One never fully appreciates one's health until faced with an illness that is not going away. It is often hard to get beyond the question 'Why me?' and live a normal life. How can one learn to cope more successfully with one's condition? By participating in the Living A Healthy Life with a Chronic Condition Self-Management Seminar series at the Wiscasset Senior Center beginning at 8 a.m. on May 19.

Living with a long-lasting health condition (also called a chronic illness or condition) presents a person with new challenges. Learning how to meet those challenges is a process — it doesn't happen right away. But understanding more about your condition, and doing your part to manage it, can help you take health challenges in stride. Many people find that taking an active part in the care of a chronic health condition can help them feel stronger and better equipped to deal with lots of life's trials and tribulations.

An evidence-based program developed by Kate Loring at Stanford University Living Well is a generic self-management workshop that is designed to address issues experienced by people with any ongoing health concern through a problem-solving, action planning approach, which encourages participants to have confidence in their ability to make a difference in their own life and situation.

Seminar participants will learn:

• How to manage their symptoms

• How to eat well and live more actively

• How to communicate effectively with their health care team

• How to manage fear, anger, frustration, and depression

• How to make daily tasks easier

• How to get more out of life

What you do about something is largely determined by how you think about it. Your thoughts can greatly determine what happens to you and how you handle your health problems. It may be helpful to think of your illness as a path that goes up and down. To negotiate this path, one must incorporate many strategies and negotiate obstacles. Good self-managers learn and utilize skills that fall into three main categories: skills needed to deal with illness; skills needed to continue your normal life; skills needed to deal with emotions. "It gave me a new perspective on my chronic condition and how I may take more control over managing my disease," notes a recent program participant.

The six-week Living Well Workshop Series empowers individuals with chronic health issues to learn new life skills in order to choose and implement their own health management system. Beginning on May 19 and continuing once a week for six weeks, for two and a half hours, individuals with chronic health problems will gather at the Wiscasset Senior Center to discuss techniques to deal with: challenges of frustration, fatigue, pain and isolation; appropriate exercise levels for maintaining and improving strength and flexibility; appropriate use of medication; communicating effectively with family, friends and health professionals; nutrition; evaluating new treatments; and other related topics. The workshops are very participatory and designed to eliminate or slow down complications of chronic health conditions.

The first session will begin at 8 a.m. on May 19 and run until 11 a.m. The following five Living Well seminars will begin at 8:30 a.m. on June 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 and run until 11 a.m.

Optional materials fee: $15, "Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions" workbook; $10, Meditation/Healing CD.

To register please call 563-1363. Registration deadline is Friday, May 16. For more information please contact Lay Leader: Marianne Pinkham at 563-1363 or e-mail her at mpinham@spectrumgenerations.org .