Mental Well-Being

Mental Well-Being

Progressive Relaxation: A Quick Guide to This Free and Easy Stress Reduction Tool

Looking for a way to reduce stress, improve sleep, and address anxiety without leaving your house or spending any money? This one is worth a try!

Mental Well-Being

How to Chill Before a Medical Procedure

If you’re feeling anxious or stressed about an upcoming appointment or procedure, try these tips.

Mental Well-Being

It’s My Pity Party, and I Can Cry, Scream, or Throw Things If I Want To

When the effects of my chronic illness feel particularly overwhelming, I throw myself a pity party. I take 20 minutes to cry, scream, and wallow. And then I move on. Here’s how they might help you, too.

Mental Well-Being

Why I Don't Make New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions have a way of implying that we're not enough. And trying to live up to the pressure of resolutions when the future is unpredictable is nearly impossible. Instead, I've learned to focus on the gifts of the present moment, and to celebrate small joys.

Mental Well-Being

Migraine and Seasonal Affective Disorder: Are They Connected?

Migraine can happen all year long, but it may have a connection with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Here's how.

Mental Well-Being

How Practicing Non-Attachment Helps Me Let Go and Be Present

Letting go of my attachment to expectations and outcomes helps me accept chronic illness and find the beauty in what I can do.

Mental Well-Being

The Decision Fatigue of Living with Chronic Illness — and How to Manage It

Adults make thousands of decisions each day. Multiple sclerosis and other chronic illnesses add even more to the burden. Here's how simplify the process.

Mental Well-Being

Does Migraine Have Long-Term Effects on the Brain? Here’s What You Should Know

Migraine may lead to structural changes in the brain, but these changes aren't linked to cognitive impairment.

Mental Well-Being

How Ecstatic Dance Helps Me Manage Chronic Illness

Ecstatic dance has broadened my community and given me a unique hobby I can access anywhere in the world.

Mental Well-Being

How Migraine Can Affect Your Romantic Relationship, Plus 9 Tips to Make It Work

Migraine isn't easy. Neither are relationships. Here's how to navigate both while meeting both your and your partner's needs.

Mental Well-Being

It’s OK to Feel Self-Pity with Chronic Illness

I usually try to focus on the positive and feel gratitude for how much my disease-modifying treatment has given back to me. But sometimes, during a flare, I wallow in self-pity. And that’s a perfectly natural reaction to loss.

Mental Well-Being

My Mother Drove Home What Kind of Parent I Want to Be

In the midst of an MS flare, I made a decision that made me feel like a burden. My mother’s response showed me how to be a better mother to my own kids.

Mental Well-Being

The Benefits of Self-Compassion When You Live with Chronic Illness, Plus 13 Tips to Practice It

Being kind to yourself can reduce stress and potentially inflammation too. Here's how to start.

Mental Well-Being

This Wise Little Narwhal Has Something to Teach Us All About Invisible Illness

Migraine representation in children's books is important for everyone, not just kids.

Mental Well-Being

The Link Between Situational Depression and Chronic Illness

Learn about the difference between clinical and situational depression among people with chronic illnesses like COPD.

Mental Well-Being

Can Understanding Dopamine Help You Manage Migraine Attacks? Experts Say Yes

Your dopamine levels may hold the key to migraine relief.

Mental Well-Being

5 Ways Living with Migraine Has Affected My Mental Health

Living with migraine is so much more than navigating the physical symptoms of an attack. Migraine can take a toll on your mental and emotional well-being.

Mental Well-Being

How I Navigate Anxiety and Migraine

Migraine and anxiety can go hand in hand. Here's what the research says about anxiety and migraine and what I've learned about managing the two conditions together.

Mental Well-Being

How to Create and Keep Boundaries When You Have a Chronic Illness

IBD and other chronic illnesses can take a toll on how we value ourselves. But prioritizing our own needs is important for maintaining our physical and mental health.

Mental Well-Being

If You Experience Health Anxiety, You’re Not Alone

Health anxiety is common in people living with chronic conditions — and your fears are real and understandable. Learn tips for reducing anxiety and how to get help if needed.

Mental Well-Being

Why I Stopped Symptom Tracking for Migraine and What I’m Doing Instead

A migraine diary can be a useful tool, but only when it reduces your stress and doesn't add to it. Here's how I found a writing practice that better supports me.

Mental Well-Being

Migraine Symptom Relief Is Money Well Spent

I used to feel guilty spending money on migraine treatment. Now, I remind myself that I deserve whatever relief I can find.

Mental Well-Being

5 Strategies That Help Me Reduce Stress and Manage Migraine

Living with migraine is stressful. Plus, as many as 8 in 10 people report stress as a trigger for migraine attacks. Here are five strategies I turn to in order to reduce stress and better manage my migraine symptoms.

Mental Well-Being

What It’s Like Having Migraine as a Highly Sensitive Person

Being a highly sensitive person shapes how I navigate life with chronic migraine. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way.

Mental Well-Being

How to Navigate Ongoing Grief with a Chronic Condition

When you're living with a chronic condition, you may never stop grieving the life you had before your diagnosis. Lauren Selfridge, a therapist living with multiple sclerosis, shares how to recognize and live with ongoing grief.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

Decluttering Helps Me Cope with This Common Migraine Trigger

Whether it’s your home, your computer, or a pesky junk drawer, clutter can cause stress. Decluttering is a strategy I use to tackle stress and manage my migraine symptoms.  

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

Whether My Health Is on Track or Not, It’s Still Important to Take a Mental Health Day

Mental health care is healthcare — the two are inseparable.

Mental Well-Being

Managing Guilt with the Unpredictability of Chronic Illness

If you have a chronic condition like rheumatoid arthritis (RA), canceling plans last minute can come with the territory.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

Understanding Grief When It Comes to Your Chronic Condition or Disability

Having a chronic condition or disability can mean living without a lot of things. It’s important to talk about this grief and find ways to cope.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

When You’re a Perfectionist, Migraine Can Feel Like a Personal Failure

I've always tried to hide my migraine condition to maintain a façade of perfectionism. But this wasn't helpful, and now I know why.

Mental Well-Being

How Therapy Can Help If You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Finding the right therapist — one who understands life with chronic illness — can make all the difference.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

I Have Chronic Migraine. Why Do Attacks Always Feel Like My Fault?

Changing how you think of migraine and viewing the condition as simply part of your biological makeup may help you escape the feelings of personal responsibility.

Mental Well-Being

3 Tips for Feeling Less Lonely with Migraine

Despite over 36 million Americans being diagnosed with migraine, it can feel like you’re all alone. Here's how to feel less lonely with migraine.

Mental Well-Being

Having Chronic Migraine Taught Me That Not All Silence Means Suffering

Realizing that silence can be a choice has helped me shift from feeling helpless to finding a sense of autonomy over my health.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

Medical Burnout in People with Chronic Conditions Is Real — Here’s How to Cope

It’s important to address burnout as soon as possible to keep yourself healthy and happy.

Mental Well-Being

How Visualization Helps Me Break Out of the Migraine Pain-Fear Cycle

When pain is severe, visualization helps take me from a place of panic and fear to a place of acceptance and hope.

Mental Well-Being

The Importance of Setting Boundaries When You’re Living with a Chronic Condition — and How to Get Started

Your energy is too precious to be wasted on plans and activities that don't serve your health.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

The Emotional Impact Of Migraine and How to Cope

Migraine can be debilitating, not just in the physical sense, but in an emotional sense, too.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

5 Ways to Tend to Your Mental Health When You’re Living with Chronic Migraine

Taking back some control by balancing your response to migraine can be the key to establishing and maintaining good mental health.

Mental Well-Being

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.

Mental Well-Being

8 Tips for Navigating Difficult Times: Lessons from Chronic Illness

There’s tremendous wisdom to be gained from living with a chronic condition. We can use this wisdom to help navigate other challenges in life.

Mental Well-Being

Don’t Have the Energy for Zoom Happy Hours Right Now? Me Neither, and That’s OK

It can be hard to ignore internet pressure to have a “productive pandemic.”

Mental Well-Being

Wellness Practices Aren’t a Cure, But They Help Me Manage Life with Chronic Migraine

Wellness practices like meditation, mindfulness, gratitude, and mindful movement help bring me greater ease, joy, and peace no matter my circumstances.

Mental Well-Being

Your Productivity Doesn’t Determine Your Worth. Here’s How to Let That Sink In

Despite what our culture may lead you to believe, you are so much more than a to-do list.