Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, a good book can distract me when I'm not feeling well, it can teach me so many things, or it can simply help me relax and fall asleep at the end of a hard day. I enjoy nonfiction as much as fiction, and while I prefer to avoid the "cure" books, I do look for … [Read more...]
Are these seven habits increasing your pain and fatigue?
Chronic illness is fatiguing enough. Yet, sometimes we do things (often unknowingly) that zap our energy, create stress, and leave us even more fatigued. Below are seven habits that are increasing your stress, pain, and fatigue, and generally making you feel worse. 1 . … [Read more...]
Communicating Your Needs When You Have Chronic Illness
A friend in my local fibro support group asked a fairly common question about how you deal with family who just don't get that your energy level varies, they don't get that you really DO hurt and that you really DON'T have any energy. How do you communicate your needs when you have chronic illness … [Read more...]
How to Help Your Chronically Ill Friend Feel Worse
Do you have a friend with chronic illness? Do you want to make them feel worse? No, I don't think you do. You probably want to make them feel better. If that's the case, you really shouldn't do the things on this list. But, there's a good chance that no matter how much you love them you've done one … [Read more...]
The Importance of Asking For Help
Too often we don't ask for help because we assume that others will not be there for us, or that even if they want to be there, they won't be able to help. The problem is that we'll never know if we can depend on others if we never ask. This quote came straight from my Psych book: "Social support … [Read more...]
It’s ok to ask for help
How many times have we been told that we need to learn to ask for help, that we need to be willing to ask for help? Yet, no matter how often we hear it, the asking is still a struggle. We all struggle in different ways, with asking for different things. For some of us, we can easily ask for help … [Read more...]
Asking For Help is Giving a Gift
As difficult as it is to ask for help, most of us loved to be asked. We often get confused and think that we are handing someone a burden when we ask them for help, but really when we ask for help, we are giving them a gift. I love to read and books often inspire me, especially non-fiction. … [Read more...]
10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Say “Yes”
Saying yes is easy, and some of us say it way too often. Whether or not you live with chronic illness, it's important to learn how to say no. Often we say yes without even thinking about it, we don't think about the opportunity costs of saying yes and how saying yes to one thing always … [Read more...]
Coming Out of the Chronic Illness Closet
Being open about your chronic illness can often be as difficult as coming out of the closet about your sexuality. In both cases, you rightfully worry that you will be judged, that you won't be accepted, and that opportunities may be taken away from you. Chronic Mom shared a great post about … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Show Your love, even when you feel like crap.
When we aren't feeling well it's all too easy to take it out on those closest to us. We can let the stress get the best of us and that often leads to lashing out. We can't take the anger and frustration out on the illness that causes these emotions, so we take them out on the people around us. Most … [Read more...]
