{"id":1373,"date":"2014-10-02T10:02:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T10:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2014-09-26T22:18:44","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T22:18:44","slug":"chronic-illness-is-it-easier-to-open-up-to-strangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/chronic-illness-is-it-easier-to-open-up-to-strangers.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Is It Easier to Open up to Strangers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>I overheard a conversation a few days ago. It was very revealing, but it wasn’t between two family members or friends. No, it was between two men waiting for prescriptions at the pharmacy. I was waiting, too, and couldn’t help but overhear – and marvel at how open these two complete strangers were with one another. Their conversation even touched me, although I didn’t participate in it. And, it’s left me wondering, is it sometimes easier to have \u00a0a frank conversation about health issues with someone you don’t know, versus someone you know well?<\/p>\n

The conversation started when the one man, with two arm braces and a braced knee, sat down, heavily, in one of the last chairs in the pharmacy waiting area. He happened to sit next to another man, who asked if that particular chair was okay, or if he (the knee-brace-wearing man) would be more comfortable in his (the other man).<\/p>\n

The knee-brace wearing man said that it really didn’t matter. He was on his third knee surgery, and was used to waiting. And, he said he was in horrible, horrible pain.<\/p>\n

The other man commiserated, and asked if the surgeries were due to athletics.<\/p>\n

Yes, said the knee-brace-wearing man. And, he proceeded to list all of the athletic activities he’d done throughout his life. Believe me, it made me exhausted to hear it! Soccer, football, triathalon training, long-distance running, martial arts…and more!<\/p>\n

The other man listened and then said that he, too had been an avid runner. But one day, a conversation with an older, fellow runner, made him “dial it back.” He said that the older runner looked “great, fit, amazing” from the waist up, but from the waist down, the man could barely move. He had pushed his body much farther than he should through all of his running and other athletics, and wanted to warn the other, younger, man, that he should “dial it back,” so he didn’t end up nearly crippled from over-doing.<\/p>\n

The knee-brace-wearing man said that he knew he should dial it back. He knew he was doing damage to his body.<\/p>\n

“But, if you’re so used to the athletics, how do you do without them? What do you do without them?” And then, his voice cracked. “I mean, I have grandchildren now that I can’t do sports with because of this, but how do you stop?”<\/p>\n

The other man said, “It was hard for me, too. But you should have seen that old runner. I knew I had to dial it back.”<\/p>\n

“Yeah,” said the knee-brace-wearing man. “I should dial it back, too.”<\/p>\n

There are so many things about the conversation I could talk about here. The need to acknowledge our body’s limits, the importance of respect for preserving movement, the need to work with \u00a0out doctors to know what we should and should not be doing.<\/p>\n

But, that first question I posed was really the most prominent in my mind as I collected my prescriptions and went on my way.<\/p>\n

What is it about strangers that we find so compelling?<\/p>\n

And, if it is easier to open up to them, what does this mean for our ability to witness to goodness, health, and faith – no matter where we might be?<\/p>\n

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

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

I overheard a conversation a few days ago. It was very revealing, but it wasn’t between two family members or friends. No, it was between two men waiting for prescriptions at the pharmacy. I was waiting, too, and couldn’t help but overhear – and marvel at how open these two complete strangers were with one…<\/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],"tags":[1255,44,361,45,10,1258,1256,30,1257,1254],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","tag-advice","tag-chronic-pain","tag-exercise","tag-faith","tag-health","tag-knee-pain","tag-overdoing-exercise","tag-pain","tag-respect-for-ourselves","tag-strangers"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Is It Easier to Open up to Strangers? - 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\/10\/chronic-illness-is-it-easier-to-open-up-to-strangers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Is It Easier to Open up to Strangers? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I overheard a conversation a few days ago. 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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\/1373","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=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1374,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}