{"id":2025,"date":"2016-04-22T17:15:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T17:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=2025"},"modified":"2016-04-18T17:30:13","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T17:30:13","slug":"chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness and Pain: We Can Help the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image Courtesy of graur codrin\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last weekend’s newspaper carried a story of the annual environmental clean-up in one of the areas in Southern California. As we commemorate Earth Day on April 22, there will be many more, some along the shoreline and others in the alleys and sidestreets of more urban areas, and many will particpate. But many of us, who have chronic health conditions and\/or ongoing, debilitating pain, will not be able to take part in any of these efforts.<\/p>\n

It isn’t for lack of desire to help our Earth get cleaner and healthier. It’s because, at least for me, that these take place outdoors and I cannot be out in the sun. There is an increased risk of infection for someone on immunosuppressive drugs. The physicality of bending, picking up, carrying, and other activity\u00a0on often uneven terrain\u00a0is just not possible.<\/p>\n

But this doesn’t mean I and others who suffer from health conditions cannot do some things to help the clean-up efforts. Here are some suggestions:<\/p>\n

We can recycle our unused and expired medications responsibly. \u00a0Besides regular drop-off points staffed by many municipalities, some pharmacies will accept these for recycling\/responsible disposal. All we have to do is make the effort to find out what we can do in our area, and we’ll be helping, not harming, our ecology.<\/p>\n

We can donate those things we no longer use, instead of merely discarding them. Clothing, furniture, medical assistance devices (canes, prescription eyeglasses, etc.) may not be useful to us anymore, but they might be a godsend for someone in need. Again, a little effort can make a huge difference for someone else!<\/p>\n

We can appreciate our world and bring beauty to it. On the way to the doctor’s office, do we turn inward, musing over the pain we’re in and what lies ahead? Or, do we take the time to look around us and just appreciate the fact that we’re able to move about God’s awesome world? The more gratitude we feel, the more our hearts will fill with love. And the more love we have, the more we are able to bring comfort, joy, and grace to others. \u00a0And the more we make an effort to beautify even a small corner of our home or outside world, the more we can participate in efforts to lift up this amazing Creation!<\/p>\n

We can take good care – of ourselves. \u00a0As we work with our doctors and other medical professions to be good stewards of our lives, we are also paving the way to have more time for prayer and positive thinking for those who are more able to carry out clean-up and other efforts.<\/p>\n

Celebrate Earth Day – in whatever way you can! \u00a0As your celebration continues, let joy and gratitude fill your heart and spill over into appreciation for this life and this world!<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

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

Last weekend’s newspaper carried a story of the annual environmental clean-up in one of the areas in Southern California. As we commemorate Earth Day on April 22, there will be many more, some along the shoreline and others in the alleys and sidestreets of more urban areas, and many will particpate. But many of us,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,360,1242,4,1047,578],"tags":[2111,2110,1019,2112,2122,2113,2114],"class_list":["post-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","tag-conservation","tag-doing-good","tag-earth-day","tag-earth-day-and-us","tag-goodness","tag-our-earth","tag-taking-care-of-our-earth"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness and Pain: We Can Help the Earth - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We can help, too - Earth Day 2016!\" \/>\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=\"Chronic Illness and Pain: We Can Help the Earth - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We can help, too - Earth Day 2016!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-22T17:15:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-18T17:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Sun-and-clouds-graur-codrin-300x200.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 and Pain: We Can Help the Earth - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"We can help, too - Earth Day 2016!","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Illness and Pain: We Can Help the Earth - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"We can help, too - Earth Day 2016!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2016-04-22T17:15:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-04-18T17:30:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Sun-and-clouds-graur-codrin-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html","name":"Chronic Illness and Pain: We Can Help the Earth - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Sun-and-clouds-graur-codrin-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-22T17:15:45+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-18T17:30:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"description":"We can help, too - Earth Day 2016!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Sun-and-clouds-graur-codrin-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Sun-and-clouds-graur-codrin-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/chronic-illness-and-pain-we-can-help-the-earth.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chronic Illness and Pain: We Can Help the Earth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. 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\/2025","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=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2026,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions\/2026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}