In the absence of time to write my own posts, here’s another post written by someone else… Â Stay positive!
Being sick, no matter the illness, is never fun. Instead it’s scary, or worrisome, or annoying, or painful. You likely also feel out of control, both of your body and over the Medical Billing that may be yet to come. Unfortunately, there’s no way to eliminate all those negative feelings, besides getting healthy. But this doesn’t mean you can’t be positive – or at least as positive as possible – as your illness runs its course. Not only can doing so make you feel better about yourself, but it can also help you get better in the first place.
Here are a few approaches I’ve taken in the past when dealing with an illness:
Appreciate Those Who Care for You
Whether it’s a friend, a spouse, a family member, or a nurse, the person helping you through your illness cares about you, is there for you, and wants you to get well. For this, that person should be appreciated. You can also take it a step further, and consider all those people who care about you all the time, even when you’re healthy. While your illness may bring out their support and concern, it’s always there under the surface. Use your illness as a way to stop taking that for granted.
Contextualize Your Situation
No matter your illness, there’s a good chance it could be worse. There is someone out there in worse pain than you, with a worse prognosis than you, and receiving care that is inferior to yours. While this may seem like a morose way of staying positive, the ultimate aim is to focus on yourself. Think about what your body is doing right, how hard it’s working to fight the illness, and the ways in which things could be worse. If we don’t value our bodies enough when we’re healthy, we can still appreciate how they fight for us when we’re sick.
Try to Relax
When you’re sick, there’s a lot that is outside of your control. You can’t develop a new medication or go inside your body and battle an infection, and it’s easy to get regularly caught up in these uncontrollables. The best approach, for both your mind and your body, is to try to relax. Get rest, read a book, and don’t attempt to stress yourself back into good health. Trust your body and the medication to do its job, and work to tune out your mind as much as possible. It’s not always an easy task, but I’ve found that it’s worth it.
Whatever your approach, it’s important to stay as positive as possible when battling an illness. Being sick is difficult, but all of us are better off with some sanity and peace of mind. To those of you out there suffering from an illness: stay positive. And get better soon.