If you have a chronic illness, you may struggle to maintain a good quality of life. You might not be able to engage in as many activities as you did before you got ill, or if you have had a chronic illness for all or most of your life, you may have never had that opportunity. Dealing with this can mean added hurdles to improving your quality of life, but it is both possible and important to do so.
Prioritize
Perhaps the number one rule for a good quality of life if you are chronically ill is prioritizing. This allows you to get the most important things done while you have the energy and make the rest optional. Even if you were someone who was good at prioritizing before becoming chronically ill, the stakes may be much higher now since failing to do so effectively could wipe you out for a day or a week. Don’t be afraid to defer people or activities or to simply say no to people in order to make sure you are able to do the things that are most important to you. You might want to get more rigorous about a to-do list or at least in simply thinking over your plans for the day if a to-do list feels too rigid. Ask yourself what you have to accomplish, what you’d like to accomplish and what can wait.
Consider a Viatical Settlement
Money can’t buy everything, but it can buy peace of mind and some fun experiences. One way to get money may be through a viatical settlement. If you have a life insurance policy and you are chronically or terminally ill, you may be able to sell your policy to a viatical settlement broker. This gives you a lump sum that you can use to improve your quality of living, whether you want to redesign parts of your house to make it more comfortable and accessible, travel, or fulfill another long-held dream. You can review a guide that tells you more about a viatical settlement, what it is, how to get one, how it might affect your taxes and any other issues. Then, you can use the money to do something you have always wanted to do or simply make your day-to-day life more comfortable.
Know Yourself
If you are open about your chronic illness, you may find yourself faced with more well-meaning but potentially useless advice than you could have believed possible. On the one hand, it is entirely possible that taking a yoga class or going to bed earlier might improve how you feel. It may be worth trying new things even if you are certain they won’t work. At the same time, it’s also okay to set boundaries. No one knows your body and what you are capable of better than you do. It is rarely a bad idea to try to follow standard advice for good health, such as sleeping more, exercising and eating your vegetables, but you do not have to feel obligated to engage with every suggestion that people make.