Here at the Wednesday Check in we talk a lot about the physical aspects of COPD management: medications, exercise, avoiding exacerbations (flare-ups), and more. In this COPD awareness month, we are reminded that it’s important to think each day about these things—managing COPD and staying as well as possible.
But effective COPD management is about more than just the physical—it’s about all aspects of you. That’s why we talk also about the emotions that often come along in life with COPD. In ongoing conversations on the COPD360social activity feed COPD Foundation Online Community and Support Network, in addition to talking about COPD, we have fun with non-COPD-related things: playing word games, posting photos and favorite songs, and being creative with the Caption Call-out. So today at the Wednesday Check in, let’s look at being more than your COPD—renewal and discovery with COPD.
Let’s say that you're going along with your life, and then, one day, you’re diagnosed with COPD. That news—and all the uncertainties that come with it—can be a punch in the gut! But after a while, hopefully you find that you are still the same person—you’re still you. You’re just you with COPD. Renewal is about finding aspects of yourself that were always there and figuring out how to be the same you you’ve always been, while meeting the challenges you now face with COPD. Renewal is about learning to set, and maybe reset, your priorities in such a way that the limitations of your disease do not define you.
So, then what? Is it possible to separate yourself from the fact that you have COPD, and be creative with the things you can do? Discovery, when we look at it this way, is about using the time and energy you have—limited as it may be—to enjoy things that bring you pleasure: a hobby, a project, an activity, a plan, or other. This could be something that, in and of itself, makes you feel happy and fulfilled. Or, it might be something that you like to do that requires enough focus to take your mind off your COPD. It may even be that because you have COPD, you now see life in a different way, and are open to things you never noticed before.
Renewal and Discovery…Do you feel that you’re the same person you always were, just you, but with COPD? Do you do something you always had interest in, before your diagnosis, and now continue with that? Or, is there something new you’ve taken up now that you’re living with COPD?
Let’s talk about renewal and discovery with COPD! I look forward to hearing from you!
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