How can a person with a chronic illness live well? For many people with lupus, living well means adopting a wellness philosophy. Wellness is an approach to living and the first step in achieving wellness is understanding what it means to be "well." A wellness lifestyle requires attention to the body, the mind and the spirit. It requires thoughtful planning and carefully adjusting your daily routines. Living well with lupus is a struggle at times, but is achievable and well worth the effort.

Wellness means making a decision to be the best you can be and then taking responsibility for doing what helps or hinders your life. This requires you to understand and accept that everything you do to your body, think with your mind and believe with your heart has an impact on your state of health. Health is affected by your state of wellness, but wellness is about more than health. People who are ill, disabled and even those in their final days of living can experience wellness. Wellness is choosing options and making commitments which enhance life. To live well with the challenges of lupus requires coping with the impact that a chronic illness has on the body, the mind and the spirit. These three areas are inseparable; improvement in one leads to improvement in the others.

Wellness doesn't just happen, it must be worked on every day. It must be carefully planned with a positive outlook and a realistic evaluation of your potential. Living well with lupus requires a balanced plan. Maintaining balance includes: identifying what you want to do in each area, setting goals and making a contract with yourself. In essence, you make a commitment to start living and enjoying a wellness lifestyle. This commitment puts you in control instead of being controlled by an illness.

THE WELLNESS MIND

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lupus@piper.hamline.edu

Last modified: 1996-07-30