{"id":1296,"date":"2014-08-07T02:45:10","date_gmt":"2014-08-07T02:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2014-07-20T19:51:31","modified_gmt":"2014-07-20T19:51:31","slug":"chronic-illness-your-trash-their-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/08\/chronic-illness-your-trash-their-treasure.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Your Trash, Their Treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Adapting to life with a health problem often brings new ways to live and new things to buy. I lost my hair because of lupus – I had to buy wigs. My wardrobe changed drastically because, whenever I go outside during the day, I have to wear long sleeves and wide-brimmed hats (no more shorts and T-shirts).<\/p>\n

But as I accumulated the things that I needed because of my illness, I also accumulated piles of things I no longer needed. Hair clips and ties. Clothing. Old appliances that were too difficult for my arthritic hands to operate. Dishes that were too heavy to carry safely.<\/p>\n

Instead of throwing these out, I made a careful assessment. Who could benefit from them? Where could I take them\/to whom could I donate them?<\/p>\n

Trying out one of the online auction sites was another option, of course. But there are so many people who cannot even afford to shop there, that I opted for making donations. And, when I did, the uplifting feeling was wonderful!<\/p>\n

Not only did I feel relieved that I’d cleared some space and “moved on” from possessions that no longer made sense for me to have, but I also felt good that I could help other people, too.<\/p>\n

No doubt about it, we who live with serious illness can make a difference in the world around us in many ways. Just look around you – your trash could very well become someone else’s treasure!<\/p>\n

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

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

Adapting to life with a health problem often brings new ways to live and new things to buy. I lost my hair because of lupus – I had to buy wigs. My wardrobe changed drastically because, whenever I go outside during the day, I have to wear long sleeves and wide-brimmed hats (no more shorts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Your Trash, Their Treasure - 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\/08\/chronic-illness-your-trash-their-treasure.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Your Trash, Their Treasure - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Adapting to life with a health problem often brings new ways to live and new things to buy. 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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\/1296","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=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1297,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions\/1297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}