It’s natural to feel low, worried or stressed when we’re unwell, and someone with a long-term condition is more likely to experience mental health issues.  I once read an article where it suggested that up to 40% of cancer patients suffer from varying degrees of sub-clinical depression. Caring for your mind is when you have a physical health issue can make a big difference to your overall wellbeing so it’s worth making the effort to improve if applicable. 

I learned early on that when you live with any long term illness, getting through the day can be tough. For some it starts with trying to get a diagnosis and then dealing with that diagnosis.  Undergoing treatment and then learning to recover and adapt is not a walk in the park (….. although a walk in the park might actually help). I was distracted by work for the first few years but then I found that work was starting to distract me from looking after my health (mental and physical). 

I’ve been living with my condition since 2010 and I’m a big advocate of keeping busy, keeping active and keeping my mind occupied. Despite this, there are times with a chronic disease, an invisible disease, an incurable and long-term disease including cancer, occasionally just doing nothing can be very productive in the long term!  Of course, sometimes you have little choice if you’re so ill because of your condition or other acute illnesses.  But these things often pass, some more quickly than others. 

I once read a quote in a patient group where the fellow Neuroendocrine Cancer patient said “I just keep moving because if it sit down, I may not get up again”.  Clearly that is not a good scenario and perhaps the comment was a bit ‘tongue in cheek’.  Nonetheless, although I got what this patient was getting at, it does represent one end of the spectrum.

Take a break if you need one.

Despite my busy schedule as a retired person, now and then, I just breathe in and breathe out (then repeat). It’s very enjoyable!  I also do it at the top of hills!  OK that’s also a bit extreme too but resting on your laurels is often an opportunity to rest!  Plus some of the views I see from those hills (or viewpoints), just makes you want to sit still for a while in wondrous amazement at the natural world.