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You Are Not Your Illness
When being chronically ill, it’s easy to merge your identity with your illness. I’m here to tell you that you are not your illness. The way I see it, illness is something that happens to us. It changes our life and perspective. It may influence our choices and outlook but we are not our illness. Finding yourself after or during chronic illness can be a struggle. I’ve identified ways to discover who you are in the midst of being sick and I thought I’d share them here with you. Find Your Purpose We are all here for a reason. Depending on your ideology, you may look at this differently but…
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Self Care: 101
I have been doing a little extra self care lately. This looks different depending on your lifestyle. These are some of my self care tips and I hope they help you find a self care routine. We could all use a little extra love in this time of quarantine. It might as well come from the person who should love you the most, yourself! Take a Bath I hadn’t taken a bath in years. I used to take at least one a day. The other week my muscles were sore, my hip was hurting and the chiropractor wasn’t an option. I decided it was time to revisit the idea of…
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What is a Disability?
Disability is an interesting word. It’s thrown around in a lot. When someone first used disability to describe what I was going through, I was a bit shocked. I couldn’t believe someone would label me that way. I got angry and frustrated. Then I started to think, do I have a disability? What does it mean to have a disability? When I look at my life, I try to focus on the positive. There are so many things that my body does right. On the flip side, my body tends to struggle on a day to day basis. Just today, while biking my heart went to 200 beats per minute.…
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Learning to be Mindful
Mindfulness is a term that has become well known. It’s good for everything. Mental, physical and emotional health can all be improved by being mindful. What is mindfulness? Living in the moment is a great theory but in practice it can be quite difficult. I’ve talked before about radical acceptance and how it can improve your life. Mindfulness can come with radical acceptance. It often comes hand and hand with many different mental health strategies. In pain prevention or response, mindfulness can be utilized to endure. It’s possibilities are endless, so where do we start? Right here…. Take a deep breath When anxious or in pain, we often start to…
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Ways You Can Grow
We all have different ways we want to grow. It may be academic, physically, mentally, or emotionally. I can’t think of one person that couldn’t benefit from growing a bit. Too often, we look at others and make judgements about their shortcomings. Instead, I say we all take a bit of time to reflect and grow a bit ourselves. Where do we start? Right here! Reflect This is simple. Yet, we overlook it because to do the actual work is difficult. Reflecting at the end of the day is a great place to start. Ask yourself, what did you do well? It’s like a compliment sandwich. You want to acknowledge…
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Dealing With Cancelled Appointments
If you’re anything like me, your appointments have been rescheduled. Rescheduled meaning they don’t have a date for them yet. It’s a stressful and frustrating situation and yet it cannot be helped. I’m glad that medical institutions are doing their best to keep everyone safe. But, not having my scheduled appointments is disappointing. I can’t help but think how differently some of these days would have gone if I had my appointments. Last Friday, I was supposed to meet with a new autonomic neurologist. I’ve waited months for this appointment and the answers it could bring may change my life. Now I have no idea when I’ll have this appointment.…
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Finding Self Love in Quarantine
This is a stressful time in the world. It seems that people are ready to snap at the drop of a hat. I’ve found that although we are distant, our reach through social media can start many arguments. During this time, we should be practicing self love. We can’t always influence people’s opinions, even when they’re hurtful. It’s important to distance yourself from negative attitudes. Put effort into your relationship with yourself. It always seems simple, until we start to focus on it. Here are some of my best tips for practicing self love during quarantine… Write Down What You Love About Yourself Before I go to bed and before…
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Dealing With Endless Testing
Different types of testing go along with any type of chronic or acute illness. From blood tests to MRI’s, I have gone through the ringer with testing. Every test comes with different emotions. Some tests are painful, like the different injections I had to get in my hip. Other tests are emotionally taxing, like a three hour MRI of your brain and spine. All testing comes at a price whether it be physical or emotional. The more you try to escape it, the worse your experience will be. Here’s how I deal with endless testing. Radical Acceptance There will be tests that suck. Painful, traumatizing, and horrible tests will occur.…
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Tips for Having FUN at Home
Some or most of us are pretty much stuck at home during this coronavirus pandemic. It’s important not to let yourself wallow in the fear and anger that has come about with being stuck. Most people are not aware of what it is like to have to spend extended periods of time in the house. For those of us with chronic illness, we often have to spend extended periods of time in the house. Either way, it’s a good idea to keep your mind occupied and stimulated. Here are my best ideas for staying busy and HAVING FUN while at home. Play Games If you have others around your house,…
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My Issue With the Coronavirus
I know that this is the topic that everyone and no one wants to address. You’ve probably heard about it too much in the past month. I don’t want to talk about the virus itself but rather the conversation around it. Recently, I got into a conversation about the hype the media has brought to the virus. The people I was conversing with believe it’s talked about too much and there is no reason to panic. I don’t think people should panic. People should be concerned and prepared. Having a parent that works in the medical field, I know how serious this is for hospitals. This is cause for concern.…
