If you’ve been injured or discovered a disability that you have, then there’s often a lot to process around this. While you may have been healthy in the past, you might need to change your life in order to live more comfortably in the future.
Dealing with a New Disability
While there’s an initial shock period, you can use these tips to deal with your new needs.
Understanding your Limitations
Dealing with a disability means that you have to fully understand your limitations. While these can be hard to come to terms with, you have to know what you’re able to do. This can come from a period of experimentation, especially where the disability is the result of a sudden illness or accident.
Your day to day life may now be drastically different than before and you’re not able to do the same things. However, if you find ways to adapt your regular activities you can still have similar experiences. Some things may have changed, but if you change your mindset you can often find ways around this.
Make Adaptations
Depending on the disability that you’re faced with, you may need to make small or much larger adaptations. These will make your life much easier and there are often grants available to help you out too. This could be in the home or transportation, as both of these will have a big impact on your life.
These kinds of adaptations can also give you back a sense of independence, as you don’t need to rely on others as much. This can also give you some more choice, for example you can choose from a walk-in shower vs walk-in bath, depending on what suits you best. This can give you more control over your future, which can be very much needed.
Asking for Help
While you might want to do everything yourself in the wake of the change in situation, this can end up making you feel isolated. Reach out to the people that can help you both physically and emotionally. This can give you the support network that you need to get accustomed to life again. They can also encourage you to try out new things and push you to enjoy things.
You can also reach out for professional help and therapy if you require it. This will also assist you in getting back to normality. Being able to talk about the challenges you’re facing with a professional will give you a plan of action to bring more positivity into your life again.
Look After your Health
Although you may have some new challenges in your life, you still want to ensure that you’re looking after your health overall. Eating well and exercising are pillars to keep you healthy in the long term. The amount that you will be able to exercise will vary depending on the condition, but there are still things that you can do to stay active.
Your mental health is important too, as you want to find things that give you purpose and joy. Getting creative and finding things that you enjoy will greatly benefit your mental health. This might include volunteering or picking up a new hobby. If you join a support group then you may also meet others in a similar position that you can share your experiences with.
As you get accustomed to living life with a new disability or health issue, there can be a lot to get to grips with. Just bearing these tips in mind can help you to get through that transitional period and back to feeling like yourself again.
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