This is Day 74 of the Positive 100, a countdown to Rare Disease Day 2014 and an exercise in being positive despite it all.

Every day, every moment is an opportunity for growth. When we are challenged, we can rise to it, or we can shrink from it.

Being in constant pain has provided me with a unique choice: grow up and take charge or lay down and turn in to a shell. I choose to grow.

They don’t call them growing pains for nothing.

There have been missteps, like when I didn’t tell my coworkers for six months how bad it was. But I learned. This time, they got an email jam packed with gifs announcing some regular absences from the office for treatment. Or how I didn’t advocate for myself when my first SCS failed immediately. Eventually, I got the guts to get a second opinion.

I am learning to take care of myself. To work from home when the temperature is going to be below zero and to keep exercising. I know I need to adapt, move and grow or I won’t make it out of this in one piece.

How have you grown recently?  Share your answer on social media with the hashtag #100positivedays on Twitter, Instagram and Google+.