Winter: My Season of Discontent

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Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun...

~William Shakespeare

The longer I live with chronic pain and chronic fatigue, the more I dread the coming of winter.

Now all things considered, winter in sunny Southern California is mild compared to other places in the U.S., Canada and the world. Since I have visited other places where there is snow on the ground during winter, I know how lucky I am. Which makes me almost hesitant to write this particular post...

But even here in Southern California, Mother Nature causes enough weather changes to upset my delicate and fragile balance and move the needle of my fibromyalgia pain into the flare-up zone.

Upon reflection, I have lived almost my entire life here in Los Angeles and have never really found the winters to be unbearable. That is, until I started living with chronic illness. No, I think my poor body, weaken by constant pain, fatigue and chronic infection, now overreacts to the winter weather changes and creates the physical discontent that is with me during the entire winter season.

In the spirit of the season, I wrote a series of posts in December about dealing with flare-ups. I also wrote some posts about being flare-up back in September too. Reviewing them now, these posts contain some really good insight and advice on this topic. You'll want to check them out:

• The 411 on Fibromyalgia Flare-ups
• Fibromyalgia Flare-up? Here's What To Do...
• Video: Getting into the Energy Envelope to Prevent Flare-ups
• All Flared Up, But Feeling Fine
• The Lessons Learned From My Latest Flare-Up
• You're Not Nice, Mother Nature
  

However, there is one key coping strategy previously unmentioned in these posts that I use to combat winter flare-ups: acceptance.

I have come to accept that I really cannot do anything to prevent weather-related flare-ups. The only thing I can do is accept that they are a part of winter and learn to expect them. Which for all practical purposes makes the winter months some of my least productive ones when it comes to getting things done.

So come back soon, summer sun, and warm this sore and achy body. Until then, you'll find me combating my winter discontent bundled up in fleece clothing, underneath layers of blankets and attached to a heating pad. During the day, I am using all my flare-up coping strategies and counting the days until your triumphant return. At night, I'm dreaming about gloriously warm weather.