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One of the hardest things about living with rheumatoid arthritis is listening to your body, yet it is an essential part of breaking the overdoing it-crashing-overdoing it cycle. I wrote about this in my new article for HealthCentral:

“I live with an absolute jerk. She bosses me around, every day telling me what I can and cannot do. If I don’t do what she says, she hurts me in ingenious ways that are invisible to the naked eye, leaving no proof of what she has done. Most days, I can hide it, but every now and again, it’s so bad I have to rest and heal for several days. If you’ve guessed that this “rhymes-with-witch” is my body, you win! Thanks to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), my body and I have been in a constant fight since childhood. Quite frankly, since so many of the messages my body sends me relate to pain and limitations, my only defense mechanism has been to tune them out.

Listen to your body, the doctors say. Learn to pace yourself, says every medical professional I have ever met. For decades, I have listened to this advice as much—or as little—as I have to my body. Most of the time, my body and I have had what might mildly be called a “difference of opinion” about the tasks of the day. She wants to nap or watch undemanding YouTube videos, while I have responsibilities, rent to pay, and a desire to live my life as fully as possible.

So I’ve ignored her. And yes, she has a definite gender and fully formed personality (mostly cranky), although I have not given her a name. It would give her too much power. Ignoring the constant grumbling has required years of fine-tuning filters to the point that they block out most sound, except the most desperate screaming.

She was mean to me, so I was mean to her.”

Read the rest of my column on listening to your body with RA on HealthCentral.