Made with RA: Having RA Means You Are Resilient
When a flare gets you down, you have to get back up. In my new column for HealthCentral, I remind you that you already know how to keep going (and share tips and how-to in case you need a refresher):
“RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA) can stop you in your tracks, taking over every single part of your life. Whether the first flare or the 557th, when RA wants center stage, there’s nothing you can do: for a while, this egomaniacal condition rules every minute of your day and affects every decision you make. Despite what’s happening within your body, you can’t sit out on everything waiting for a flare to pass. That’s not how life works. The bills still need to get paid, your family still needs you, and your employer prefers your presence at work. Somehow, you find a way to do it all (most of the time), digging deep within and showing up. When something as simple as getting out of bed to have a pee takes effort and grit, how do you keep from rolling up into the fetal position and giving up? This is what a lifetime of living with RA has taught me about how to be more resilient.
Remember You Have Choices
There are days (weeks, months) when it feels as if I have no option but to keep going and that lack of choice is almost as heavy as the weight of a bad RA flare. When you desperately need a break from the pain, from feeling sick all the time, from the efforts of every task and yet know that for the rest of your days this blasted disease will be your constant companion… well, taking that next step in your day can seem insurmountable.
On those days, I return to a beautiful quote by Michael J. Fox in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: “I don’t have a choice of whether or not I have Parkinson’s: I have it. But other than that, I have a thousand choices, and I can’t let myself be sunk by the weight of that one non-choice.” It reminds me that I do have choices and frees me from the feeling of being imprisoned in RA. When I decide to start the day with range-of-motion exercises in bed followed by a warm shower, I make a choice to help my body feel better. I make a choice to deliberately look for the beautiful and the funny and in so doing, I choose to infuse my life with positive feelings. And on really bad days, I make the choice to get out of bed to go to the washroom instead of soiling my bed. Yes, some days it’s as basic as that.”
Read my column about resilience and RA on HealthCentral.
Tag: chronic illness, chronic pain, grit, mental health, pain, resilience, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid disease
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If I could name the one thing we must have to succeed in life it would be resilience. I am living proof that resilience has kept me in the game.
I often say I am not very smart, good looking, funny, or blessed with ability. But no one ever sticks with a goal longer. No one !!
If I am successful with RA, it is that same resilience that has pulled me through.