3 Ways To Practice Self Love

Living with inflammatory bowel disease takes a lot. One major thing being self-love. It takes a strong person to live with the things we do and bear the burdens we bear. Without self-love, it can be nearly impossible to thrive with our condition. We have to make time for ourselves and take care of ourselves for both our mental and physical wellbeing.

3 ways to practice self love

Accepting the "No"

I know a lot of us feel guilty about having to cancel plans. Let's be real here: it sucks. No one wants to be seen as the flaky friend or the sick friend. We all want to be someone our friends and family can rely on and if we had fully able and healthy bodies, I'm sure many of us would be that person!

Unfortunately, a part of protecting your mental health is also accepting your shortcomings. With conditions like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, things are often unpredictable! We have to accept that there are things we just can't do, because of this we have to use the word "no."

The faster we learn to accept this, and maybe even embrace it, the better off we will be. Saying "no" doesn't make you any less of a friend or family member, but saying yes when you're not physically capable can make a flare worse or put you in an undesirable situation that you didn't have to be in.

Take care of yourself. Protect yourself and use the word "no" without sending yourself on a guilt trip. Good friends and real family members will understand.

Acknowledge (and maybe even embrace) your condition

You're different. That's okay. Everyone has their own set of issues. You live with IBD. It makes life more complicated for you. Accept it.

Even while in remission, life can still be complicated and your body can still require a little extra care. Acknowledging your condition is one thing, being able to embrace it is a completely different ball game.

Being open and honest with yourself and others about your symptoms and what you can and cannot do at any given point is an essential part of living with inflammatory bowel disease. Once you master those skills, you will avoid a lot of undesirable and unnecessary situations.

Accept the bad

As with any chronic condition, especially with autoimmune diseases, there are going to be good days and bad days. In order to appreciate the good, we must first accept that bad. Don't let the bad days convince you that your life has to be, or will be bad.

Bad days happen to even the healthiest of people, so of course, living with our condition is no different. Don't allow bad days to keep you in a bad mood. It's okay to get down, it's not okay to stay down. Don't allow anyone or anything to ever defeat you, especially not IBD.

These are my top three tips for showing self-love. Self-love isn't always about spa days and getting your nails done. Sometimes self-love can be about mentally and physically preparing your body for what's to come.