IBD Awareness week ends tonight and here's my lousy attempt at telling you a few things that I wish more folks understood about me and Crohn's disease.
Tasks that seem easy to you may take all my energy to complete and/or leave me sore for days. I try hard to maintain normalcy, but sometimes I can't keep up. Examples: Showering, doing my hair, doing my makeup, looking alive/normal, doing laundry, cooking, washing dishes, and walking up stairs.
It's more than a physical disease. It fucks me up mentally, too. Don't be mad when I don't remember things, when I have a poor/dark/negative outlook, or when I have low self esteem. If I could flip a switch to change it, I would. I wouldn't choose to be this way.
Unless if I ask for it, I do not want your advice. If you give me unsolicited advice, please don't keep drowning me with your opinions. You're not helping. Say your peace and move on. I heard you the first time.
Breaking news: I have been considering finding a counselor. I promise, I'm not just doing this to find another couch to nap on. I've just been getting other people's opinions at this point before I start looking for one and figuring out if this is something I want to do. I don't think I'm coping as well as I used to with Crohn's. I've become too emotional and I feel weighted down by the burden of this disease. I have lost my ambition. I would love to learn to better cope with it. I feel no shame in considering seeking professional help. I have some supporters. I also have some that feel that me seeing a counselor indicates that our relationship is failing and I could use relationships in place of therapy by talking more openly about what's on my mind. That whole opening up thing...yeah, I'm not very good at that because of the fear of judgment and more opinions that I probably don't want to hear. So, what are your thoughts on this topic? Yay or nay? Positives and negatives? Should I keep considering it?
