I posted a new video, Spring Cleaning for Your Spirit, based on a chapter from my book, Finding a New Normal: Living Your Best Life with Chronic Illness, that is useful any time of year but feels particularly relevant in spring.
It's all about replacing negative feelings with healthier feelings: “Think of it as a mental health scrub: clearing out the old “dirt” in our minds, like resentment, envy, anger & loneliness, and replacing them with healthier feelings, like joy & connection.”
I don't approach this like a big, difficult project but propose small, practical tips for moving your life of chronic illness toward one that is healthier emotionally, since our mental health has a direct effect on our physical health. To be clear, this isn't "think positive and make yourself well" kind of crap, which I detest! It's small, simple steps that any of us can take each day to try to address those darker feelings and bring more joy and connection into our lives.
You can watch the 13-minute video on YouTube or I will include it below:
On a personal note, I haven't been posting much lately because I have been struggling with my own health. My usual "winter relapse" lasted into March this year, and after about a month of gradually feeling better, another surprise relapse hit me last week. I usually do quite well in spring and summer--last year, I did not have a single crash day from March through August!--so this is particularly demoralizing. I'm supposed to be going away with my mom this weekend for a book event we attend every year in Vermont, but I had to cancel. I've restarted microdosing tirzepatide (a GLP-1 agonist) in the hope that it will bring me back to a better level of functioning, as it did this past winter. And, since immune activation is my biggest issue in recent years, I have been reading some of the latest research on that topic ... I promise to share with you what I learn!
Do you have ways of bringing more joy into your life?
Please share in the comments below.