{"id":1923,"date":"2015-12-22T18:08:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T18:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2015-12-14T18:21:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T18:21:59","slug":"chronic-illness-okay-to-drop-everything-well-almost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-okay-to-drop-everything-well-almost.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Okay to Drop Everything (Well, Almost)!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Second<\/a>If you’re dealing with a chronic illness and feeling frazzled in these last few days leading up to Christmas, I have some reassurance for you: By now, the best thing to do might be not to do anything – well, almost!<\/p>\n

From gifts to cooking and baking to decorating, you’ve probably done a lot. Others have, too. And in this flurry, you might be feeling stressed, overworked, possibly “working on a flare.”<\/p>\n

Yes, by now, you might not think you can get it all done. And the truth is, you probably won’t.<\/p>\n

So, ease up. Be gentle to yourself and others. Spend time with the people behind the cards and gifts and events. Have real conversations at this real time of light and love. Drop all that is not really necessary and you’ll probably discover new delights that were hidden by all the overwhelming stress. Don’t drop your doctor-prescribed health regimen. Don’t drop your time with God in prayer.<\/p>\n

But drop the unnecessary, the things that get between you and Christmas.<\/p>\n

And be truly merry.<\/p>\n

Peace,
\nMaureen<\/p>\n

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

If you’re dealing with a chronic illness and feeling frazzled in these last few days leading up to Christmas, I have some reassurance for you: By now, the best thing to do might be not to do anything – well, almost! From gifts to cooking and baking to decorating, you’ve probably done a lot. Others…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,241,3,1422,43,1242,4,1047,578,1420,1245,1236,95,1421],"tags":[1983,1985,1984],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-christmas","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-chronic-pain-and-the-holidays","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","category-take-some-time-to-rest","tag-christmas-frenzy","tag-chronic-illness-and-holiday-stress","tag-stress-at-the-holidays"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Okay to Drop Everything (Well, Almost)! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By now all that is to be done has been done - enjoy Christmas and the people you love!\" \/>\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\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-okay-to-drop-everything-well-almost.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Okay to Drop Everything (Well, Almost)! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By now all that is to be done has been done - enjoy Christmas and the people you love!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-okay-to-drop-everything-well-almost.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-22T18:08:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-14T18:21:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/10\/Second-close-up-of-picture-257x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chronic Illness: Okay to Drop Everything (Well, Almost)! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"By now all that is to be done has been done - enjoy Christmas and the people you love!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-okay-to-drop-everything-well-almost.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Illness: Okay to Drop Everything (Well, Almost)! 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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\/1923","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=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1924,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/1924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}