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Getting a slow launch on 2023? Ditched your resolutions? Check out my approach to setting intentions that puts long-term wellness with RA front and center in my first HealthCentral column for the new year:

““NEW YEAR, NEW me!”

For many, self-improvement is an essential part of January, along with social media posts about the ambition to create massive change and success in a very short time. This can be incredibly frustrating when you live with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The fact that we have a lifelong health condition is unchangeable and so is its effect on our ability to create the change and success that seems so mandatory this time of year. This condition cannot be altered by getting up at 5 a.m., drinking celery juice, or manifesting a cure, and that can leave us feeling like there’s no point to trying anything new. But when your RA makes you feel stuck, even a little, a shift in perspective can help you create a better life with this condition. In this column, I look at New Year’s frustrations for those with chronic illness and share some ideas to create lasting positive change in your life.

I used to loathe New Year’s Eve. The end of the year would loom above me imbued with the disappointment of what I hadn’t yet done, the sadness and anger of being limited by my RA, and a profound sense of powerlessness over my life and my ability to change it. While everyone else celebrated with champagne, I marked the change from old year to new by entering a deep funk that united with the increased pain from winter weather to leave me feeling miserable for months.

So much of my winter mood was based in how I felt about my RA and the way it interfered with my quality of life. The vicious circle went something like this: I don’t have the power to change the fact that I have RA. My RA has a profound impact on how I feel every day. How I feel every day prevents me from doing the things I want to do. Therefore, my RA means that I can’t change my life for the better.

All these years later, when I look back on this sense of helplessness that permeated my life, it’s obvious that I was in a deep depression and had terrible coping skills, mostly consisting of ignoring my RA and regularly crashing through my limits with predictable flaring results. Now I know that although I can’t change the fact that I have RA, I still have many options that can improve my life and that I have the power to pursue those options. Instead of creating meaningless resolutions that are abandoned within a week or two, this year, I am setting a different set of intentions, all of them within my control. These might work for you, as well.”

Read more about how I set intentions for the new year on HealthCentral.