You want to do what you want to do, go where you want to go, but your body may have other ideas when you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It may be a case of the mind being willing, but the flesh is not. Undoubtedly, this can be a great source of frustration, resentment and anger. It can also lead to unnecessary suffering and pain.
It can take time to get used to a new diagnosis, especially one that will hang around for the rest of your life. To make that life a long and fulfilling one, it's important to do as many things as you can to support yourself throughout your journey with RA. This includes learning about anger and resentment. How to recognize the genesis of it. What to do to transform it, and why it matters to your health and well-being.
As you go through life with RA, it's not uncommon to circulate through a number of emotions. You may recognize the following five stages of grief from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' work: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It's not uncommon to grieve when you have a chronic illness. You may mourn when you lose the ability to do something you need or want to do, but can't because you're flaring, you hurt, your medications aren't working, you have dislocations and deformities that rob you of who you were before RA.
This is a huge topic – one that is far too large to comprehensively cover in one article. So, let's get this process started with some basic information.
The rest of Move Through Anger and Resentment When You Have RA on HealthCentral.com is about why you want to transform your anger, tune in to recognize your anger and how to melt down your anger.