Mental Health Awareness Week: Living With a Chronic Illness
When you’re going through a chronic illness, it’s important to pay focus to your mental health…
There’s no doubt that when you’re going through the throes of myriad physical symptoms, it can have obvious knock-on effects on your mental health as a result, which is so common and something I see with many of my clients.
That’s why I’ve written about the importance of opening up and talking about mental health, as well as strategies I use with my clients to help them with the mental challenges that come with living with a chronic illness.
Tip 1: Get Talking
Whatever it is that’s playing on your mind, share it.
No matter how minor you may feel something to be, it’s so important to talk about your concerns with someone that you trust. Whether this is a healthcare professional or a loved one close to you, sharing what’s on your mind is a powerful way to lighten the load and take away some of the burden of what’s bothering you. This is especially important when dealing with a chronic illness.
You may gain great insights from the person you talk to as they help you reach a conclusion to your problem or discharge some of the negative emotions that you are feeling.
A problem shared is a problem halved… please don’t ever bottle things up.
Tip 2: Practise Regular Self Care
You all will know I am a huge advocate of self care; it’s one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and is a key stepping stone towards nurturing your mental health.
Self care is all about paying attention to you. I don’t mean that in a narcissistic way, but in a loving way. Self care involves any deliberate practise that you undertake to benefit your mental, physical or emotional health.
Examples of self care include:
Taking a bubble bath
Lighting a scented candle
Putting a face mask on
Meditation or yoga
Going for a walk
Cooking a healthy meal
Saying a positive mantra to yourself in the mirror (e.g. “I am well”)
Practising daily gratitude or journalling
All of these acts can work to fill up your cup and help you feel resilient against any chronic symptoms that may arise in your day. Building a positive relationship with yourself and incorporating practises like these into your routine are a great way to counter the mental health challenges that can come with a chronic illness and help you to feel more resilient against them.
Tip 3: Reframe Your Thinking
Often when we have a chronic illness we can get caught up in certain thought patterns.
For example, on the day you are due to attend a friend’s birthday celebrations, you wake up and a symptom arises. Your first thought might be “not again! why does this always happen to me? Looks like I won’t be able to go to the party now and I’ll be missing out. Why is my health in such a mess?”.
It’s very easy to get into this cycle of thinking when you have a chronic illness. This is because your mind has learned from past experience and has conditioned itself into catastrophising-mode as a protective mechanisms from so many past health hiccups. It’s understandable, really.
But instead of blaming yourself and playing the victim… why not practise some reframes?
“the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” - Albert Einstein
I absolutely adore this quote.
If you are struggling with the emotional challenges that come with a chronic illness, try and do something different. What is there to lose?
Reframe your thought patterns and instead it might be better to take an approach such as “okay, I acknowledge this symptom, but I’ve been here before and I survived it. It’s still early in the day so let’s take it one step at a time and see how I feel about attending the party later on… the day might not be so bad after all”.
Just tweaking some of your thought habits is a powerful way to take you out of victim mode and self-sabotage into an empowered way of being. Rather than thinking of the worst-case scenario, having optimism, gratitude and insight is a great way to nurture your mental health and feel resilient against any symptoms that do arise.
It’s a process… it does not happen overnight, but practising some gentle reframes by simply becoming aware of your thoughts (that’s the first step) and then actively choosing another approach can bring about huge transformations in both mental and physical wellbeing. As we know, the mind and body are hugely interconnected.
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I hope this helps anyone going through mental and emotional challenges whilst dealing with a chronic illness. You can learn more as well as read about my prior mental battle with CFS in my book.
Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Lauren x