Living with a chronic illness like arthritis can be an extremely taxing experience.

Living with a chronic illness like arthritis can be an extremely taxing experience. Fatigue is common for those with the condition, and you may also note that it is harder to complete tasks you used to find easy. There are simple steps you can take to ensure you are doing as well as you can within your limitations. Here are a few ideas about how you could rearrange your obligations to make living with arthritis easier:

Look at your chores

What do you do around the house? For most of us, the list is pretty long, and many of those chores need to be done often. From doing laundry to mopping the floors and taking out the trash, things that used to be simple enough before arthritis may seem overwhelming now. If you live with a roommate, family member or partner, it may be useful to sit down and talk about who is supposed to do what. You might find others in your household are willing to take on more responsibilities to help you deal with your arthritis symptoms. You can also consider outsourcing a few chores - perhaps a deep clean from a cleaning service once a month will make upkeep a little less stressful, or maybe a laundry service would take a lot of stress off of you and your joints.

Cooking may also be difficult with arthritis, so it could be useful for you to cook in bulk when you're doing well and freeze meals for reheating on days you're feeling unwell. Even if you take great pride in being a person who cooks at home and from scratch, consider the possibilities of takeout or even meal delivery services to give you time and space to deal with arthritis pain and other symptoms.

Think about your commitments

Many of us are very busy people. Between work, family life, hobbies and all of the other commitments and pursuits we pick up, there may be little time to rest. However, rest is a necessity when you're living with a chronic illness. It may be painful to do, but take a look at the commitments you have in your life and see which you could possibly do without. Perhaps it's not necessary for you to be in so many different volunteer organizations, or maybe someone else will chaperone your child's school field trips if you bow out of doing so. Finding ways to free up time for what really matters will simplify your life immensely - and can help you live better with your condition. A useful way to think about your commitments is to rank them from most important to least - those near the bottom may be things you feel you must do, but it is likely that you can gracefully end those commitments and still have a full, satisfying life.

For more on managing arthritis and your daily life:

Tips & Gadgets for Cooking with Arthritis
Smartphone Apps for Managing Chronic Pain
How to Get Quality Sleep Despite Arthritis Pain