{"id":713,"date":"2013-05-30T23:12:03","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T23:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=713"},"modified":"2013-05-30T21:49:59","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T21:49:59","slug":"lupus-coping-skills-4-and-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/05\/lupus-coping-skills-4-and-5.html","title":{"rendered":"Lupus: Coping Skills 4 and 5"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of porbital\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How quickly May went by! Lupus Awareness Month is nearly over. Not so, unfortunately, the disease itself. No, it’ll be with us for quite some time, and thus my fourth and fifth “Lupus Coping Skills”: Adaptability and Creativity.<\/p>\n

These might seem obvious. Of course, when you have an unpredictable, chronic illness, you have to learn to adapt and be creative about life. But, in reality, many of us lupies, myself included, struggle with losses that lupus brings. As these add up (loss of appearance, friends, employment, health, lifestyle things like going out in the sun…etc.), we often face a crossroads. We could go blythly onward as we had before, out into the sun, for example, but given the consequences, say, a worsened lupus flare, we might be in worse shape than before – and face even more tough decisions.<\/p>\n

The other way includes accepting the losses and limitations, but instead of remaining with gaping holes moving forward, we find other, healthful pursuits, foods, habits, and friends, to fill the voids. Thus, adaptability and creativity.<\/p>\n

I might not be able to go outdoors during the day as I used to.\u00a0 But, I can do many things indoors – including exercise and\u00a0spending time with friends.\u00a0 New\u00a0gadgets can make it easier to adapt joint pain and limited mobility to still-important activities such as cooking. Moving the time when I do some activities (such as blogging) to when my energy is at a good level helps me to feel I’ve accomplished something during the day, while still acknowledging that other times of the day might not be as energy-filled.<\/p>\n

Even if you are the least artistic person on the planet, you have the capability to be creative, to devise activities and a way of looking at the world that takes into account what you are capable of doing, given illness, and what your dreams and goals are. Adapting to lupus, and finding creative solutions to the problems posed by the losses it brings can truly help forge a path to dreams fulfilled and life goals met.<\/p>\n

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

Maureen<\/p>\n

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

How quickly May went by! Lupus Awareness Month is nearly over. Not so, unfortunately, the disease itself. No, it’ll be with us for quite some time, and thus my fourth and fifth “Lupus Coping Skills”: Adaptability and Creativity. These might seem obvious. 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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\/713","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=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":714,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions\/714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}