The best year for living with Rheumatoid Arthritis..EVER!

The best year for living with Rheumatoid Arthritis...EVER!

I am sure this is not the first thing you have read about New Year's resolutions.  And while it is, in my opinion, fun to read about everyone else's New Year's resolutions, I thought maybe we could make a few together.  Why not, right?  We are all here for support, and we can all help keep each other on the right track.  So here goes...

Ask for help

This year let's ask for help.  No more struggling and suffering in pain because our shoulders hurt too much to reach to the top shelf for a dish, just to show we are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves.  I don't know about you, but I would rather ask for help then spend the next day with my shoulders so flared I can barely move my arms to dress myself.  No more sitting on the couch with a pleasant smile on our face visiting with our friends and family while we are suffering in pain because we know we can't get up from the couch by ourselves, or without a quiet moan of pain.  Yes, we are proud people.  Yes, we can do it ourselves!  But we are also usually the ones who try to make everything easier for others, so we deserve to be able to ask for help with dignity when we need it.

Be kinder

This year let's be kinder.  Now I am not saying that we are mean people at all, because we are not.  I am just saying that there are those times (and we have ALL been there) when we have heard someone say that they understand our pain because they too have ARTHRITIS in their knee.  Yes, that has made me bitter more times than I can remember.  Yes, we all know it is NOT the same thing.  But a reply like that has made me waste my day and left me in a bitter mood for too long.  We know more than most that people often downplay their pain and that everyone is fighting their own battle.  So let's be a little bit more kind to those who are fighting their own battle, for we can never really know what their battle is like, just as so many don't understand ours.

Smile

Let's smile more.  This isn't just for us ladies who know what kind of damage and aging the medication we take for rheumatoid arthritis can cause, but for all of us who rarely can find a reason to when we are struggling through a flare.  Smiling is not just a great break for that bitter expression I know I have plastered on my face when facing a flare, but is good for our soul as well.  Besides it's a great way to shock those around us who expect the permanent look of pain to be plastered on our face.  Just remember that many suffer alone, yet we have a great support system in all who suffer from this disease.

Laugh

Let's laugh more.  I know all too well how hard that is to do.  I used to watch people laughing and having a good time and be bitter because they could laugh and have fun pain-free unlike myself.  I don't know about you, but I have found some slightly awkward sense of humor that has come from surviving with this disease.  And while most of my laughter comes from laughing at myself and the rapid aging I have experienced from this disease, you better know that I will be the one laughing the loudest!  I bet you didn't know that laughing can sometimes work as a natural pain reliever.  It's true!  We should try it a little more often.  And while I know that isn't always possible, I promise to do my part to try to get a laugh out of you once in awhile!