a version of an icebreaker activity commonly referred to as “Rose, Thorn, and Bud.” In…

Life is more fragile than I sometimes realize. This is true for everyone, rare disease or not. Most days, I feel invincible and think about the next 40 years of my life. On other days, I recognize that I may not lap the four-decade mark again. I know the prognosis…

Advocacy seems to be taking on a new meaning for me as the years pass and I become more comfortable in my own body. In addition to increased confidence in myself, the Enneagram personality test I previously wrote about is still proving to be valuable in helping me understand…

“Are you living by design or by default?” My friend asked me this while we were catching up over dinner after local restaurants started serving on outdoor patios again. My friend knows I’m highly ambitious, but he also knows that I can procrastinate…

There will always be more to learn in this life. No matter how many years I live or how many experiences I have, I can’t possibly know it all. This is surprising to some degree, because when I was younger, I thought all almost-40-year-olds had everything figured out.

The light at the end of the tunnel can seem elusive and bright at the same time. Perhaps it’s a tug of war or a bit of yin and yang activity, but it’s ever-changing, especially in relation to living with a rare, progressive disease like Friedreich’s…

I’m approaching what can easily be labeled the midpoint of life for the so-called average person. Of course, such averages rarely take rare disease into account. But even without the progression of Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), living to (almost) 40 is no easy task. I mean, just think about…