Dealing with a chronic illness can be both difficult and overwhelming. Depending on the type of condition you face, it could impact almost every aspect of your life, limiting what you can do on a daily basis, as well as how often you can spend time with others.
You might think that having a pet would be a daunting task when you’re trying to manage a chronic condition. While there may be challenges, there are also plenty of benefits. The human-pet connection can improve both your physical and mental well-being and add more to your life than you think.
With that in mind, let’s cover some of the benefits of pet ownership, especially for someone with a chronic illness. We’ll also cover a few of the potential risks, so you can make an informed decision, and offer some tips on how you can effectively care for your pet, no matter your condition.
This article is written by Ava Roman from Revivalist.
Chronic illness can affect every aspect of your life — even your relationship with your kids. You want to chase them around with boundless energy, but your condition has you sitting on the bench far too often. How can you maintain your bond without driving your little ones crazy with boredom?
Fortunately, you don’t have to be an all-star athlete to entertain your children. You still have plenty of options, even if you rely on assistive devices for mobility or need to limit your movement to short bursts. Here are six ways to play with your kids while living with chronic illness.
This article contains some affiliate links to products you may find useful, at no extra costs to you. All opinions are my own.
Let’s face it: living with chronic illness isn’t terribly romantic. On the contrary: when you can no longer go out on exciting dates or have sex as often as you’d like, it can be challenging to keep the romance alive. And the practical and psychological problems that often accompany health problems can also place a strain on your relationship. So what can you do to express your love and keep that spark alive when you’re chronically ill?
In the bestseller ‘The Five Love Languages’, Gary Chapman describes how everyone has a preferred way to give and receive (romantic) love: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service or physical touch.
Knowing your partner’s and your own ‘primary love language’ helps you get a better understanding of each other’s deepest wants and needs, what fills up their and your ‘love tank’. You suddenly get why your lover is hurt that you never think to bring her or him flowers (love language: receiving gifts), although you feel you show them your affection all the time by bringing them coffee in bed every morning and cooking elaborate meals on weekends (love language: acts of service).
Because no matter how healthy or sick you are, we all long to be loved, cherished and appreciated. We all want to feel beautiful and interesting in the eyes of the one we love.
But when chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog and other limitations stop you from showing your love in your usual way, how can you still speak your partner’s love language?
Maybe you used to love picking up sweet little gifts for your significant other, but now you have too much difficulty getting around town to make that happen. Or perhaps that neck rub at the end of the day has now become too painful to be pleasant.
Luckily, according to Gary Chapman, the number of ways to express your love in a certain love language is only limited by your own imagination. So let’s see if we can find some accessible, low-energy ideas to express and experience your love, spoonie-style!
Dealing with a chronic illness often comes with several challenges and obstacles. However, one of the issues that doesn’t get enough attention is how difficult it can be to socialize and maintain some sense of social normalcy. Between fluctuating issues that your body has to deal with to mental hurdles that cause you to cancel plans, it’s not easy to keep up an in-person social life when you’re trying to manage an illness.
Thankfully, it’s also not impossible.
While we’re lucky to live in a time that makes it easy to connect with people online to combat loneliness, it’s not the same as interacting face-to-face. While you should absolutely take advantage of technology in your everyday communication, it’s important to connect in person with people you love, too.
With that in mind, let’s cover a few tips for socializing in person that will make it easier to put yourself out there while managing your condition.
Congratulations, you got through the hands-on baby and toddler years, with all the sleepless nights and endless diaper changes! Now that your kids are going to Kindergarten or elementary school and becoming more and more independent, you will get some freedom, time and energy back, right?
Kids between the ages of 4 and 12 are building their own lives, with school, sports and hobbies. But they still need plenty of practical help and guidance from their parents, whether that’s playing taxi, checking up on homework, packing school and gym bags or managing their social calendars with play dates, birthday parties and extracurricular activities. And that’s assuming your child is perfectly healthy and happy, otherwise your to-do list includes plenty of doctor’s visits, dental checkups, physical therapy or resilience training against bullying too.
Managing your kids’ lives can be challenging and overwhelming for any parent, but even more so if you’re living with a chronic illness like MS, diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis. Your health condition can limit your mobility, making it difficult to drop your kids off at school or take them to piano class. You probably also don’t feel like having kids over to play when you’re having a migraine attack, just like severe fatigue and chronic pain may stop you from being able to attend your child’s sports game. Not to mention that symptoms popping up suddenly messes up the best laid plans.
But somehow, your son or daughter has to get to school and swimming lessons in time, no matter how good or bad you feel. And you want your kids to have a happy childhood with play dates and fun activities, without being hindered by your illness.
How can you manage your school-aged (4+) kid’s life while managing your own health?
A lot depends on your specific condition, your family and living situation, your neighborhood and your country’s schooling system. Not all of the advice given below will suit your needs or be applicable to your situation, but hopefully you’ll find some helpful suggestions.
With that in mind, here are 10 tried-and-tested tips on parenting school-aged kids when you’re chronically ill.
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