Self-Care with a Chronic Illness: Play

It's Arthritis Awareness Month! This month I am challenging you to take a little time each day and practice better self-care. Each day in May, I plan to share one simple way you can show yourself some love and appreciation.

Play. If you have a dog, you realize play is a habit they never outgrow. My border collie will even attempt to play when she has damaged a ligament. It is so much a part of who she is. Luckily, she requires that I engage in play with her and although I sometimes do it begrudgingly, it doesn't take long before I am laughing out loud and my energy levels are up.

Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple talks and writes often about the importance of play for adults. In his post on The Definitive Guide to Play he says, "play is meant to address a deficiency in your life." For me, it's a reason to focus on something other than the stress of life and living with a chronic illness.

Ideas for play:

• Dogs! They are always ready to go.
• Buy chalk and draw on the sidewalk.
• Ride a bike (I love going downhill as fast as I can).
• Run in the rain (I dare you to not feel like a kid again doing this one.)
• Play a board game or a video game.
• Go bowling (Due to swollen hand/wrists I have had to bowl "granny-style" and I am okay with that.)
• Go down a slide.
• Play a sport. 
• Swim for fun.  
• Make music. Dance.
• Walk through the grass barefoot.
• Laugh out loud.

What other ideas do you have?