8 Bad Habits To Avoid During A Flare

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I want to be your cheerleader! I want my blog to be a place where you can come for encouragement as you go through your illness.

But I can’t do it. Not today anyway. Today I need a cheerleader of my own!

I have been in a flare for three weeks now. The best I can figure is that it’s due to three different issues.

• The weather that’s been passing through. Snowstorm after snowstorm. Barometer running up and down the scale.
• Pneumonia I’ve had since September. Although the last x-ray showed quite a bit of improvement I began coughing two days ago. Again.
• (TMI alert) Current hormonal changes.

All three of these issues are completely out of my control. It feels like a trap or prison.

I don’t think it does any good if I always steer clear of the darker side of chronic illness. It’s constantly in the back of our minds anyway.

So I thought I’d share what I’ve noticed about myself over these past few weeks.

Here are the top 8 bad habits I tend to revert to during a flare.

1. I go to a darker place in my mind. I turn to Hulu as a way to distract my mind. No decisions. Just focusing on the images on the screen and words being spoken. It helps sometimes. But my husband noticed I start only watching shows with a darker nature to them, like Blacklist. He urged me to watch something light and funny instead. I get the reason, I don’t need any more darkness in my head. I jumped over to Netflix and watched Jim Gaffigan’s, Mr. Universe. I did laugh, and laughter is great medicine.
2. My supplements become optional. I’m usually good at keeping up with my meds but making sure I get my supplements in becomes a chore. I set an alarm on my phone to go off at different times to remind me to get up and take what I know is good for me!
3. I don’t move my body enough. The pain and fatigue can get to the point where I just want to stay in bed or at least sitting down. This, unfortunately, adds to the stiffness. I’m trying to get up for at least ten minutes every hour and walk around a bit and stretch.
4. I become a hermit. Social media interaction gets limited to Facebook stalking. I find myself going to bed earlier to a dark and quiet room where I revert to watching tv by myself. I don’t leave the house. I’ve been trying to make a few phone calls, emails, texts, etc., so I’m interacting. I’m also trying to keep a regular bedtime!
5. I step back from my relationship with God. Just when I need Him the most, I can’t seem to focus on reading my bible and the dark attitude stops me from watching sermons online or reading encouraging books. This is just something that has to happen! Times like this can really affect our spiritual life and we need to be vigilant in our efforts. I’m trying to keep up with a reading plan to read through the New Testament in a year and, at the very least, reading an online devotional each day. Right now I’m enjoying a study on Esther from She Reads Truth.
6. I don’t eat healthily. I seem to run toward carbs all day and order pizza for dinner, again. This is hard to combat when my family all works full time and usually relies on me to keep food in the house. Instead of worrying about a full grocery shopping trip, I’ve been giving them each a few healthy items to pick up at the store.
7. I want others to read my mind. Instead of asking for the help, I need or the household chore that needs attention, I want my family to know it and do it without a mention from me. I’m trying to let them know what I need and what needs to be done. They are willing – just not mind-readers.
8. I wallow in guilt. I self-evaluate based on today only and not on the overall state of my life. I look at the house that desperately needs to be cleaned and the other chores that need to be done and just see failure written all over it. Instead, I’m trying to learn from this. Like the fact that I need to up my freezer cooking game for times like this. Learning and making changes is so much better than self-loathing!

So how are you doing? What bad habits do you tend to slide into when your health issues flare up and what do you do to combat this?

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How To Develop Healthy Habits When You’re Chronically Ill When “I Get To” Turns Into “I Have To” The Best of 2015 A Night In The Life With Fibro