Living Well

Living Well

How to Set and Achieve Your Goals with Chronic Illness

Managing your chronic illness on top of life's everyday tasks can be overwhelming. These tips can help you find the motivation and inspiration you need to reach your goals.

Living Well

Realistic Approaches to Setting Resolutions When You Live with a Chronic Condition

Living with a chronic condition often means working within your body’s parameters, which can mean editing your expectations. Always give yourself grace and remember that your New Year’s resolutions — if you choose to set them — don’t have to “match” anyone else’s. They only have to feel helpful to you.

Living Well

Your Holiday Gift Guide for Spoonies, by Spoonies

Gift ideas from seven small businesses run by people living with chronic conditions to make this holiday season even more festive.

Living Well

How I Rebuilt Strength at Home After a UC Flare-Up

Before a year-long ulcerative colitis flare-up, I was in the best shape of my life. Here’s how I got it back.

Living Well

7 Tips for Learning to Love Your Body After an IBD Diagnosis

There is no right way to come to terms with learning you have inflammatory bowel disease, but there are some strategies that might help you do so — and learn to love your body along the way.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: Who Am I with Chronic Illness? Acceptance and Letting Go

Mindset Matters is a space to learn about the mental and emotional aspects of living with chronic illness. Nat Kelley, a certified life and mindset coach, shares how coming to terms with her ulcerative colitis diagnosis was hard, but it allowed her to build a more compassionate relationship with herself.

Living Well

How to Be Your Own Best Advocate When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Good self-advocacy in medical settings requires a complicated balance of confidence and humility.

Living Well

10 Ways to Celebrate World IBD Day

Show your body some love, raise awareness (and money!) for the cause, and connect with fellow IBD warriors.

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How I Manage Summer Travel with IBD

Planning might be the least fun part, but it means I get to enjoy my vacation more and stress less.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: 5 Reasons Acceptance of Your Chronic Illness Isn’t Synonymous with ‘Giving In’

Truly accepting your chronic illness can feel scary, but it can also open up new ways of living. Here are 5 ways acceptance can benefit your life and how to get started.

Living Well

5 Reasons Everyone with IBD Should Be Offered Therapy

Therapy helped me process the life changing reality of being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and I think it should be a standard offering for everyone with IBD.

Living Well

35 Date Ideas That Don’t Involve Food

Dating is hard enough without worrying about experiencing symptoms when out and about. Try one of these fun ideas for a less stressful date.

Living Well

7 Tips That Help Me Stay Hydrated in Warm Weather with IBD

Try these flavorful options instead of guzzling massive amounts of H2O.

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Top 7 Yoga Poses for IBD Relief

These slow, gentle movements can help even absolute beginners ease some of their IBD-related discomfort.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

6 Tips for Making Yourself Comfortable During an IBD Flare

When my IBD kicks in, I rely on these six habits to feel less pain and stress.

Living Well

Surviving Holiday Stress with IBD

With all the events focused on food and alcohol, plus the general busyness of the season, it's easy to feel stressed and fatigued. Here are some strategies to make the holidays feel special again.

Living Well

How I Transformed My Mindset About Life with IBD

I learned to use the power of my mind to feel hope, gratitude, and even joy instead of spiraling into darkness.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

How to Live in the Moment When You’re in IBD Remission

Living with inflammatory bowel disease can be unpredictable, but you shouldn't let that stop you from enjoying the good moments while they're here.

Living Well

How I Created Joy Through Chronic Pain and a Pandemic

This past year taught me that there is a resilience inside me that circumstances, including chronic migraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot touch.

Living Well

How I Created Flexible, Remote Work While Living with a Chronic Illness

I was productive, I had purpose, and I was bringing in an income, all while taking good care of myself.

Living Well

How Modeling Empathy to My Toddler Helps Me Navigate Chronic Pain

Learning to practice self-compassion when pain or emotional triggers arise can be a beautiful teaching moment for children.

Living Well

When You Don’t Live with a Chronic Condition, You Don’t See the Full Picture

Some of the most difficult parts of living with chronic illness are the aspects that others don't see.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

9 Products Everyone with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Absolutely Needs

Even the little things can make a big difference when you're living with IBD.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

The Value of Pursuing Hobbies When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Finding activities that you’re passionate about and can enjoy despite your condition can lead to a richer life.

Living Well

How I Exercise with Ulcerative Colitis — In and Out of Remission

IBD symptoms can make you want to do anything but exercise. Here's why — and how — to keep moving your body.

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How the Spoon Theory Helps Me Explain My Health

It can be hard to explain the way that a chronic condition impacts your daily energy. The spoon theory is a clever way to help get the point across.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

9 Ways to Make Long-Haul Quarantine More Sustainable

These tips may help add some ease to your quarantined days.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

7 Tips for Navigating the Stages of Grief After a New Diagnosis

Grieving a new diagnosis is complex. Hearing from others who have been there can help.

Living Well

Having a Chronic Illness Helped Me Prepare for the Uncertainty of the Pandemic

Managing ulcerative colitis means accepting the unpredictability of life. That skill has become invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Living Well

7 Self-Care Tips for Surviving the Holidays with IBD

Putting your needs first and being kind to yourself can help you enjoy this festive season.

Living Well

What Moving to South Korea Taught Me About Managing Life and Health with IBD

Through new habits and high quality healthcare, I discovered what it’s like to feel strong and confident in my body.

Living Well

How to Create Holiday Boundaries When You Have a Chronic Condition

When you're living with a chronic condition, understanding and communicating your needs is imperative. These boundaries can be especially important during the busy holiday season.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

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.

Living Well

5 Tips for Safe Backcountry Adventures When You’re Living with a Chronic Condition

Wherever you're starting out on your outdoor recreation journey, these five tips from experienced, outdoorsy chronic illness warriors will help you find your way.

Living Well

6 Journal Prompts to Promote Mindfulness with IBD

Journaling helps us process experiences and emotions as they happen, keeping us in the moment and out of the anxiety spirals. Here are the journal prompts I use.

Living Well

Are Stress and Routine Changes Aggravating Your IBD Symptoms? Here’s How to Deal

It can be tricky to create and stick to a new routine, but there are ways to create a sense of calm amid chaos.

Living Well

The Benefits of Gratitude When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Shifting to an attitude of gratitude can be the difference between surviving and truly thriving.

Living Well

How Chronic Illness Helped Me Cultivate Better Reading Habits

Through bibliotherapy I've learned that books can offer greater insight and healing than I ever imagined, as long as I pay attention.

Living Well

How I Navigate Professional Life While Living with a Chronic Illness

When I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), I was terrified that my career was over. These tips helped me adapt my work life so that I could excel.

Living Well

What Living with Crohn’s Disease Has Taught Me About Trusting My Body

There are always factors within your control, whether you’re aware of them right now or not.

Living Well

Why I Choose Positivity in the Face of Chronic Illness

My mantra, 'living a positive life while chronically ill,' feels more necessary now than it ever has.

Living Well

9 Ways to Prepare for the Holidays When You’re Living with IBD

Here are some ways to get through the holidays with minimal pressure on your (chronically ill) body.