You may find yourself reeling following your diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease and you probably don’t want to see or hear any suggestions to find the silver lining in the dark rain cloud that you feel hanging over your head. However, staying positive following your diagnosis is vital to your mental health and your physical well-being, too.
How can you positively stay positive when you have received a diagnosis that is literally life changing? I won’t pretend that it will be easy; however, there are a few ways you can keep your positivity on track.
Shift Your Focus
When the symptoms start, it becomes difficult to complete the everyday tasks you’ve been doing for your entire life. That’s why it’s important to find hobbies that you can do regardless of symptoms flare-ups.
Additionally, you can plan your day in short bursts – it will help you stay strong mentally as you continue to achieve things as normal and you can avoid any meltdowns that may come from pushing yourself too hard too hard.
Staying active is key and setting daily personal goals is a great way to keep you on course.
Know Your Opponent
While Parkinson’s Disease does affect each patient differently there are certain things that you can expect. Therefore, while you don’t want to read horror stories on the internet you do want to know your opponent and learn as much as possible about your illness.
Ideally, you will want to spend time with your doctor asking questions and getting the right answers straight from the source.
So, once you have gotten your diagnosis you can think of any questions that may be on your mind and then return for an extended appointment with your doctor to address your concerns and queries.
Find Humor
Laughter truly is the best medicine and keeping (or finding) your humor after a diagnosis like Parkinson’s is important to maintaining your mental health. With Parkinson’s Disease, depression is a real risk, so it’s incredibly important that you find ways to laugh lots.
It can be difficult to laugh at yourself when you’re facing a serious condition, so even if it means watching an extra episode of your favorite sitcom for a boost – just do it!
Tap into Your Social Circle
Of course, your friends can help you keep the laughs coming and they will play an even bigger role here. You need to maintain your social connections to help maintain your positivity and mental health.
If you have a friend who drags you down then don’t turn to them for support in your time of need. Choose to surround yourself with the most supportive and positive people you know.
You can extend your social circle by joining a Parkinson’s Disease support group. This will afford you the opportunity to spend time with people who are at various stages of their PD journey and you will find a lot of information and comfort from a support group.
If this makes you nervous, you can rest easy as there are plenty of online support groups for PD patients. This is ideal for anyone who doesn’t have the confidence to turn up in person or perhaps with limited mobility.
The most important thing here is your health and with a Parkinson’s diagnosis, there is more than just the physical symptoms to concern yourself with. You also have to keep your mental health in mind and choosing to stay positive in the face of adversity is only going to boost the strength of your mental well-being.
Positive people are notoriously less likely to experience symptoms of depression than the pessimistic among us, so choose positivity.
