32 Habits That Can Cause Chronic Illness Fighters to Lose Hope

Do you ever talk to yourself? I know I do. I talk to myself all the time, and most of the time I am beating myself up. I believe one of the biggest issues we face with chronic illness is letting ourselves fall into a cycle of self-doubt. We begin to form a wide variety of bad habits that cause us to lose hope.

I have been polling chronic illness fighters to understand what habits they have that need to change. I believe that the first step in self improvement is the realization that there are some habits that just need to go away. I will be the first to admit, I was overwhelmed with the feedback that I received. Hundreds of people responded with their top bad habits.

My hope is that you will take this list and start to reflect on your own bad habits. I tried to summarize the feedback I received into a total of 35 tips you will find below. What habits do you need to change?

1. Believing your thoughts are the truth.
2. Feeling guilt.
3. Blaming yourself for your illness.
4. Worrying about what other people think.
5. Explaining yourself to others.
6. Staying in a non-supportive relationship.
7. Not laughing for fear that people may mistake your smile for feeling healthy.
8. Worrying about tomorrow.
9. Focusing on what you can’t do — concentrate on how you can do it!
10. Comparing yourself to others with chronic illness.
11. Selling your capabilities short due to fear.
12. Not living your life when it’s the only one we get.
13. Stressing out about limits.
14. Pushing past your limits just because other people say you can’t.
15. Calling yourself negative names when frustrated.
16. Listening to other people who have never been where you are.
17. Hanging around negative and toxic people.
18. Letting your illness define who you are. Only you can define yourself.
19. Spending to much time on social media.
20. Overthinking the “what if’s” in life. Chronic illness affects each of us differently.
21. Comparing yourself to your former self.
22. Overdoing it when you feel good.
23. Saying sorry for every little thing you can not control.
24. Having self doubts.
25. Expecting your family and friends to understand what you’re feeling.
26. Trying to accommodate other people’s needs.
27. Denying or hiding your limitations.
28. Thinking your disease is a weakness of character. You’re not lazy, you have a chronic illness.
29. The all-or-nothing mentality — think progress.
30. Asking “Am I doing everything I can to help myself?” No one can do everything.
31. Being a perfectionist and feeling like if you didn’t get something done you failed.
32. Worrying about the future. Our thoughts can bring so much fear. Focus on Now.

Did I miss any habits that I should have included? Let’s build this list together. Comment below.

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