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Staying Positive While Living With Autoimmune Disease

Living with autoimmune disease is hard. I am excited to share something I’ve done every night for over a year that really helps me when it comes to staying positive while living with autoimmune disease…keeping what I call a “daily victories journal.”

The idea of keeping a daily victories journal actually came from my husband. 

Over a year ago, my husband saw that I struggled with staying positive while living with autoimmune disease. He looked on helplessly as I felt incredibly down about my health and the symptoms I was experiencing. He saw my fear. 

One night, we were in bed facing each other, and I was crying. While I felt overwhelmed and at my lowest point, I imagine he felt helpless. At this point in our lives, this scene was on replay.

My husband looked across at me this particular night and told me he thought I needed to start writing down my victories each night. 

Confused, I gave him a questioning look.

He explained it could just be a list of things I felt like I did that day that I could be proud of. 

I was skeptical about his plan, but I felt desperate to learn to stay positive, so I agreed.

I starting keeping my daily victories journal every night. 

At first it was things like “I got out of bed.”  At that point, that was a huge victory!

Other victories included at this time included:

  • “I ate healthy today.” 
  • “I took a shower.”
  • “I took a nap.” 
  • “I watched a Hallmark movie with my daughter.”
  • “I watched a baseball game with my son.”

 Over time, as I continued on my wellness journey, my victories changed to things like:

  • “I went to the park with the kids.” 
  • “I meal prepped AIP foods.”
  • “I went on a bike ride with the kids.”
  • “I went to the beach (eventhough I slept in the car both ways).”

Then more time, and now here I am over a year later, and my victories are things like:

  • “I took the kids to Disneyland for the day by myself and felt great!”
  • “I went hiking for miles.” 
  • “I stayed calm when I felt a flare coming instead of freaking out.”
  • “I traveled out of town by myself to a four day retreat.”

I am so grateful for my daily victories journal, and the way it encouraged me to stay positive while living with autoimmune disease.

I love looking back and seeing how far I’ve come.

I love reading my victories journal while I am in a flare, and remembering I found wellness before, and I can find wellness again.

Recognizing my victories and finding joy in them is part of what helped get me here – to where I am today. 

Funny how a simple list of daily victories taught me about staying positive while living with chronic illness.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

Learning to Love Yourself Through Chronic Illness

The Emotional Side of Autoimmune Disease

5 Ways to Live Well with Autoimmune Disease

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