Chill! Rule No. 1: Relax

Do Everything Possible To Cut Your Physical Stress

• As my cardiologist advised, "With pericarditis, treat your body like it's got the flu. Rest and relaxation are key. Move around only as much as absolutely necessary to get through your day. Don't even think of exercising; it's not worth it!"

• I will remind you again to SLEEP. A LOT. EARLY.

• At the height of my chronic pericarditis, post-diagnosis, I lived alone and was so sick, my dishes would stack up for weeks, as would laundry and the need to buy groceries. It was too much to hold myself up for even a few minutes. I somehow made it through work, but only because I channeled all my life force to run my body like a puppeteer handling a marionette, and because I was able to sit through most of it. The alternate was too gruesome: lose my job and have a stressor even greater than my workplace: unemployment in a ridiculously tough market. Yet, many were the night I slumped over in the back seat of a cab to get home after working late, wondering if I'd make it home alive. I physically exerted myself as little as necessary but frankly, I should have done even less.

• Consider the ways you're physically exerting yourself. How could you change that?

                                                                                      Chill! Rule No. 2 >>