Understanding Where You Are Now

The first half of the book is devoted to helping the reader understand where she currently is in terms of her disorder. He divides the book into several lessons. The first lesson is to learn to accept one's physical limitations and the fact that they will worsen as time progresses. Accepting physical limitations is key to avoiding frustration. The second lesson concerns how to handle frustration when it comes. Schwartz advises learning to expect it but control one's reaction to it. The third lesson is to grieve for one's losses. On the one hand, one must grieve for past losses of family and friends to death, estrangement and other factors. But it is most important to grieve for one's self, for one's loss of mobility, loss of connection and forthcoming death.

The fourth lesson is to reach acceptance about one's condition generally. Physical decline...