{"id":927,"date":"2013-11-27T20:38:38","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T20:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=927"},"modified":"2013-11-20T20:58:38","modified_gmt":"2013-11-20T20:58:38","slug":"chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness and Pain: Camera Shy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>With apologies to the beloved Christmas tune, “It’s the most photographed time of the year!”<\/p>\n

From now until the New Year, millions, if not billions of pictures will be snapped. Hours and hours of video will be shot. And you, like it or not, just might find yourself staring at the lens of a camera or video contraption, wondering things like, “Why do I have to be on prednisone and have such an ugly, round face?” or, “Great, I was up all night with all this pain and\u00a0now<\/em> they want a family portrait!”<\/p>\n

Or, maybe you might run from the scene completely – camera shy to the core.<\/p>\n

You don’t have to suffer from a debilitating medical condition to dread having your picture taken. I know many perfectly healthy – and attractive – people who shrink from the lens, so you’re in good company.<\/p>\n

But there’s something about Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and all the other occasions til the beginning of January that brings out the inner Ansel Adams in people. Some relatives, friends, even total strangers simply\u00a0must\u00a0<\/em>capture the moments on film. Camera shy or not, people are expected to join in.<\/p>\n

In some ways, it’s nice that people take the time and make the effort to photograph precious events. I have recently spent many hours going through boxes of photographs, and there are many pictures I am delighted to have of relatives and friends who are no longer alive and of events that were happy and special.<\/p>\n

But if you live with chronic illness and pain and feel you are “appearance challenged” in any way, getting your picture taken takes on a whole other dimension. Perhaps you’ve gained weight. Shed your hair. Had bad dental problems. Lost your confidence. Medical bills have sapped your financial resources, and you don’t have “party clothes” or the money to get your hair, nails, and makeup updates. Maybe, too, you are depressed, not happy about your situation in life, no matter how festive the time of year, and you know your smile doesn’t reach your eyes…even when you can muster a smile.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, when the photographer says, “Cheese,” you’d rather say, “Bah! Humbug!”<\/p>\n

I understand all of this. And I’ve cringed a time or two when the cameras come out. \u00a0Certainly, it’s okay to decline to be photographed. After all, it is your image and your prerogative.<\/p>\n

But before balking, think about the occasion and the people involved. As bad as you might feel, are you with people you love and who love you? Are you grateful for the time God has given for you to be together? Are you surrounded by comfort? Affection? Laughter?<\/p>\n

Would you, years from now, like to find a picture of this moment in your box of memories?<\/p>\n

Sitting for professional photographers or being in the newspaper or television is one thing. Capturing a beloved moment, to revisit later, is another – and is often well-worth overcoming your inner camera shyness. If you can invite boldness, and get a copy of whatever scene is snapped, you might find that, on one of those really bad, bleak days to come, the photograph can invite \u00a0many positive feelings to help you through.<\/p>\n

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

Maureen<\/p>\n

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

With apologies to the beloved Christmas tune, “It’s the most photographed time of the year!” From now until the New Year, millions, if not billions of pictures will be snapped. Hours and hours of video will be shot. And you, like it or not, just might find yourself staring at the lens of a camera…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4],"tags":[456,811,813,815,19,812,30,814],"class_list":["post-927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-appearance","tag-camera-shy","tag-dressing-up","tag-having-our-picture-taken","tag-illness","tag-looking-our-best","tag-pain","tag-photographs"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness and Pain: Camera Shy? - 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\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html\" \/>\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: Camera Shy? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With apologies to the beloved Christmas tune, “It’s the most photographed time of the year!” From now until the New Year, millions, if not billions of pictures will be snapped. Hours and hours of video will be shot. And you, like it or not, just might find yourself staring at the lens of a camera…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-27T20:38:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-20T20:58:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.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: Camera Shy? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","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\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Illness and Pain: Camera Shy? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"With apologies to the beloved Christmas tune, “It’s the most photographed time of the year!” From now until the New Year, millions, if not billions of pictures will be snapped. Hours and hours of video will be shot. And you, like it or not, just might find yourself staring at the lens of a camera…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2013-11-27T20:38:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-11-20T20:58:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html","name":"Chronic Illness and Pain: Camera Shy? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg","datePublished":"2013-11-27T20:38:38+00:00","dateModified":"2013-11-20T20:58:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/11\/chronic-illness-and-pain-camera-shy.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: Camera Shy?"}]},{"@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\/927","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=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":928,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions\/928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}