coping tips

My friend and I host a Podcast called Creative Copes. It’s a labor of love- for ourselves, our own journeys and the compassion for others. We hope it becomes an aid for people in similar situation as us. We also have this idealistic approach of trying to end stigma and raise awareness about these conditions life has thrown at us by openly talking about them.
We set out to share our personal stories and how we creatively cope; with humor and with sprinkles of scientific studies that we have looked up.

We want YOU to feel less alone.
Honestly, we all want to feel less alone on this windy road that’s is chronic illness.

You can find us on Instagram @ creative.copes and on any listening platform just search up the name. Listen in, subscribe and message us. We would love some conversations with like-minded people.
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#Podcast #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #Pain #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #Agoraphobia #Anxiety #SocialAnxiety #CopingTips #Endometriosis #MentalHealth #spinalinjury #OccipitalNeuralgia #Dysautonomia #ChronicVestibularMigraine #Migraine #Community #Disability #youarenotalone #Spoonie #SpoonieProblems #spoonielife #CheerMeOn

I am limited.
This is my reality.
I only have so much energy to go around and I need to pick and choose what to spend it on. Always having to keep in mind that I cannot overdraw my account. I need to balance my ‘checkbook’, if you will, to make sure I don’t go down to zero either, because then I might not have enough for the next day.
(Obviously I am not perfect at Pacing as I find myself doing too much on occasions as I get impatient with my limitations. Overall, I’d say I do pretty well with it.)

So what do I choose to spend it on? Well, some mundane tasks need to be done like laundry or light cleaning, so I spread it out over a few days. I work within my boundaries which I have somewhat figured out by trial and error. This is part of Pacing.
Now, I am a very lucky Gal to have a super supportive husband and three kids that help me with some of the heavier chores, just would like to point that out.

When the Mundane Pragmatic stuff have been taken care of I choose to spend my energy on stuff that fills my heart and soul with contentment. Whether they’d be Creative Coping Strategies like painting, drawing, forest bathing, expressive writing or listening/making music (now the latter depends fully on headache pain levels but within my capacity, music will always have a part in my life) or just being with my family in the moment.
I also am a half of a duo who talk about exactly this in podcast we have named Creative Copes- A labor of love for ourselves and hopefully an aid to others.

This is what I spend my energy on.
Things that matter to me; that settles body and mind and makes my heart pumping blood.
I am not all knowing and cannot be Worldly Great: I am clearly not meant to be a main figure in changing the world lol.
But I can do Small things in a Great Way, for myself and others, and hopefully someone can pick up what I am putting down and feel more inspired to get up every morning and meet the day head on. Love and light ❤️
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#pacing #CopingTips #MECFS #Fibromyalgia #ChronicHeadaches #ChronicIllness #Spoonie #spoonielife #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #Anxiety #Agoraphobia #ChronicPain #dynamicdisability #ChronicPain #Pain #Acceptance #Grief #TheMighty

We are two friends both with chronic and mental illness, who decided we wanted to bring to the forefront, and open up real conversations about, how we are coping with our diagnosises. We use humor, personal experiences and scientific studies with what can potentially help; has helped; and what we are willing to try to stay sane in the midst of what we’ve been saddled with by life.
We’re also doing this to try to end stigma, raise awareness as well as discourage toxic positivity and ableism to take more root in society.

We would love your support and also your input on what coping skills you all use- join the conversation! Follow us on instagram @ creative.copes and on your favorite listening platform and comment away! The more we talk, the more mainstream it will become.
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#keeptalking #jointheconversation #jointhefight #RealTalk #EndTheStigma #Raiseawareness #MentalHealth #physicalhealth #Ableism #Toxicpositivity #copingstrategies #CopingTips #beyourownadvocate #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #ChronicMigraines #ChronicVestibularMigraine #Fibromyalgia #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #SocialAnxiety #Agoraphobia #Dysautonomia #CrohnsDisease #Endometriosis #RaynaudsPhenomenon #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigue #OccipitalNeuralgia #wecandothis #LetsDoThis

Pondering Toxic Positivity this morning and how many around me, friends and family, have responded with such when it comes to my #ChronicIllness . Is it a learned/generational/cultural/societal thing we grow into, I wonder? That the knee jerk responses are expressions where we encourage the avoidance of all negative emotions and deny, minimalize, invalidate authentic human emotions? (It can occur with oneself as well- that inner voice telling you “you should be grateful..” in situations where you’re upset. )
I can shrug it off because I am good with ‘It’s Okay to Not be Okay’, but I am curious now where it stems from..
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#Toxicpositivity #Ableism #ChronicPain #MentalHealth #Anxiety #CopingTips #Fibromyalgia #ChronicFatigue #Agoraphobia #PanicDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Dysautonomia #chronicmigraine #Migraine

I myself use visual arts, music, expressive writing and nature as coping skills. What do you use and/or prefer?
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#Anxiety #ChronicFatigue #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #CopingTips #CopingWithAnxiety #Migraine #Fibromyalgia #Agoraphobia #copingwithchronicillness #ChronicIllness #TheMighty

How do you cope with stress or your mental illness? I love languages ❤️

I’ve been officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia since 2019. I’ve failed a number of medications including LDN. I’m meeting with my doctor tomorrow (9/9/22) to hopefully approach the drawing board once again because this is ridiculous! If you all have any tips, advice….whatever please feel free to reach out. Thank you!
#Fibromya #ChronicPain #Migraine #ChronicDepression #Anxiety #CopingTips

Start taking one photo every time you’re anxious or feeling like you want to give up. It can be a selfie or a flower, of your pet or a cityscape. In that photo is a reason to keep going. Keep those photos tagged, so you can look back and see every moment that you survived the lies that your mind told you: that you can’t keep going, can’t keep surviving. Because you can. And you’re strong enough. I believe in you. #CopingTips #ArtTherapy #CPTSDstrong