Living Your Best Life With Chronic Illness

Living with chronic illness is no walk in the park, so it’s natural to feel resentful, upset and downright angry from time to time. While it’s important to recognise the validity of these emotions, it’s also crucial to find ways to overcome them if you want to live your best life. 

While no-one should attempt to minimise how difficult it can be to live with a chronic illness, you can find ways to enhance your life and boost your mood. If you’re determined to overcome the challenges a mental health issue or chronic illness can bring, take a look at these tips and start living your best life today:

Accept your illness

Being diagnosed with a chronic illness often brings a wave of different emotions. For some people, receiving a diagnosis feels like a relief, particularly if you’ve struggled with symptoms for months or years. Finally having your condition recognised and understood may legitimise your feelings and enable you to understand the physical and emotional feelings you’ve been experiencing. 

Following this, however, it’s also natural to feel grief for your life as you once knew it or for what you hoped might be in store. For some people, panic is their natural reaction to the news they have a chronic illness. By definition, chronic illnesses can’t be cured, which can leave people feeling helpless and hopeless. 

However, chronic illnesses can be treated, and your symptoms can be effectively managed. While it may take some time for you to come to terms with the fact you have an on-going condition, being able to accept your body and mind as they are is the first step to living your best life. While there’s no doubt you’ll want to reduce your symptoms and push yourself to achieve despite your illness, there is also peace and acceptance when you are able to acknowledge the condition or illness you’re living with. 

Access help when you need it

Chronic illness and mental health problems come in all shapes and sizes. From social anxiety and depression to multiple sclerosis and Type 2 diabetes, there are a variety of ways that chronic illnesses can manifest themselves. What’s more, no two people are affected in exactly the same way. This means you might experience a range of different symptoms to someone who has the same condition as you. 

To live your best life with chronic illness, it’s important to assess how your illness affects you and what symptoms you find most troublesome. Furthermore, you’ll want to ensure that you accept the help that’s available and have access to the equipment you need to thrive. While people sometimes feel self-conscious about using visible aids at first, there’s no need to avoid the benefits they can bring. 

Your clinical team should be able to provide a range of information regarding what types of aids you might find most helpful. In addition to this, you may receive equipment from your medical team or have it loaned out to you for as long as you need to use it. Alternatively, you might decide to hire or invest in your own equipment, particularly if you’ll need to use it on a regular basis or if your local hospital is unable to provide it. 

With so many options available, don’t be tempted to go for the first thing you see. To find out more about mobility aids, for example, take a look at this guide. As movement is one of the most common symptoms of a variety of chronic illnesses, many people find that using specialised equipment helps them to function optimally and live their best life. 

Slow down

Dealing with a chronic illness means your symptoms may come in peaks and troughs. You may have an hour, a week or even months where you feel fine, only to be struck down with familiar symptoms at the most inopportune times. 

When you’re feeling more able to do things, it’s easy to push yourself to the max in an attempt to do as much as possible before your symptoms return. However, this approach could result in you pushing yourself too much, which could contribute to an exacerbation of your symptoms. By pacing yourself and remembering to slow down when you need, you can potentially increase the length of time you’re able to function for and minimise the risk of your symptoms returning. 

Learning to live with chronic illness

Accepting a chronic illness and finding ways to manage it doesn’t always happen quickly. By reaching out to your clinical team, family, friends and even online support networks, you can find the support and guidance you need as you carve out your best life, regardless of the challenges a chronic illness may represent. 

Next Up, 5 Best Tips You Can Do To Practice Self-Care