I ws feeling less achy yesterday. I credited an arthritis webinar with an interesting point of view. There are 3 parts to living with arthritis. First is the physical, all the hurts and some pain. The there is the emotional feelings part. How is my arthritis affecting that? Last is the concept of self – how do I see myself with this new disability/disease?
I realized that my arthritis would not be going away. It is a disease with me forever. With adjustments to my daily routines, I should be able to minimize hurt and pain. I will no longer power through discomfort, rather back off.
I really don’t feel sorry for myself. My sister had rheumatoid arthritis, I have osteoarthritis. It seems to run in the family. It could be worse – stroke, heart attack. I’m in the age range for all these possibilities. I must work with my doctors to manage them.
Then there’s concept of self. I used to be a highly productive person going from one activity to another until the day was done. I must change that image to one of survival, forget about productivity. That was in a former life. I must find people to do my work. It is emotionally hard to make this shift from productivity to survival. I must do self-talk about this every day.