If you suffer with Chronic Fatigue and/or Fibromyalgia, it's important to get your family and friends' support during your illness and throughout your recovery. Your journey will likely be hard and long and it's vital that you maintain good relationships with the people who show that they care about you on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. It's also important to work on your friendships and, if possible, make new friends. Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia people can be some of the nicest, most caring people in the world!
Because your hours and days of feeling well are so limited, these are tall challenges. More often than not, you feel like you've been run over by a bus and then backed over again! Still, this goal is important. When we human beings are well, we need people. When we're sick, we really need them.
If your days are going by slowly right now, keep in mind that other people lead busy lives and may not think of contacting you as often as you would like. The sheer enormity and difficulty of keeping your friends and family engaged and involved with you is not only the goal here, but the very thing that makes this exercise so difficult.
When you consider how to enjoy and benefit from your relationships, these issues and the suggestions below reveal their true importance. These are worthy goals, worth working on even when you don't feel well. The positive energy that you get from interacting with others will contribute to your healing process in mighty and astounding ways.
Tip 1: Be fully engaged in what you do, whether that's talking on the phone, being together face-to-face at lunch or spending time on a social network like Facebook. If necessary, put a small mirror near your computer. People can hear it in your voice when you look happy.
*Particularly, when you're in someone's physical presence, even if your body is screaming about how tired and hurting you feel, bright eyes and a genuine smile will show that you care about the other person. Make the effort. Show them the twinkle in your eyes. Show them your pearly whites! You'll be glad you did. It will make you feel better and they will be more interested in you, if they can see the interest in them reflected in your face. A "sad sack" demeanor turns people off and running in the opposite direction.
Goal: To expand your circle of friends and therefore your world, seek to be someone who another person wants to be-friend, whether that friendship will be carried out in person or through an online, social function.
Tip 2: As easy as it is to get distracted, don't do it. Don't allow yourself to fixate on anything other than the topic of conversation or the activity that the two of you are engaging in at that moment. Brain fog can be a tough symptom of both illnesses, but do your best to concentrate. If you have to leave, excuse your departure and make another date to get together. Later on, when and if the time is right, you can begin a short conversation about you. But for the time being, don't do it. Don't digress and don't get distracted or let your mind wander too far away from your topic.
Goal: To have a good relationship with anyone, it's necessary to be a good participant and an active listener. That means the interactions you share cannot be one-sided centering on one party only, namely you. Ask questions and show an interest in the other person.
Tip 3: For every two minutes that you spend talking about yourself, spend an equal amount of time asking about the other person. E.g., what they're doing, their job, their hobbies, their family and children. They have life and health problems, too. They may have even come to you for your advice of how to handle the problems! Most of all, they will remember the interest you showed in them and want to repay the favor.
By implementing these three tips, you have an excellent chance to change both how meaningful your time together is and the reaction of the other party when they leave your presence. The old, wise, adage applies here (paraphrased): if you want people to care about you, show them how much you care.
Before you go, pick up more tips and information about how to live with and get well from Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia by checking out the exclusive blog and podcast listed below in the author's bio.
First, visit the Health Matters Show. You'll find an announcement about the author's new book, From the Floor...Looking Up, a tell-all memoir and expose' on Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And you'll get introduced to Sacred Cellular Healing, an exciting, new healing technique that is helping a lot of people feel better! See the sign-up box for the book and this priceless information on the webpage.