Reclaim your relationships after illness or injury – Blog archive
Learn how to renew your relationships after a challenging health issue has entered your or a loved one’s life
Your relationships are important. When you have a supportive network in place, those people can help you get through the difficult moments with more ease. Read on to learn how to manage the impact of your own or a loved one’s health issue on your relationships and create a helpful support network.
The 10 lessons I learned about being a carer
There was so much I wish I knew about being a carer before I became one. It might have taken the edge off the anxiety I was feeling about my other half’s medical conditions, his recovery, how much ongoing hands on support he would need, what changes it might mean for...
Protect your relationships. Uncover your unconscious biases and assumptions around illness
Last week I wrote about how the unconscious biases and assumptions around illness, injury, recovery, disability and health you hold tend to become more visible when you have to deal with these issues. They test that ‘in sickness and in health’ vow in a committed...
How unconscious biases and assumptions around illness can impact your relationships
The unconscious biases and assumptions around illness, injury, recovery, disability and health you hold tend to become more visible when you have to deal with these issues. They can test the ‘in sickness and in health’ vow in a committed relationship. To the point the...
When the wedding vow in sickness and in health is tested by illness or injury
A life-changing serious illness or injury can test the wedding vow “in sickness and in health” and hence your relationship on many levels. If you chose the marriage route and/or if this was a vow in your ceremony. Regardless, it is commonly accepted that however you...
Managing expectations at work after illness or injury
Managing expectations at work after illness or injury is so important in ensuring your return to work is a good enough transition. And linked to this is what you tell people. You may be wondering what to say to people, if anything, about what happened to you. You may...
How to create dependency on the NHS – Don’t give patients information
Dependency on the NHS can (unintentionally) be fostered at the start of the patient journey. How? you may ask. By providing little information about a patient’s diagnosis and prognosis to them at the point of diagnosis and only providing it verbally. And communicating...
How to explain when recovery from your illness isn’t possible
It can be hard explaining to people when recovery from your illness isn't possible. You're trying to understand why recovery isn't possible yourself in addition to dealing with people, who are well-meaning people or not, ask questions, give (unsolicited) advice, and...
Dear Mum, I may never recover from this illness
Dear mum, I may never recover from this illness. It's been a year now since I suddenly got ill. So much has changed. Some days when the fatigue and pain gets too much and I can't do anything else, I feel like my body is broken. Other days, I feel I have come so far in...
Why asking for help is so hard: Because being ‘needy’ is not good
Being 'needy' is not good in our society. You don't want people to think that of you. So you try and do as much as you can on your own rather than ask for help. It's all for good reasons I explained in previously: not wanting to impose on others and wanting to...
When asking for help doesn’t work – Moving beyond no
It can be hard when asking for help doesn't work. It's hard enough to ask for help. So it can feel doubly hard when people refuse to help. You then you ask yourself, 'Now what?' Sometimes the people we expect or hope to readily help us - parents, partners, children,...
Why asking for help is so hard – The role self-worth plays
This month's blog theme is about why asking for help is so hard - the difficulties we experience when asking for help, why that is and what we can do about it. This post is part 2 and focuses on the role self-worth plays when we don't ask for help. Part 1 focused on...
Why asking for help is so hard – The role guilt plays
This month's blog theme is about the difficulties we experience when asking for help, why that is and what we can do about it. This post is part 1 and focuses on how guilt can get in the way of us asking for help. Living with health issues can mean that things take...
How not to sacrifice your health and fun this holiday season
When living with a chronic illness, the last thing you want to do is sacrifice your health AND fun during the holiday season. It can feel like you have to curb on the fun in order to preserve your health. You may have to watch how much you do to manage fatigue. Or you...
How not to sacrifice your health and fun at the holiday altar
The question of how not to sacrifice your health and fun at the holiday altar may be one you are debating in your head when the holiday season is in full swing. Decorations, celebrations, late nights, all those mince pies, divine meals, lashings of your favourite wine...
When life and death meet and you save a life, what happens next?
I had an experience where life and death meet. Hence the hiatus between my last blog post published in early November and this one. Even after I wrote about committing to posting here on a regular basis. The hiatus wasn't intentional. Obviously. A medical crisis...
Read more“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
You need to take the first step in faith to enable good things to happen
The when you take the first step in faith quote is really resonating for me right now. "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." by Martin Luther King, Jr. You know how you really want something to be...