Six Steps to Alleviate Stress for Chronically-Ill Individuals

Managing stress is hard for most of us. However, it is especially hard for the chronically-ill person as she experiences a lot of pain and fatigue at all times. And this pain and fatigue over time can cause stress of its own.

The best thing you can do with stress is to learn to cope with it. Today, I will show you how to manage stress in six easy steps.

1. Cope with pain or discomfort right away instead of waiting until your pain gets so bad that you are stressed out by it. You may want to take a pain pill or just simply rest. But listen to your body.

2. Practise self-care. The best way to reduce stress and to manage it is to consistently take care of yourself, even when you are feeling good and all is well. Do things that you enjoy every day. Don't forget to meditate and take deep breaths. All of this will help you in the long run to feel better.

3. Cope with feelings of frustration, confusion and anger right away. If you feel very frustrated or angry, it is time to stop and take things off your to-do list. Please don't just keep on going. Instead, just take the time to make space for yourself and how you are feeling. Journal, crochet, take a long walk, take a long bath. Do whatever you need to help yourself focus.

4. Take steps to maximize the quality of your life. It can be hard to do this suddenly. However, if you take your time to do things that you enjoy and to not overdo it and put yourself first every day so that you don't overstress, you will be improving your quality of life.

5. Understand your condition. They say that knowledge is power. And this is absolutely true when you are living with a chronic condition. You must try to know as much as you can about what you are experiencing. Go to workshops and read books about it. There is a lot of literature on all different chronic conditions.

6. Observe your own body. Determine if you are getting more disabled or if your condition is getting worse. Take the time to look at yourself in a full-length mirror often. This will also give you a good indicator if you are standing straight, how your posture is, and so on.

By taking these steps, you will be managing your stress and taking a bold step forward towards living better with your chronic illness and breaking the cycle of pain and disability. Only you can do this for yourself.

Irene S. Roth writes extensively on different aspects of arthritis. She has a whole range of e-books available for a small price on Smashwords. To learn more about how to deal with pain and create a happy and fulfilled life, even if you experience arthritis pain, please double click on this link    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/537937



 By Irene Roth



Article Source: Six Steps to Alleviate Stress for Chronically-Ill Individuals