Surprising positive from being ill

[Nosleepforthismum]

Is that it’s allowed me to completely give up drinking because it’s a genuine excuse I can give to people that gets them to stop asking. I’ve wanted to give up for years but peer pressure and lots of “oh one won’t hurt” kept me feeling like I couldn’t ever give up properly in social situations. However, now newly diagnosed with IBD, I can simply tell anyone that tries to put the pressure on that I will shit myself immediately after having sip and they back off after that. Obviously the illness itself is fairly rubbish so I’m taking great pleasure in this small thing that feels like a big achievement. I just wondered if anyone else had an unexpected positive from being ill?

Happy for you that you have this positive!
Mine isn't quite the same but a few months ago I put my back out carrying some heavy shopping bags. I was in a lot of pain for a while and had to make some lifestyle changes, one of which was that I couldn't take my laptop everywhere I go because it was too heavy and uncomfortable to carry on my back, which I had been doing every day for years and years. This has been very positive! It's made me more focused when I actually am at a computer (so in the office or at home), and I switch off better when I'm not in those places (so on the commute, coffee shops etc), rather than trying to always carry my work with me all the time and then often procrastinating and not being efficient.

I cannot imagine carrying a laptop everywhere I go!

I carry my laptop almost everywhere I go and cannot imagine being able to leave it behind, sadly.

Op I’m in the same boat as you, when the doctor rang and said I could never touch alcohol again I think I felt relieved more than anything else. Now I love being able to drive and give lifts and not worry about a hangover the next day.

IBD patient here too. I was diagnosed when I was 16, started drinking/clubbing at 18. Took me a couple of years to realise it wasn’t helping with my health problems so I stopped.

Im in my 40s now and I think it really has saved me from so many embarrassing moments, hangovers, money spent etc. Definitely a small perk of the condition.

I’ve also never smoked because of it and I can see the difference in not doing either of those things in my skin now I’m middle aged.