{"id":415,"date":"2013-01-22T06:11:56","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T06:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=415"},"modified":"2013-01-22T19:11:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T19:11:22","slug":"resolutions-week-three-forgiving-and-forgetting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/01\/resolutions-week-three-forgiving-and-forgetting.html","title":{"rendered":"Resolutions: Week Three, Forgiving and Forgetting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ooph! I’ve returned to my pre-holiday exercise routine…well, mostly…and the going is getting, well, it isn’t exactly what it was a couple of months ago. I expect for the next few weeks, I’ll be making up for those lose workouts (if a flare doesn’t get in the way). It’s all a part of the up and down of health, with a little bit of life thrown in for good measure.\u00a0 I’ve learned to forgive the time when a flare or other reason sets me back. Which brings to mind those sometimes-pesky New Year’s Resolutions.<\/p>\n

Remember them? Or, are they already forgotten?<\/p>\n

There’s something about enthusiastically promising to do something healthy, new and awesome as the calendar turns from December to January, and then, a few weeks later, slipping, sliding, and forgetting what all the fuss was in the first place. Anecdotally, I’ve heard more than one physical therapist or trainer say that gyms are over-crowded the first week of January, and then attendance dwindles to pre-holiday levels fairly quickly, never to burgeon again until the following January 1. I can’t believe this happens because people are lazy or slacking, or that they’ve decided that exercise just isn’t important or worth the effort.<\/p>\n

No, I’m wondering if it’s not because there’s a heap of guilt that starts to weigh down (pardon the pun) good intentions, and that erodes resolve, and eventually, resolutions get shelved.<\/p>\n

I don’t exactly make New Year’s Resolutions. Rather, I look up on January as a fresh start to a wonderful, new cycle of life, including exercising and doing other healthful things. But, if I get sidetracked (and lupus and other chronic illnesses will do this more often than once), I don’t get despondent, and I don’t feel guilty about the time I’m losing while resting and taking care. No, I do what needs to be done, and then move right along again when I can.<\/p>\n

As we near the end of January, and some resolutions are already discarded (yours aren’t, I know, but others’ probably are), I just thought I’d mention that forgiving the lapses helps us move into a better place, where we can forget “failure” and forge ahead, once again, to health.<\/p>\n

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

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

Ooph! I’ve returned to my pre-holiday exercise routine…well, mostly…and the going is getting, well, it isn’t exactly what it was a couple of months ago. I expect for the next few weeks, I’ll be making up for those lose workouts (if a flare doesn’t get in the way). It’s all a part of the up…<\/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":[361,362,371,10,317],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","tag-exercise","tag-fitness","tag-forgiveness","tag-health","tag-resolutions"],"yoast_head":"\nResolutions: Week Three, Forgiving and Forgetting - 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\/2013\/01\/resolutions-week-three-forgiving-and-forgetting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resolutions: Week Three, Forgiving and Forgetting - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ooph! I’ve returned to my pre-holiday exercise routine…well, mostly…and the going is getting, well, it isn’t exactly what it was a couple of months ago. I expect for the next few weeks, I’ll be making up for those lose workouts (if a flare doesn’t get in the way). 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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\/415","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=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}