Abstract
Viewing personal narrative as a way to cope with personal issues and public troubles, as well as to provide companionship and comparative life experiences for those going through their own troubles, the author tells a story about adapting to the chronic pain and deterioration of osteoarthritis of the hip. Coping with degenerative but non-life-threatening aches and pain, which are likely to increase as baby boomers age, is an important part of our lived experience of health and ageing, and worthy of examination in our research and stories. Calling on medical and psychosocial literature, the author contextualises her story of learning to live with arthritis as a relational and bodily process with implications for ageing well. Her goal is to incorporate arthritis into her storyline, rather than fighting it or giving in to it. She hopes to stimulate conversation about our ‘conditions’ as a way to work through and cope well with what ails us rather than letting our ailments become who we are – to ourselves and with others.
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