How to cope with being sick

You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice, Bob Marley.

Are you wounded, injured or sick? Does your head, throat, or stomach hurt? Are you sick and tired of being sick? Let me suggest some useful tips for your mental and physical health and overall well-being.

1. Go to the doctor and follow any medical instructions or recommendations you are given for your illness. If you have any questions, doubts and need some clarification on a few issues, ask politely your physician to be more clear and specific. Accept and follow his or her advice to the letter.

   

2. Take extra care of your body. You should sleep and rest well; eat a balanced and healthy diet; engage in regular exercise according to your health, fitness, and doctor’s instructions; avoid alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, and drugs; maintain good personal hygiene; drink enough water.

   

3. Fight, do everything in your power to conquer your disease and get well. A positive attitude helps cure illness, positive thinking is “real” medicine, as it has been completely proven by the placebo effect.

   

4. Distract yourself. Don’t think about your illness too much: read an interesting, inspiring, funny or entertaining book; listen to music; play chess, solve a puzzle, a brain teaser, or a Sudoku.

   If you are religious, pray daily for your recovery, meditate, and take part in church activities. Play sports or video games. Watch some films, documentaries, or YouTube channels. Write your memoirs, a children’s book, a novel, or an article. Start a new hobby, a YouTube channel, draw a picture, record a song, etc.

   

5. If you have extra spare time, learn new things and skills, such as new languages, programming, arts, crafts, etc. Learning makes you feel better about yourself and improve your self esteem. It empowers you to solve real-life problems and get things done. It also increases your chances of success in life.

   

6. Keep a good sense of humour. “Through humour, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. Once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it”, Bill Cosby.

   

7. Be positive, just focus on the positive aspects of your life and personal history, even at the most difficult times. Personally, when I went through lung metastasis, I learned that life is very short and that I have to make the most out of it. I rediscovered the love of God, my loved ones, and some good friends. I realized that many things that used to worry or even overwhelm me were not as important as I thought they were.

   

8. Be patient! Give time to time. There are no easy solutions or shortcuts. The body is fragile. Recovering from sickness or injury requires effort, patience, and time.

   

9. Ask for help, talk to relatives and friends, spend quality time with your loved ones, etc.