#6

"I thought of a couple of things I can share from my experience of living with an incurable, progressive illness.

First you cry and rage and grieve when you get the diagnosis. You need to do it, it’s healthy and natural. Allow yourself to do it.

And then you become a specialist for yourself. Do the therapy and take the medicine you need. And read scientific literature about your condition. Check your sources though- there are many unreliable ones. Best check the official doctor organisations specialising in your condition. Keep learning and discovering as long as you live - it will help both practically and psychologically.

And every day avoid the trap of self pity, “the oooh why is this happening to me”. Instead learn self-compassion (more on the topic down bellow). Learn to be to yourself as you would be to your closest friend, to a beloved child.

And focus on the good things in life- there are so many! Get out in the nature, travel if you can, spend time with friends and your hobbies."

When talking about self-compassion I'd point out this question: "Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing yourself for various inadequacies or shortcomings, self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings – after all, who ever said you were supposed to be perfect?" (I'm quoting directly from the source material https://self-compassion.org)

It's simple in it's message but most of us knows how difficult this can be in our everyday life. Everyone has an internal critic that can make certain days awful or certain events hard to process. Question is, how often does it take away the satisfaction from our actions? Or when we feel stuck, helpless, unlucky, overwhelmed - why are we so eager to blame ourselves? Self pity is not the answer either, but ask yourself, how often you think of yourself as not good/smart/effective/active/strong enough?

I encourage you to read more articles on https://self-compassion.org/