{"id":1274,"date":"2014-07-22T20:25:10","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T20:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2014-07-12T20:35:40","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T20:35:40","slug":"chronic-illness-how-do-you-describe-it-exactly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/07\/chronic-illness-how-do-you-describe-it-exactly.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: How do you describe it, exactly?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Time often flies by when you’re living, and when you have a chronic illness, time passes sometimes in odd ways. Slowly, in some measure, because living with pain is especially, well, painful, and the more pain you feel, the slower time seems to move (just think of waiting for a med to kick in, for example).<\/p>\n

Time also passes quickly, especially when it comes to your external life. I am constantly amazed at how I can go weeks without talking to a particular friend, but it seems like much less time has passed.<\/p>\n

When illness isolates us, loneliness can be hard to cope with. But when we emerge from our flare, or are finally able to reach out, again, it can be difficult to deal with, too. Because many people, whom we call friends, have not been with us for that particular siege, and with the passage of time and the seriousness of the episode\/flare\/illness events, we do change and grow, however subtly.<\/p>\n

How, then, do you describe to those you haven’t seen or spoken with in ages, how you really are? How life is for you? What your relationships with them is, now that more time has passed and things haven’t exactly been easy in the interim?<\/p>\n

As much as we love our friends and dear family members, illness affords us only so much quality time to devote to individuals while we’re struggling to stay afloat health-wise. I learned long ago that it’s okay not to have as many “close” friends as I once did, because I simply don’t have that much time and energy, as much as I’d want to. So, I bring my closest friends along with \u00a0me on my illness journey (and I’m along with them), and for others with whom I’m friendly, and when I “come up for air,” I try to explain briefly, and then move on with the present.<\/p>\n

In short, we don’t have to explain to everyone everything that goes on with our illnesses – we’d run out of energy mighty fast if we did! But we should stay close to those with whom we are close, and treasure those dear friendships that sustain us and with whom we can also be a good friend.<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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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\/1274","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=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1275,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions\/1275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}