{"id":1157,"date":"2014-05-01T04:24:56","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T04:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2014-04-29T00:26:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T00:26:38","slug":"when-you-feel-like-going-back-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/05\/when-you-feel-like-going-back-in-time.html","title":{"rendered":"When You Feel Like Going Back in Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>At some point during life with chronic illness, you feel like going back to the time “before.” Before your diagnosis. Before the disease or health condition took away so much of what you used to do and were.<\/p>\n

Maybe, at such times, you start going through boxes of old photos, crying over the thinner, smiling you that looks back at you. Or, maybe, you throw your hands up and say, “Forget it!” and try to do one of the activities you used to be able to do, but which are way beyond your capabilities now. And you sure feel it the next day, and the next.<\/span><\/p>\n

It can be hard to\u00a0know<\/em> how much you were able to do in the days “before.” I once wrote an entire screenplay in a weekend. Could I do that, now? Oh, dear me, no! I’d be totally fatigued before I’d arrived at the second act. No, now I have to take it more slowly, even skipping days because of lupus symptoms or other health-related things. And herein lies my meaning for today.<\/p>\n

True, I cannot write as pell-mell speedily as I used to. But I can still write. I cannot garden outdoors because of sun exposure. But I can still raise beautiful African violets indoors.\u00a0Lupus has changed my health and life considerably, but not fundamentally who I am. And if I’m creative and patient and fully trusting in God, then those things that\u00a0were<\/em> can still\u00a0be<\/em>, just, perhaps, differently.<\/p>\n

As days with illness and pain drag on, oh, so often, we might feel cut off from the things that brought us joy, delight, hope, and excitement. We might wish that we could go back in time,\u00a0before.<\/em> When these feelings hit us, it’s helpful to remember that we are who we’ve always been, and our gifts have not gone away. They are still part of us, the deep part of us that is God’s child.<\/p>\n

And with prayer, creativity, and patience, all the precious gifts that make \u00a0us wonderfully who we are can flourish. Perhaps differently than\u00a0before<\/em>, but, stronger because of the courage and grace that come from willingly, joyfully<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At some point during life with chronic illness, you feel like going back to the time “before.” Before your diagnosis. Before the disease or health condition took away so much of what you used to do and were. Maybe, at such times, you start going through boxes of old photos, crying over the thinner, smiling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,383,379,1],"tags":[1024,29,44,295,19,770,1023],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-heart-health","category-lupus-2","category-uncategorized","tag-being-active","tag-chronic-illness","tag-chronic-pain","tag-gifts","tag-illness","tag-living-with-chronic-pain","tag-regret"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen You Feel Like Going Back in Time - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/05\/when-you-feel-like-going-back-in-time.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When You Feel Like Going Back in Time - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At some point during life with chronic illness, you feel like going back to the time “before.” Before your diagnosis. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}