The Gravity of Losing Your Grip
The Gravity of Losing Your Grip
I would love a phone App that suspended gravity for objects weighing less than a pound. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have pens, knives and forks, pill bottles, container lids, and other items hang suspended at countertop level rather than falling to the floor?
My diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis leaves me with no grip. I am always dropping things. When objects fall to the floor I bend over to pick them up. Thanks again to psoriatic arthritis it hurts to bend over! It hurts to bend my knees and my back and hips protest loudly. It would be much less painful and annoying if knives and lids and pens and pill bottles did not drop from my fingers and end up on the floor. Rather than falling I often imagine these articles suspended in the air, defying gravity... simply waiting for me to grip them again.
The frustrations of losing your grip
Sometimes this concept of gravity helps ease the gravity in my mind. I get frustrated by my inability to function effectively. I get annoyed when a simple task is compounded by my disabilities. If I am on a tight time schedule I get really cranky... and I can take that pain and frustration out on others.
To me, that is the gravity of the gravity that pulls objects to the ground and makes me curse my weak fingers and painful knees and back. In fact, anger and frustration at the consequences of dropped objects can allow gravity even greater powers. A good lesson for me was when I was late for a meeting because I had lost time opening containers and picking up lids from the floor. I was late, so I was in a hurry, and I was very frustrated. I shouted at a colleague and headed out the door. Gravity had the ultimate revenge. I missed the first step and crashed to the cement. The situation looked grave as there was blood everywhere. My colleague offered to call an ambulance. I was humbled far more than I was hurt.
Acceptance and adjustments for psoriatic arthritis
So now I try and eliminate the gravity of losing my grip. It helps to imagine dropped objects hanging in the air waiting for me to grip them again. It also helps to give me more time than I anticipated to leave for appointments. I may not win my fight with gravity but acceptance and adjustment to my disabilities help me avoid grave situations.
Do you have a story about living with psoriatic arthritis to share too?
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