I read this fantastic article on the AARP website titled, "The New Definition of Healthy: Living Life on Your Own Terms," by Sari Harrar. What initially intrigued and attracted me to the article, was the teaser sentence below the headline:
"Increasingly, people with chronic conditions consider themselves fully healthy—as long as they can live each day as they choose. Why the health care industry needs to get wise and catch up."
If you have a chronic condition, tell me this doesn't pique your interest!
The article talks about four people (the article IS from AARP, so the people highlighted in the article are ages 50-75), who have one or more chronic conditions - rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, genetic heart disease, recurring breast cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Yet they all refer to themselves as "living life on our own terms: healthy and happy, with medical conditions." (Quote from the article.)
The article continues with, "'Healthy, with conditions' is the new norm for many midlife and older adults in the U.S. and around the world." It then cites several studies that basically said that, despite having an average of three health problems per person, more than half rated their health as very good or excellent.
Excellent? I would never say my health was excellent! Good, maybe even Very Good if I fudged a little, but excellent? Never.
Yet, these people in the survey, with multiple health conditions, did.
They referred to three things that contributed to their sense of "very good" or "excellent": physical mobility, mental acuity and social connections.
Per the article, Debra Whitman, chief public policy officer for AARP says, “Even if they have health issues, they’re really worried about: Can I still move? Am I still mentally sharp? Can I still connect with and see my family? As long as they have these three resources intact, respondents believed they could live happy and productive lives, with or without issues like diabetes or heart disease."
Live happy and productive lives, with or without (health) issues.
What a concept!
Of course, when you are experiencing a flare, you are NOT going to feel happy or productive. Odds are you won't feel mentally sharp and you may have trouble moving. You will probably be hibernating in your home so you won't have a lot of contact with family and friends.
Nevertheless, health challenges often give experience and perspective. (Also mentioned in the article.) And while in a flare, knowing that in most cases it is temporary, can be reassuring. So yes, ulcerative colitis patients can have a life, with good health, very good health, or even excellent health.
Applying the questions in the article, I ask myself:
Can I still move? - Yes! I can go up and down the stairs, I can exercise (through my virtual reality device.) I can clean the house. Sometimes I may have to move quickly to get to the bathroom, but if I can do everything else, that's okay.
Am I still mentally sharp? - Mostly. I have the occasional brain hiccup that started in my 40s, but I would answer this yes.
Can I still connect with and see my family? Yes and yes!
I think I'm good for now.
I highly recommend reading the full article by Sari Harrar. It is enlightening, encouraging, motivating, and a good kick in the gloomy-chronic-disease keister!
The second non-health post I did on this blog was titled, "A Change in Perspective: What is a Healing Person?" It is a related post on this subject.
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