Living with Lupus: Make It Small - Examples of things to do

As of this month, I've spent 23 years living alongside lupus. I've tried many ways to make our relationship "work" during that time - over 1500 blog posts worth of trial and error! 

But it wasn't until I was talking with my oldest daughter Deirdre that I remembered a piece of advice that I keep coming back to. A bit of wisdom that continues to work for me, no matter what the situation. Probably because it gives me an active role in scenarios where I feel very much out of control. Here it is: 

Make lupus small. Make lupus, or whatever your personal difficulty, 

as small as you possibly can. 

Do this by concentrating on two areas: 

1) Things you can do.

2) Things you can avoid. 

The goal is to simply make lupus, or whatever it may be, less. 

Less significant. Less disruptive. Less present. 

You want it to take up less space. In your mind. In your body. In the day. 

But This doesn't mean I simply will lupus into be less painful. I don't just think it away. 

I deliberately do things that make lupus less problematic and less symptomatic than it would have been if I'd done the opposite. 

Examples, most of which I've already done at least once this week: 

*Saying no when I've done too much already. 

*Passing on coffee with friends if it conflicts with a nap.

*Rescheduling a work call when I'm too tired. 

*Planning my day around an afternoon nap.  

*Skipping my kid's sporting event if it's too taxing (i.e. too long of a commute conflicting with nap.) 

*Distracting myself with things that don't pertain to my lupus symptoms (i.e. a new book.) 

*Focusing on what I can do, not all the things I can't. 

*Finding humor in the situation. 

*Ordering dinner instead of making something when I'm bushed at the end of the day.  

*Placing an order to have groceries delivered instead of going to the grocery store (hello, Instacart.) 

Next post - things I avoid!