Tupeak Hope

J is for Judgments – #AtoZ Challenge 2018

Judgments occur in many, if not most, aspects of our lives. They can seem trivial and meaningless, but the effects can seem to last an eternity whether you are the person making the judgment, or the one about whom a judgment is being made. Before you get all defensive about the fact that you don’t feel you make judgments of others that’s great if you’ve never done it, but I would tend to believe all of us can be guilty of making a rash or snap judgment of someone else at least once in our lives.

I is for Individuality – #AtoZChallenge 2018

Most illnesses vary from person to person based on a large variety of factors including age, general overall health, type of illness, and even gender. Chronic illnesses act no differently and can often vary immensely between similar people with the same diagnosis, which makes sense as we are all individuals and while yes we are all human beings we are al vastly different from each other despite the biology and biologic processes being generally similar.

H is for Hope and Health – #AtoZChallenge2018

Whether you realize it or not our state of health can often be tied to our emotional state, be it good or bad. When we are depressed it is more likely that our health may feel significantly worse to us. When we are happy it is much more likely that we will pay less attention to our health issues.

Unfortunately for many people chronic health issues and in particular chronic pain or disability, can lead to depression as a result of many factors which can include grieving our formerly healthy self, or even hopelessness, or anything in between. What many don’t realize is the importance of our mental and emotional health can have on our physical health. I’m neither stating, nor implying, that our physical ailments are caused by our mind. Rather I am pointing out the simple fact that our mood and state of mind can influence our physical health.

G is for Grief – #AtoZChallenge2018

Grief is most commonly thought of as being associated with death but believe me when I tell you it applies to things outside of death. It can apply to nearly any life-altering event one might go through that leaves things dramatically changed in the wake of the change.

If you are diagnosed with a chronic medical condition that will permanently affect your normal way of life you could well experience the effects of grief. Even something as minor as a new allergy to a food you love could leave you missing life as it was before the serious allergy. I know that may sound overly dramatic, or even simplistic but it is both a legitimate example and one that may be more relatable for some as opposed to one with a physical disability. Maybe you grieve your old life before a major life change such as a geographic move, or even a divorce.

F is for Food – #AtoZChallenge 2018

You may be thinking what food could possibly have to do with managing chronic illness or chronic health issues in general. Well, I’m going to try to break it down for you in very easy ways to relate to.

The first and most obvious concern when it comes to food and nutrition is cost. If you are spending so much to simply exist and you can’t afford your medications or treatments that will prolong your life, you likely have trouble finding the money to eat healthily.