Coping with Psoriatic Arthritis
I wish I had better advice than I currently do for coping with psoriatic arthritis. When it comes down to it, I feel like coping for me can come in two main varieties.
Staying positive or drowning in self-doubt.
On most days, there is no in-between. Two distinctly different forms of “coping” but actually coping nonetheless.
What does coping with psoriatic arthritis look like?
We all process things differently. That I do believe is the honest truth. I think some of us are just more positive by nature. Those of us that are positive by nature have an easier way of seeing the world, and all the events in it, with a brighter lens.
Others tend to find it is a little more difficult to allow themselves to see the world in the same positive way. There is nothing wrong with either way, simply that we are all made differently.
What is there to be positive about with psoriatic arthritis?
Some would argue that there is nothing in this world positive about psoriatic arthritis. And if we lived in a black and white world, you’d probably be right. However, because I am, by nature, a positive person, I can fairly easily sit down and list the “good” things that have come out of my life as a result of having PsA.
While other people I know would slap me silly at the mere mention of anything even remotely “good” coming out of my psoriatic arthritis. It all depends on the lens through which we view the world and thus, how well we cope with our psoriatic arthritis.
I would argue that because I tend to be a positive person that it makes me easier to cope with my disease. While at the same time, others might argue that I’m just being naive or sticking my head in the sand over the state of my disease.
If I give in to the darkness of psoriatic arthritis
But the reality is that if I succumbed to every bad feeling I have. If I give in to the darkness, the deep and the despair, then I’m afraid that I may never come out again. And there will be nothing left of me. Nothing at all.
I view the world in a positive way because the alternative is just too much for me to bear. The full weight of my disease would swallow me whole. If I spend too long looking at life through that dark lens, everything in my life would feel ten times heavier than it really is.
In coping, there is a balance
So how can both ways be considered coping? After all, doesn’t coping mean that we only focus on the good while we ignore everything else? Some would argue that that isn’t really coping at all.
However, at the same time, it doesn’t mean that we should only drown ourselves in the bad. Rather, in my experience, true and honest coping involves a healthy balance of the two.
Just like with everything else with psoriatic arthritis, there is an ebb and flow to how we cope with our disease. Too much of either, and we put our ability to cope at risk. Psoriatic arthritis is certainly difficult to live with but knowing that we aren’t alone helps. It makes the dark times feel a little more bearable, allowing us to be a ray of light for others’ darker days in turn.
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