Pain: Chronic / Words: Iconic

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pain: chronic / words: iconic

Mental Health, Pain Management, Printables
For National Mental Health Month, 6 beautiful poems about mental health & chronic pain– & despite them!
Poems about mental health, chronic pain or other invisible disabilities, just like quotes on the subject, tend to be sappy as hell (except those quote pages I put together, of course). And that is extremely not my jam. But something doesn’t have to be about a specific condition to touch a chord re: the boredom, the fight, the loneliness… the whole slog of it all.
It’s National Mental Health Awareness Month over here in the US and damn, we really do not talk enough about the interrelationship between pain and your brain. While your pain is absolutely not “all in your head,” your thought processes can and do affect so many things.
So these are 6 of my favorite poems about life with mental health issues and/or chronic pain– & despite them! Some inspire me, some speak to the pain I’ve endured, and some just make me feel less alone. Do you have a favorite that I left out?
Pick a poem here or just scroll on down!
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May 7, 2024
Pain Management, Printables
Is your room contributing to your insomnia? Free printable to identify the top causes of your insomnia and how to avoid them
Using your five senses to figure out if your room is causing your sleeplessness

If you’re someone who beds down at night only to stare at the wall, have you ever considered whether your room could be contributing to your insomnia? Not being able to sleep sucks, and the combo of chronic pain and insomnia (or fibromyalgia and insomnia, or ADHD and insomnia…) is even worse. The pain cycle (see infographic!) is a hell of a companion to drag along: the more you hurt, the less you sleep, which makes you hurt more, which makes you sleep less. Rinse & repeat.
But you have options! I’ve written about trouble sleeping with chronic pain before, but in the quest for a good night’s sleep, we often overlook the most obvious culprit: our bedroom environment.
Believe it or not, the setup and condition of your room can significantly impact your sleep quality. If you find yourself tossing and turning night after night, it might be time to examine these factors more closely. Here are some critical things to consider about whether the room you sleep in could be contributing to your insomnia– and a free printable with important questions to ask about your sleep space.
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April 6, 2024
Pain Management, Personal Stories
Thriving as a Team: Unity & Partnership When Navigating Relationships with Chronic Pain
Building a healthy relationship despite chronic pain is a complex dance, one that requires grace, patience, and of course love. Whether it’s you or your partner who’s in this continuous battle, the experience affects your relationship. But here’s what I’ve learned—both from personal experience and from others walking this path: it’s not just about managing pain, it’s about managing understanding, and support in ways that make your love and relationship stronger.
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February 15, 2024
Pain Management
Top 10 Inspirational Quotes About Chronic Pain & Joy to Motivate You Through the New Year & Beyond
Inspirational quotes about chronic pain that actually resonate with what we’re going through can be hard as hell to find. Living with constant pain or chronic illness is a tough slog, rougher than “able-bodied” people can ever know. Finding the joy in a life filled with pain is more difficult for us, but it’s also more important.
That’s why for the new year I put together my top 10 favorite inspirational quotes about chronic pain and joy. I find value, comfort and motivation in these wise sayings about the change, growth, and happiness in life. And those of us with chronic pain need to seek out the joy however we can.
Yes, we’re in pain, yes, it changed the foundation of our lives, and yes, it can be boring as hell. That doesn’t mean there isn’t joy and fulfillment out there too! But you have to get your head in the right place to find it, and you have to do the work.
Janet Jay
All we get is one life. We may not get to choose our bodies and how they break down on us, but we can make the best of what we have, strive to be more than we are, and appreciate the glimmers of joy every day.
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January 29, 2024
Mental Health
Gifts for People With ADHD: Hugely Helpful Last Minute Life Hacks
Gifts for people with ADHD can be hard to figure out! So consider items that can truly make a difference in their day-to-day lives. Living with ADHD often means coping with forgetfulness, limited focus, time blindness, and organizational challenges on a daily basis. Thoughtful items like these can incredibly useful for managing this condition by improving productivity, managing symptoms, and restoring a sense of control. Whether it’s morning wake up lamps, noise-cancelling headphones, or magnetic frame hangers that let you change the look of your walls on a whim, these “life hack” gifts can assist with time management, memory, attention regulation, and reducing distractions along with helping establish the routines, reminders, and focus ADHD brains need.
The actual presents for your loved ones with ADHD are important, but more important by far is the care and consideration that you show in choosing them. They show that you listen when your loved one describes their challenges and that you truly care about helping.
(And there’s still time to buy them before the holidays!!!)
The actual presents for your loved ones with ADHD are important, but more important by far is the care and consideration that you show in choosing them. They show that you listen when your loved one describes their challenges and that you truly care about helping.
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December 17, 2023
Pain Management
Surprise friends w/ The Most Useful Gifts For People With Fibromyalgia This Holiday Season
Gifts for people with fibromyalgia aren’t hard to come up with: you just have to put yourself in their shoes. (Hopefully, cute ones.) Though fibro is an invisible disability, that doesn’t make its effects, like chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep issues, and sensitivity to movement and environmental stimuli, any less real.
If you had those limitations, what day-to-day tasks might be challenging to get through or what self-care strategies might help? Think about the particular person you’re shopping for: what do they struggle with, and how could you help?
A well-thought-out gift shows care and compassion for your loved one and their limitations. But above all, useful gadgets and relaxation-promoting treats given as gifts for people with fibromyalgia help remind them of the greatest present of all: that you listen and that you care.
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December 7, 2023
Mental Health, Pain Management, Personal Stories, Printables
Quotes About Self Care (& Self Care Quotes About Invisible Illness)
Quotes about self-care, especially self-care quotes about invisible illness, are hard to come by. Well, good ones at least– you can find sappy schlock everywhere. But there are also gems, little bits of wisdom that remind me to take time for myself, helping me through the chronic pain of my invisible illnesses. Click one in the gallery below or scroll down to read a few of my favorites: where they come from, why I chose them, and what they mean to me.
All amazon links are affiliate links, because why not? But if you have a small local bookstore, I’d much rather you buy stuff there.
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November 19, 2023
Pain Management
Cool Canes For Chronic Pain: Coming soon!
November 1, 2023
Personal Stories
New Generations, Old Genes: A Guide to Family Planning with Genetic Disorders
Before starting a family, make sure you understand your genetic situation and how it can affect pregnancy and your prospective child.
Family planning can be an exciting and emotional time for any couple. However, if you have a genetic disorder, finding your soulmate isn’t enough: there are other questions to consider. From talking to your doctor about the risks of having a child to considering alternative options such as adoption or embryo screening, navigating family planning with genetic disorders can feel overwhelming. In this guest post, Melissa Howar d from StopSuicide.info explores some important steps to help you make informed decisions.
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October 8, 2023
Mental Health, Pain Management, Personal Stories, Printables
Best Inspiring Quotes About Invisible Illness
Quotes about invisible illness are too often filled with sappy, inspirational cliches, IMO. But that doesn’t change the need that people with chronic pain and invisible disabilities have for guidance, understanding and truth.
Quotes about invisible illness– why exactly? Because it’s invisible.
Questions about invisible disabilities? Check out this piece on Disability Pride Month!
August is Pain Awareness Month, so I wanted to bring attention to the conditions that nobody can see. Starting in my teens I experienced chronic pain seemingly without any cause or explanation, and although I looked completely “normal” it changed every aspect of my existence. In the two decades since I’ve managed to build a life and become a person I’m proud of. During that struggle, I’ve collected a few quotes about invisible illness (and pain, hope, and joy) that really speak to me.
Some of these quotes are from people who experience(d) invisible, chronic pain, like Anne Reeve Aldrich and Elizabeth Taylor. (And check out my profile on Selma Blair for another chronic illness badass!) Others, like the quotes from Dostoyevsky, Kahlil Gibran, and the Greek stoic Seneca illustrate the wisdom that can come from the loneliness, suffering and struggle our medical conditions (and their consequences) cause. Finally, there’s hope, which is absolutely vital for anyone with health struggles… or struggles in general. Check out the quotes from Joseph Campbell, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Frederick Buechner and Barbara De Angelis for meditations on how to keep hope alive.
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August 8, 2023
Mental Health, Pain Management, Personal Stories, Printables
Chronic pain & trouble sleeping: a sleep routine may be your cure for insomnia
Want to develop better sleep hygiene habits? For a limited time you can download 3 sleep routine printables for FREE to help you figure out the best strategies to get you snoozing.
A sleep routine (aka “sleep hygiene): if you have chronic pain, anxiety, ADHD and insomnia (or any combo thereof), like I do, this simple process might just be the “cure” for insomnia you’ve been seeking. “Sleep hygiene” is the process of creating an environment that can help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Here are a few things that might be keeping you up, especially if you have chronic pain or mental health issues, and some strategies you can use to combat them. (Including a pack of free bedtime routine printables!)
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May 18, 2023
Mental Health, Pain Management, Personal Stories
How To: Dating With Chronic Pain or Dating With Invisible Disabilities
Dating with chronic pain is tough, especially if there’s nothing visible about your condition. Finding someone using dating dating apps like Hinge or Tinder is hard to begin with, but dating with invisible disabilities adds a whole other level of difficulty.
In some ways using those apps would be easier if I was visibly disabled and used a wheelchair or crutches. It would at least be simpler than trying to put together a profile when I’m dating with chronic pain and dating with invisible disabilities like fibromyalgia, migraine disease, back pain, joint pain, nerve pain, and mental health issues (that’s what I’m dealing with)! But it also applies to a wide range of other issues like EDS, POTS, arthritis, Crohn’s, lupus, other autoimmune disorders, and/or any disability where you look like everyone else.
Most of the time you wouldn’t know I’m in pain, even though I always am. But it hugely affects my life, and it’s important that anybody I have as a partner be aware of it and OK with it. No, actually, it’s important that anybody I have as a partner be supportive, empathetic and caring about it.
But how do you find that person through the hellscape that is modern dating apps? If you’re dating with chronic pain or dating with invisible disabilities, consider the following before writing your profile.
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February 12, 2023

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Hopefully this site will help you avoid some of the BS I’ve experienced over the last 20 years seeking treatment for my chronic pain, invisible illnesses & mental health challenges. Maybe it’ll even help you think about disability in a new way! But at the very least, I hope you learn something, and I hope it helps you feel less alone.

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