Positivity and Psoriatic Arthritis

Can you maintain a positive attitude while also living with psoriatic arthritis? That is a good question. We all can admit that having psoriatic arthritis can certainly make life harder.

It is an unrelenting attack on the body that makes even the strongest-willed person bend or feel like they are breaking. I am no exception to that rule.

Fighting the good fight

However, for as strong as that fight is, there are days that it takes everything in me to fight the good fight. On those days it would be easy to crumble in a pile of twisted, hurting body parts.

I guess you can say it is fear that keeps me from doing that. Fear that if I give in to those feelings I will never get up again or find a reason to enjoy life.

The resiliency journey

I would be totally wrong if I tried to tell you there will not be trying days or even trying years for that matter. Given all that 2020 brought to our lives - including the difficulties of this past year, just facing every day has been hard.

When, in my case, you add knee surgeries on top of PsA - well, it's the makings of the perfect storm that could even make a saint lose religion in a hurry. However, I am proof positive that if you keep holding to some form of positive thinking you can weather that storm.

It doesn’t have to be oozing over like water running over the rim of a cup. Even if it is a single thought in a day of something positive then you have the making of being your own version of proof positive.

Positivity starts with you

On days that it feels like psoriatic arthritis is really weighing me down, I start with listing the positive things in my life. For example, I am positive that my grandchildren love me. I am positive that if I only accomplish one thing in a given day, then I have done something.

It doesn’t have to be on a large scale. If one thing is all you can accomplish in a day then look at that one thing as positive. I can tell you that, although your family might not understand it, they are not the ones who feel the pain we live with. Sometimes you have to go with the little things.

Enjoying the good days as they come

Life with psoriatic arthritis does have some good days. For whatever the reason may be, there are days when either a new medication is working or there is just less pain than normal, we'll take it.

I look back on those days with positivity to know that there are days when I can eventually accomplish more. It helps me to know that although I might have a flare, it will not last for the rest of my life. The day will come or treatment will come that will help me to have those good days.

Always be kind to yourself

My hope for you is that you find ways that uplift you and bring you some positivity. Flares will come. Bad days will too. As a lyric in a song goes “To everything (turn, turn, turn)” turn that negative into a positive.

A flare becomes a time for you to turn it into being kinder to yourself. Bad days become a time for you to reflect on any good memories. It is only in doing these things that make living with psoriatic arthritis a more positive situation. I hope it can do the same for you!