{"id":149379,"date":"2024-06-07T18:55:25","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T17:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.society19.com\/uk\/?p=149379"},"modified":"2024-06-07T18:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T17:55:29","slug":"how-to-deal-with-a-chronic-illness-as-a-young-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.society19.com\/uk\/how-to-deal-with-a-chronic-illness-as-a-young-person\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Deal With A Chronic Illness As A Young Person"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up and being a teenager or young adult is often difficult for people, for a wide variety of different personal reasons, be it learning to love yourself, trying to become a better person, getting to grips with adult life, or something entirely personal to you. Life itself can be tough enough when you\u2019re trying to manage university deadlines, working, maintaining a good social life and also finding time to chill out, eat and sleep. So, when a chronic illness is thrown into the mix, it can often be extremely overwhelming and a lot of hard work to have that added stress and pressure on top of all the usual struggles.<\/p>\n

With chronic illnesses becoming more and more popular amongst young people in the western world, more of us are wondering how to deal with the trials and tribulations of a chronic illness alongside the regular young person struggles. That\u2019s why, as a 21 year old suffering from a chronic illness (good old Crohn\u2019s disease to be precise – let me know in the comments if any fellow IBD sufferers are reading this!) I\u2019m going to talk you through some things that might just help make life a little easier on you if you\u2019re a young person struggling with a chronic illness.<\/p>\n

\n

1. Remember you\u2019re not alone<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s so easy when you\u2019re tripping back and forth to the hospital and GP appointments to feel like you\u2019re alone. Sitting in waiting room after waiting room, feeling like you can relate to an eighty-year-old better than your own friends can be pretty lonely and you can quickly feel like you\u2019re alone. However, this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. In fact, there are without a doubt hundreds of thousands of young people experiencing the same feeling all over the world – you\u2019re not alone at all. If you\u2019re ever feeling alone, talk to a friend, family member, or even a colleague or teacher, as sharing these thoughts can instantly make you feel less alone.<\/p>\n

2. Join a support group<\/h2>\n

With the fact that you\u2019re not alone in mind, the best way to really bring that home is to join a support group and make some friends that know exactly what you\u2019re going through. Being able to discuss your struggles and have someone who understands and relates and can offer specific advice can be a huge comfort.<\/p>\n

3. Be realistic, don\u2019t try to do too much and give yourself time to rest<\/h2>\n

Rather than feeling down about having a chronic illness, you might go the opposite way and instead try to take on too much to prove to yourself or the people around you that you can do more than you probably should do. Always be realistic about what you do and don\u2019t ever feel like a failure for having to cancel plans with a friend or take a day off work to rest – your health is important and should always come first. You are strong and you don\u2019t need to prove that by taking on too much and making yourself unwell.<\/p>\n

\n

4. Don\u2019t compare yourself to others<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s so easy to compare what you are and aren\u2019t doing to what people that aren\u2019t in your position are doing. Remember, we all do things at our own pace and in our own time when we\u2019re ready. For example, if your illness is preventing you from doing something that your friends can do or you find something tougher than other people, don\u2019t worry because we are all different and you\u2019re not a failure for being different – different is good and the world would be a very boring place if we were all the same.<\/p>\n

5. Remember your life isn\u2019t over<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s very easy when you\u2019re given that life-changing news to instantly think your life is over and everything you\u2019d imagined for your future is now hopeless. However, that definitely isn\u2019t the case I promise you. Although your life quite likely will be different from what you had envisaged, it doesn\u2019t mean that it won\u2019t still be good. You might have to come to terms with the fact that some of the things you\u2019d hoped to do in the future might have to be done a little differently, but don\u2019t let it all overwhelm you and convince yourself that you now have no future – you can still be successful and happy and fulfil your dreams, you might just have to take a longer, tougher route to get there.<\/p>\n

\n

So, if you\u2019re young or old and reading this whilst struggling to come to terms with a chronic illness diagnosis, just remember that you\u2019re not alone, join a support group if you\u2019re feeling alone, don\u2019t push yourself too hard to prove yourself to others, don\u2019t compare yourself to others as everyone is different, and remember your life isn\u2019t over!<\/h3>\n

Let us know in the comments below if you have any advice you\u2019d give to a young person dealing with a chronic illness.<\/h3>\n

Featured image source: https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-looking-holding-while-holding-head-with-left-hand-883441\/<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up and being a teenager or young adult is often difficult for people, for a wide variety of different personal reasons, be it learning to love yourself, trying to become a better person, getting to grips with adult life, or something entirely personal to you. Life itself can be tough enough when you\u2019re trying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25519,"featured_media":149380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[1808],"tags":[8083,22828,22829,22830,22831,22062,8066,22832],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-149379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-advice","tag-chronic-illness","tag-crohn","tag-crohns-disease","tag-ibd","tag-sick","tag-tips","tag-young-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Deal With A Chronic Illness As A Young Person - Society19 UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019m going to talk you through some things that might just help make life a little easier on you if you\u2019re a young person struggling with a chronic illness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.society19.com\/uk\/how-to-deal-with-a-chronic-illness-as-a-young-person\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Deal With A Chronic Illness As A Young Person - 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