Taking Advantage of the Good Days With Crohn’s
When I stopped working full-time, I had a running list of things in my head of things I wanted to do. There were things I wanted to catch up on, people to catch up with, and places I wanted to visit.
I couldn’t really do any of these things while working full-time because weekends became resting days. When my husband was off on a weekday, I couldn’t get up and go with him because I was working. But even after going back to freelance, I found there were weekdays where I made excuses to stay home. I was definitely not taking advantage of the good days with Crohn’s.
Would you be surprised if I said I still haven’t yet caught up on that list?
Missing out with Crohn's disease
Now that my schedule is a little more relaxed, I’ve had time to think and overthink some more. One day while listening to a summer storm roll through, I had an epiphany. I have definitely missed out on experiencing the good days while working.
Then when the second epiphany struck, I grew mad at myself. When I wasn’t working full-time over the past few years, there wasn’t much-taking advantage of the good days with Crohn’s, either.
Living with the effects of a flare
But old habits die hard. Even on good days, I rarely go out and do things like my peers. This is because I’ve been living with the after-effects from a bad Crohn’s, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis flare since 2012.
When it hit, it shifted my personality on prioritizing energy and going out. Living in Florida makes things exponentially harder due to excessive heat. Leaving the house for an hour can burn out even a healthy person, let alone someone living with Crohn's disease.
Ways to take advantage of symptom-free days
So, as I listened to the drops of water pound against the windows, I started a list for taking advantage of the good days with Crohn’s. Here's what I came up with:
- We live under a mile from a beach and are on the west coast. Yet, we have never stopped to watch the sunset.
- Attend a DIY workshop at the local Hardware Store.
- Pick a place we’ve never been that is within a few hours from home and go on an overnight trip.
- Go to one of the fifty new restaurants that opened around us. We seem to end up at the same ones time and time again.
- Finish painting the last two rooms in the house.
- Learn to garden. This one is harder because it’s so dang hot outside. But I’ve been told that it’s calming and has some great health benefits.
- A deep dark secret of mine. Learn to drive a stick shift. I have never learned.
- We live an hour from major theme parks and have never gone.
- Go with friends to a cold spring and float down the lazy river.
- Day drink! This may sound funny to some, but I’ve never done it. My teacher friends do it a lot during the summer, but for as long as I’ve had health improvements, I really haven’t participated. I should!
Taking advantage of the good days with Crohn’s disease is important. Good days can come about as randomly as an uptick in symptoms. What are some things you haven’t done and think you should do?
Tell me, I want to know!
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