Mental Well-Being

Mental Well-Being

Why — and How — I Made My Own Rheumatoid Arthritis Community

After my diagnosis, I found it hard to talk to my friends about how I was feeling. Creating an RA community helped me find support in ways that I really needed.

Mental Well-Being

How to Navigate Ongoing Grief with a Chronic Condition

When you're living with a chronic condition, you may never stop grieving the life you had before your diagnosis. Lauren Selfridge, a therapist living with multiple sclerosis, shares how to recognize and live with ongoing grief.

Mental Well-Being

Mindset Matters: Moving Through the Strange Feeling of Grieving Your Old Life

Grieving your old self is a little different than grieving a loved one who's passed. Here's how I moved forward.

Mental Well-Being

My RA Diagnosis Helped Me Confront My Negative Body Image

RA can change how we feel about our bodies. In my case, it made me reassess how I viewed my body in ways that I never thought were possible.

Mental Well-Being

How to Stop Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill with Chronic Illness

Worry and anxiety are common among people with chronic illnesses. These tips can help you slow down and understand your emotions to both improve your mood and your quality of life.

Mental Well-Being

We Need to Talk About Chronic Pain and Suicide

People with chronic pain are at a higher risk of mental health conditions, which can lead to suicidal ideation and suicide. Several factors can heighten this risk, which is why it's important to speak up about it.

Mental Well-Being

The Pain-Energy Cycle and How to Pace Yourself with Chronic Illness

It can be hard to resist the urge to do everything at once when you have energy between flare-ups. But it’s important to remember to rest.

Mental Well-Being

Mindset Matters: How to Gently Stop the Mental Spirals That Accompany Chronic Illness

It's easy to spiral into negative thought patterns with chronic illness. But with a little self-awareness and reframing, you can start to get your thoughts under control.

Mental Well-Being

Managing Guilt with the Unpredictability of Chronic Illness

If you have a chronic condition like rheumatoid arthritis (RA), canceling plans last minute can come with the territory.

Mental Well-Being

Navigating the Big Emotions of a Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis

Having RA can be like riding on a roller coaster, full of ups and downs.

Mental Well-Being

Mindset Matters: Fostering Self-Love and Rediscovering Yourself Post-Diagnosis

Mindset Matters is led by Nat Kelley, a certified life and mindset coach. This month, she focuses on ways to practice self-love and find the "new you" after a diagnosis.

Mental Well-Being

How Nature-Based Therapy Can Improve Your Mental Health

Medication isn’t the only way to treat your mental health when you live with a chronic condition. You might be surprised by all the benefits you can find right in the world around you.

Mental Well-Being

Understanding Grief When It Comes to Your Chronic Condition or Disability

Having a chronic condition or disability can mean living without a lot of things. It’s important to talk about this grief and find ways to cope.

Mental Well-Being

How Therapy Can Help If You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Finding the right therapist — one who understands life with chronic illness — can make all the difference.

Mental Well-Being

Confronting Isolation and Self-Doubt When You Live with an Invisible Chronic Condition

Living with a chronic condition comes with a lot of emotions. It’s incredibly isolating, frustrating, and sometimes leaves you questioning your own body and its experiences.

Mental Well-Being

What I’ve Learned About ‘Painxiety’ and Psoriatic Arthritis

It can feel difficult and isolating to cope with “painxiety” during flare-ups. Over the years, I've found a few ways to ease these feelings of worry.

Mental Well-Being

Uncover These 3 Superpowers to Reduce Pandemic Stress

We can't control the ongoing pandemic, but we can control how we react to the stress it's creating in our lives.

Mental Well-Being

Grieving the Former You After a Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis

Grief is real and loss hurts. Here are some tips I've learned about grieving my former self and life.

Mental Well-Being

My Post-Diagnosis Journey to Psoriatic Arthritis Acceptance

Learning to embrace and accept my psoriatic arthritis required rest, time, and reflection about my self-worth and productivity.

Mental Well-Being

Living with Undiagnosed Chronic Pain Is Hard, But Please Don’t Give Up

When you live with undiagnosed pain, self-advocacy, hope, and resilience are key.

Mental Well-Being

Your Productivity Doesn’t Determine Your Worth. Here’s How to Let That Sink In

Despite what our culture may lead you to believe, you are so much more than a to-do list.

Mental Well-Being

How to Reimagine What Fulfillment Means to You When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned

Life’s uninvited challenges, like illness and loss, can help us find deeper fulfillment in the present moment.

Mental Well-Being

Medical Burnout in People with Chronic Conditions Is Real — Here’s How to Cope

It’s important to address burnout as soon as possible to keep yourself healthy and happy.

Mental Well-Being

8 Tips for Coping with ‘Reopening Anxiety’ When You’re Living with a Chronic Condition

Ready or not, the world is reopening around us. Here's how to reengage on your own terms.

Mental Well-Being

8 Tips for Navigating Difficult Times That I’ve Learned from Living With a Chronic Illness

There's tremendous wisdom to be gained from the experience of living with a chronic condition.

Mental Well-Being

Don’t Have the Energy for Zoom Happy Hours Right Now? Me Neither, and That’s OK

It can be hard to ignore internet pressure to have a “productive pandemic.”

Mental Well-Being

It Took a Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis for Me to Finally Address My Mental Health

I'm glad I was finally able to get the care I needed — even if it took a life-changing diagnosis to get me there.

Mental Well-Being

How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Helps Me Manage Anxiety and Rheumatoid Arthritis

ACT didn't make my anxious thoughts go away entirely, but it gave them less power over me.

Mental Well-Being

What Rheumatoid Arthritis Brain Fog Feels Like and How to Cope

Feeling foggy? Be kind to yourself as you learn to manage this frustrating RA symptom.

Mental Well-Being

How Embracing the Inevitability of Suffering Can Help You Thrive with Chronic Pain

While some things help, for many chronic illness diagnoses, nothing fixes. This is where changing your mindset may help more than changing your treatment.

Mental Well-Being

Living with a Chronic Illness Can Be Isolating — These Tips Can Help

Even when it feels hard to reach out, taking small actions can help us feel more connected to others.

Mental Well-Being

3 Superpowers to Reduce Pandemic Stress You Didn’t Know You Already Had

3 Superpowers to Reduce Pandemic Stress You Didn’t Know You Already Had