Here are some of my thoughts on the practical aspects of managing chronic conditions while earning an income. I'm going to talk about the philosophies of chronic management, bias checking, and planning and preparing.
In my philosophies of chronic management, I came up with eight somehow. I am reading them again, as I had made this a year ago, and I find them still very applicable. First, it's all manageable, second be kind with yourself and gentle with others, third self-care is a matter of life or suffering, fourth suffering is normal part of life, fifth you can be physically ill and keep mentally well, six always remember your worth while acknowledging your handicaps, seventh it's normal to feel alone and misunderstood, eight always keep hope and everyday magic about you. I should almost replace the word handicaps with limitations here because we're gonna talk about limitations, so I'll probably change that for the next time.
When talking about these philosophies, I'd like you to ask yourself you know which what philosophy bothered you the most, because sometimes it's not about which philosophy made you really excited, but about which one bothered you, because it can be a sign. Feeling bothered by something is not inherently good or bad, it's actually a signal: it's a signal of a personal misconception or barrier that is occurring internally that can be sorted out to be able to move forward from it find an adaptation to it.
So, it's important to start with your bias. I say start with your bias because it's like any good research project: the researchers have to acknowledge their bias before they begin in order for it to be well-rounded and turn out. So, we start with your bias. So, here are some biases that I've come up with that are also kind of harsh truths sometimes, too, in a way. So, first one is how you feel your condition will directly impact how you handle it. So, yeah get honest with yourself. I will start if I ignore it, "it" being the pain or misery or depression or whatever it has been, it is better but worse in that if I ignore it on the short term I will pay for it on the long term.
So, you have has to be dealt with otherwise it sucks. Another one is sometimes it takes 48 hours to feel the effects of the efforts of a particularly eventful day, be it mentally or physically. It could be up to two days later before I'm like, "oh my gosh! Why am I so tired? I didn't do anything yesterday.. No, I did something two days ago!" Right.
So, what all these biases mean what these all mean for me is that I have got to think of what is going on for today three days ahead and a week ahead plus medical appointment planning. And oh, go with flow all at once and this is where planning preparing is actually very beneficial for me in adaptation.
I'd like you to think about some biases that you personally hold when it comes to your own health management perhaps write them down.
Limitations: like I was saying earlier about acknowledging your handicaps. Well, it's about acknowledging your limitations. I use this term very carefully knowing in my own experiences that the term limitations can generate different feelings. It can be, um, you know different places have different definitions of limitations such as insurance companies and government systems. And what we have to remember with limitations though, is that with each limitation there's an adaptation to be found. You know, you break your right arm you're learning to write with your left. You need to be sure that you're always on certain side of the classroom or in the meeting room, so you arrive 15 minutes early. Really, "limitations" is a neutral word: you have to be honest about it and just figure out how to adapt about it and communicate it sometimes, too.
So, if you could sum up your limitations what would you say your biggest limitation would be?
Jot them down write them down because those limitations are essential to figuring out the planning and preparing in planning and preparing it's important to get informed understand what your limitations are and figure out what more do you need to understand about your conditions to allow for a better quality of life. Perhaps it's talking to different groups, perhaps it's talking to your doctors, occupational therapists, other people that have lived with lived experiences. There are so many forums and Facebook groups and most importantly yourself. As much as all those other stories and what other people can tell you happens, it's really comes down to yourself, of how you understand your own condition and what things you run into on a daily basis, Because, it could be things that you've naturally adapted to in your own home. But, once taken into another situation it's like, "oh no! I don't have this little silly thing that I need to do" Example is that I have a cat little cat post and I have troubles with my back, like going from the washer to the dryer. I moved a little cat post over there I sit down. So, if there's certain tasks going on, like when I was working in the library, like I had troubles getting down to the lower shelves, I would use the shelving stool. I would find one of the stepping stools to roll around for the shelves and find one of those to be able to sit down to be able to do it. Now if I could not find one, I would then go ask.
So, for yourself, what are some tried and true pieces of advice or things that you have found to be able to manage your own chronic illnesses? And, with that in mind, what is one piece of advice you would give anyone to manage their own work and themselves with chronic illnesses and disabilities?
Thank you for reading,
The unLibrarian
Comments