What’s the secret to getting beyond a chronic disease? What can you do when you feel like life keeps throwing you curve balls and everything you are enduring is just too much to take? Or when you are so tired of being sick that you feel like staying in bed and shutting the world out? Here are some go-to strategies and positive mindsets for living well with chronic illness that you can adopt that I learned from struggling and making peace with a rare chronic illness- dermatomyositis- for more than 10 years while creating to heal.
Awaken and greet each day with total love, gratitude and positive attitude
Keep your spirits high and always have hope
Strive to get the best quality of life from each day
Do what you can with what you’ve got
Come to peace with a new baseline and slower pace
Find and live in your place of joy
Tell yourself and believe you are blessed
Find and recognize beauty in the little things
Recognize when you need help; find and embrace a support system in family, friends, and your network
Don’t do this alone! Learn to receive and nurture relationships
Have empathy and compassion for others
Make time and opportunity to create and express
Write about your journey, illness, disability to process, share and connect
Play, use humor, and find ways to smile and laugh
Practice the law of attraction: if you imagine it and truly believe it, you can realize it; believe you can attract what is good and positive into your life
See opportunity from all experiences
Ask yourself “What can I give?” “What can I learn?” and “What can I teach?” not “Why me?”
Refuse to be a victim; know you are not the disease
Be kind to yourself; acknowledge that you will have hard days and better days and listen to your body
Find community to nurture different passions
Find ways to give back, share your story, and have impact on others; be a light in the darkness
Help others who are new to your illness or condition
Encourage yourself with daily affirmations
If you aren’t able to get out of the house, find and grow an online network
Find and immerse yourself in something you are passionate about
Consider making time for creative expression weekly or daily; add to your calendar and make it a habit and practice
Remember that YOU are enough; where you are and who you right now is enough
