Mental Monday: Being Mentally strong with Chronic Illness

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(c) Megan S, December 2013

The other day I reblogged a post entitled “Are you mentally strong?“. This post had a list from Forbes that outlined 18 things mentally strong people do. The list focuses on mental strength for professional people.

At the suggestion of Susan from Owls and Orchids, I’m writing this post to ask for your input in creating a list specifically for those suffering from chronic illnesses.

So, I’ll get us started but I’d love your input. This way we can share this through the Foggy Frog campaign as well.

Mentally Strong people with a chronic illness:

1. Focus on the positives in any situation. They focus on the little things that are going right rather than the constant pain or other symptoms.

2. Listen to their body. They don’t push their limits too hard.

What other points would you add?
What do the mentally strong people you know do?

20 comments

    • Great one! I’ll be updating the list once a few people have given me their ideas, and if it works well I’ll make it a page so everyone can get to it.

  1. Resolve to do whatever it takes to recover; see chronic illness as an opportunity for personal growth and explore new boundaries; control your illness and your life; don’t take medical advice passively. These groundrules have made me mentally resilient and tough enough to handle the 1 step backwards, 2 steps forwards that goes with chronic illness.

  2. Be realistic about what you expect of yourself, but don’t limit yourself. Find a balance between taking care of yourself and exploring the things you want for yourself.

  3. Mentally strong people find things that they are passionate about and use those things to help them cope during bad times. 🙂

  4. I find everyone equates mental toughness with being strong and forging ahead no matter what. I have learned that being able to plan and able to forgive myself if I don’t make the mark has been one of the biggest successes I have had. I feel without the pressure of not being allowed to fail I can come back and do even more, probably better than I would have originally and still achieve my goal in the time frame I calculated. I think the word I need is Pacing myself.

    • That’s a great thing to remember Susan! Pacing and forgiveness are very important to me now that I’m ill. Without them, I would probably have gone crazy by now!

  5. I remember to be The Reed and not The Oak. Reeds lie flat in strong winds and survive to stand up again. The Oak can only bend a little before it must break. 🙂 I bend on the bad days and rest to stand up again the next day.
    My other coping strategy is find joy. I may be dtuck in bed today but I can now crochet all day 🙂 I may have slept a lot today but I had the most amazing dream. Remember to be the Reed and find the joy. 🙂

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