7 Ways to Be Happier Despite Chronic Illness

Since many people living with chronic illness have to deal with multiple diagnoses and bare various painful and unpleasant symptoms, it’s very easy to cross to the dark side and develop a negative life view. However, despite your chronic disease, you can still lead a happy and exciting life if you just know which harmful habits to ditch from your life and which beneficial to adopt.

Don’t compare yourself to others

Imagine if you could get back all that time that you wasted comparing yourself to other people. But, that’s very much impossible—past is past and there’s nothing you can do about it. However, don’t let your future be wasted on comparing yourself to others as well! We all have unique looks, unique circumstances and unique efforts and comparing them will only bring more sorrow and wasted time.

Sometimes comparison can be good—it can help you strive to something better and make you work harder for good things in life. However, most of the time, you shouldn’t really care about other people’s lives. Don’t feel ashamed of your emotions just because someone else has it worse. Don’t be jealous of others just because it seems like they have it easy.  Often, you don’t know the real story, so refrain yourself from comparisons.

Celebrate new victories

Many people tend to get so focused on major goals and big life events that they miss thousands of little victories that happen every day. Sure, graduating college or getting married is a big accomplishment, no matter if you live with a chronic disease or if you’re completely healthy, but acing a test, taking a walk around the block or having a fun date also count! These little victories happen almost every day and they deserve to be celebrated! This way, every day can be celebrated and welcomed with anticipation of things that are going to come.

Travel to new places

Travelling is more accessible, cost-effective and practical than ever before, even for people with chronic disease. So, don’t let your illness stop you from exploring our beautiful planet and sampling all its beauties! If you pick a good destination famous for medical tourism, you can even kill two birds with one stone—get your dose of travel and seek treatment for your condition. And thanks to the internet, booking your treatments has never been easier, too. Websites such as practical booknowmed allow you to pick the treatment, choose from hundreds of destinations, hospitals and clinics and book your medical procedure! At any time, you’re only a few clicks away from a big travel adventure that will not only be fun and uplifting, but also beneficial for your health.

Find your silver lining

Every experience has value, no matter how bad it seems at the beginning. For instance, many people state that being sick made them a more compassionate and kind person. Others report a better understanding of what it means to be patient and mindful. While living with a chronic illness is undoubtedly worse than being impatient, these aforementioned benefits are pretty sweet compensations for your life circumstances.

Imitate children

This is a weird one, but it really works! Kids tell the truth, they ask for help, they give love freely, laugh when they feel like it, cry when they feel like it and sleep when they feel tired. Many people with chronic illnesses don’t have too much time to waste on stupid things like masking your feelings and faking who you are, so they need to be honest today! It’s amazing how easy and happy life can be when you just follow your feelings and instincts.

Practice patience

There’s no escaping your chronic illness. It will probably bring many annoyances and difficulties into your life that you’re bound to be angry at times. But, patience is a virtue that can help you overcome these storms of emotions and not make your symptoms and circumstances worse. Luckily, patience is a skill that can be learned with some practice and soon you’ll realise that you don’t want your temper standing between you and your happiness.

Don’t try to please everyone

If you’re a people-pleaser, this one will be quite hard for you, but just try it. For some people, the feeling of disappointing someone can feel even worse than their chronic illness, so they tend to push themselves in order to please others and not let them down. You might have a habit of letting yourself down plenty of times and do nothing about it, but as soon as someone else is involved, you tend to feel guilty for days. Most of the time, people are very understanding or very uninterested—either way, they will not feel disappointed in you, so relax and enjoy the ride!

Next time when you catch yourself worrying about unimportant things, faking your feelings or sacrificing your happiness for other people’s happiness, remember to put yourself first. Life is wonderful, so use your time to experience it to the fullest instead of wasting it on dumb things.

Photos: Pixabay