{"id":1947,"date":"2016-01-20T21:55:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T21:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1947"},"modified":"2016-01-16T22:06:41","modified_gmt":"2016-01-16T22:06:41","slug":"the-importance-of-an-illness-mentor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/01\/the-importance-of-an-illness-mentor.html","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of an Illness Mentor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Second<\/a>When we work, a mentor can be a valuable ally as well as someone who steers us when we might be heading in the wrong direction. A spiritual mentor (or spiritual director) can be a wealth of wisdom and guidance, especially when life gets murky. And a mentor who has lived longer with the illness from which we suffer can be a tremendous support, too, a light for us when we might think all is darkness.<\/p>\n

An illness mentor isn’t a doctor to us; we still need to work first with our medical team to manage our treatment, diagnoses, tests, and lifestyle issues impacted by our health challenges. But an illness mentor still fills an essential role in providing encouragement, a shoulder to cry on (yes, this is part of the journey!) and someone whose own life path can provide insight into how we, too, can “have a life” even if it is punctuated by frustrating and derailing symptoms.<\/p>\n

I met my treasured illness mentor, who is now a great friend, at my first lupus support group meeting. Her humor, knowledge, and common sense approach to the disease was greatly steadying after I’d gone through my first gauntlet of specialists and website “information hubs,” which were \u00a0unsettling (to say the least). Through the years, my mentor has been a rock of support and a source of humor and strength – an essential part of my life then and now.<\/p>\n

It might take a few tries to find the right fit with an illness mentor. And it’s \u00a0important to remember that he or she also is dealing with tough health issues, so at times, we will (and willingly) be support right back! But life with illness is greatly enhancesd by a mentor who has “been there, done that,” and can shine a light for us, even when it seems very, very dark indeed!<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

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

When we work, a mentor can be a valuable ally as well as someone who steers us when we might be heading in the wrong direction. A spiritual mentor (or spiritual director) can be a wealth of wisdom and guidance, especially when life gets murky. And a mentor who has lived longer with the illness…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,1242,4,1420],"tags":[29,2015,2014,756,799,2016],"class_list":["post-1947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-pain-2","tag-chronic-illness","tag-help-in-illness","tag-illness-mentor","tag-living-with-chronic-illness","tag-mentor","tag-support-for-illness"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Importance of an Illness Mentor - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During a life with chronic illness, it helps to have a mentor by our side!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Importance of an Illness Mentor - 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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\/1947","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=1947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions\/1948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}