By Julie Eller, co-host of the Live Yes! With Arthritis Podcast

In thelatest episode of the Live Yes! With Arthritis podcast我和丽贝卡有幸与娜塔莉·达蒂洛(Natalie Dattilo)博士聊天，她是一位临床健康心理学家，也是布莱根妇女医院心理服务主任。我们得问问达蒂洛医生身体形象、自尊和关节炎之间的关系，以及我们如何改变对患关节炎的身体的看法。

In my teenage years, I remember walking along the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore, where I spent many summer days soaking up the sun and ocean air. A smoothie place with chalkboard art out front to welcome folks into their store showcased a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that has always stuck out in my mind: “The first wealth is health.”

作为一个患有慢性疾病的年轻人，我对这句话思考了很多。如果我没有一个完全健康的身体，我怎么能获得真正的“健康财富”?我怎样才能在我的精神和身体之间建立一种充满健康的关系，尽管我的病情长期疼痛?

After two decades of life with arthritis, I still battle the perception that my arthritis makes me less healthy, even when it is well managed. I’ve always wanted to reclaim the idea of what it means to be healthy. So many of us who live with arthritis engage in healthy behaviors, eat well and exercise to our best ability, and yet, because of our diagnosis, we fall into a category of chronic illness that does not always feel like it fully represents our health.

In this recurring internal monologue, I find myself arguing that people living with chronic illnesses can still be healthy, can still have ideal bodies, can still accomplish that wealth that Emerson talked about so long, as we reframe our perception of the ideal healthy body. It all comes back to our understanding of our own bodies and how we perceive them; in other words, it comes down to our body image and our self-esteem.

I particularly enjoyedrecording this latest podcast episode,as we explored with Dr. Dattilo how managing chronic arthritis affects our perceptions of our bodies and the impact that can have in our lives. We also talked about ways we can reclaim a more positive body-image perception and a more confident sense of self-esteem.

I know that our conversation helped me break free of my internal monologue a bit, and really remember that even with arthritis, we can achieve the kind of wealth that Ralph Waldo Emerson celebrated: health.Tune in to the episode today!