I have two things to share with you today. The first is this article I discovered on facebook. http://www.viralnova.com/kyle-thompson-photography/ I think it is really cool how Kyle has managed to use his creativity to help him overcome some of his anxiety. He put his experience of illness into his work, and created something incredible out of it, which received an overwhelmingly positive response from the public.

The second thing I would like to share is this picture:

For one thing, this is incredibly cute. It also perfectly exemplifies what Beautiful Identities is about and brings up some really important ideas. You are so much more than your illness, you have an identity outside of your illness. You are not to blame. These are really important things to remember. If someone treats you badly as a consequence of stigma around some illnesses, remember that  this is their problem, not yours. (Also, I know it's a bit late for halloween, but today seemed like a good day to share)

Everyone, at some point, has to face a difficult decision. When you are unwell there are many tough decisions you and your family may have to make; what to do about medication, whether to keep studying/working, whether you are well enough to go on a trip, what dietary/lifestyle changes you should make...the list goes on. Making these decisions can be really tough, it often feels like there is no right answer.

When you have to face changes in your lifestyle, in order to adapt to your illness, it can be pretty tough. Sometimes it seems like there just isn't enough information out there, and you don't know where to turn to look for more. Adapting to a new diet, exercise plan, or treatment regime can be a real challenge.

On Sunday I went to the Gluten free and allergy show in Christchurch. I'm on a diet called the low fodmap diet, which is insanely complicated and difficult to follow. Part of the diet is not eating gluten, so I was interested to see what sort of products and information I could find. There were so many products there I never knew existed, and so much information about where to find these products. It was great to learn about some products that will make my life a little bit easier.

Sometimes, you just have to know where to look in order to access the information you need. Ask doctors or support groups where you can find information about your lifestyle changes. Look online, there are so many people out there facing dietary, exercise or medication changes, and they can offer advice based on their own experience, which is far more useful than hearing it from the medical profession.

Go out and seek the information you need, discover things you never knew existed. It will make things so much easier.

Where can you go to find information about lifestyle changes due to illness?




N.B. I'm still looking for people to speak to about Beautiful Identities. If you are interested you can contact me using the contact form.

Thanks,
Hazel xo