Adapt and Adjust

Recently, at the end of my yoga class, my teacher imparted some words of wisdom.  She talked about how one of her master teachers would always say to “adapt and adjust” your yoga practice. That spoke to me so much that I quickly took out my phone and added these words of wisdom into my notes.   I physically can’t do all the positions my yoga teacher demonstrates but I do adapt and adjust my practice to how my body feels.  That’s what yoga is all about…it’s an individualized practice attuned to your body’s needs.  Adapting and adjusting is great life advice, yoga advice and living with a chronic disease advice.  Living with spondyloarthritis, I’ve had to learn to adapt and adjust to my new “normal.”  When I fight this idea, life can be difficult by mourning my old self and all the activities I was able to do. But, when I “adapt and adjust” to my present circumstances, I live a more peaceful life.

This isn’t my first time adapting and adjusting to my environment.  My life as a classroom teacher showed me I needed to adapt and adjust to the needs of my classroom.  I started off the day with well-planned lessons, timed perfectly, materials ready to go.  But, life throws you a curve ball and all those well-intentioned plans go out the window.  A student vomits in class, the fire alarm goes off for a fire drill, two students get into a disagreement that requires my mediation, drinks spill during snack time, and then there’s a pop-in observation from my principal.  All these scenarios required me to adapt and adjust my daily plan. I carry this idea with me when presented with physical limitations caused by my AS.  As a first-grade teacher, I would modify activities based on student’s abilities.  I had several students who were classified as learning disabled and other students in the process of being classified as learning disabled.  I would look at assignments to see how I could break down an activity, so my students would be successful.  It could be highlighting key words or breaking down an assignment into multiple steps.  By creating modifications, my students were successful completing a task with a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.

Now that I live with arthritis, I need to make modifications in my daily life to make it easier for me.  If I am cleaning the house, I take short breaks in between tasks so I don’t get exhausted.  I don’t clean the whole house in one day like I used to; I complete a few small tasks each day.  I can’t cook overly complicated meals anymore because I get tired in the process.  Now, I cook more simple meals that I can enjoy.  I also like using the crock pot.  When I’m parking my car in a parking lot, if I can, I’ll pull forward to the open space in front of me, so when I leave I can pull forward out of the space. Backing out of a parking space requires turning the upper portion of your body which can be painful to my neck and shoulders.  These small little “hacks” make life simpler for me and I feel successful despite my limitations.  What’s funny is, these modifications don’t feel like modifications at all.  It’s just how I operate.

In my next post, I’ll discuss my love of yoga, and how it helps me in all aspects of my life. Stay tuned!

Vacation!

My husband and I have just returned from a trip to Aruba.  You would think, “Hey, that’s great!  Sounds wonderful!”  But living with a chronic illness, travel can be tedious.  I was feeling a little bit anxious about traveling while at the same time I kept thinking, “This is vacation.  This is supposed to be fun!”  Living with a chronic illness, you learn more about yourself than you did before you were sick.  I’ve learned to ask myself the question, “Why do I feel anxious about traveling to an awesome vacation?”  The answer came quite clear to me.  Because, living with AS can be exhausting in the day-to-day tasks in life.  For example, some days I need to rest after taking a shower. So, thinking about traveling can be overwhelming to me.  That makes sense.  Asking myself these types of questions helps me to process and understand my feelings.  I’d like to share with you what was troubling me about travel.

Packing:  Packing is harder for me these days because I like to pack items in case I get a flare, like a heating pad, my favorite teas, puzzle books and reading materials.  Then, there’s my medications.  Sometimes it feels like I need a separate piece of luggage just for my medications.  I don’t take too many meds daily. But, I need to pack a lot of different medications in case I get a flare while away from home. 

The Obstacle Course:  I feel like traveling through airports these days is an obstacle course.  We take the car to the off-site parking lot, take the shuttle to the terminal, check in, check our luggage, go through security, and finally, get to the gate.  Once at the gate, I feel like the obstacle course is completed!  The whole process can be exhausting for me.

The Airplane:    It’s difficult for me to be squished in an airplane seat for an extended amount of time.  When the flight is over, I don’t know how well I’ll move being that I’ve been sitting in a small, tight, uncomfortable seat for several hours. I’ll either have moderate stiffness or major stiffness.  I just never know. 

Here are some tips I picked up for traveling with a chronic illness:

1.  Pack early:  I started to set aside items for my vacation about a week before my trip.  I looked over all my medications and discovered I needed to refill one of them.  It’s good to do this early in case you need your doctor to call in a refill.

2.  Plan days of rest:  I planned two quiet days before my trip.  I slowly completed last minute tasks to get ready for travel, so I didn’t feel overwhelmed.

3.  Bring healthy snacks:  I really don’t like airport food.  I like knowing that I have my own healthy snacks that will make me feel good as I travel. Also, bring an empty water bottle.  Most airports have water bottle filling stations.  It’s important to stay hydrated while traveling.

I had a wonderful time visiting Aruba.  Thankfully, I didn’t have a flare.  The weather was beautiful.  My husband and I enjoyed walking most days of our vacation.  The obstacle course scenario which I described above was quiet interesting leaving Aruba.  There was a checkpoint, Aruba customs and security, US customs and security before finally getting to our gate.  I needed to sit down after all that removing shoes, electronics etc. during both security points.  But, once we landed back in the USA, we didn’t have to go through customs.  We picked up our luggage and out the door we went. It was a lovely vacation!

Finally, thank you for reading my blog.  During the month of May, my goal was to post weekly about living with spondylitis in recognition of SpA Awareness Month.  It’s been great!  Moving forward, I will continue to post to my blog twice a month…unless a pressing issue comes along that I want to write about.  Please share your comments with me as I would love to hear your feedback.  As a final push for SpA month and to spread awareness, if you are comfortable, please share this blog on Facebook or retweet on Twitter.  I would greatly appreciate it!