If you are chronically ill, how do you cope with feeling vulnerable?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I'm finding this a challenge at the moment. I have a problem that realistically could make me visually impaired suddenly. I can deal with pretty much all of my other health issues reasonably well, and in fact some have got much better - but I'm job hunting, and thinking well what if I get a good job and then have to leave next month if my consultant needs to start treatment and I can't see and need a lot of time off?

I would like to think if it happens I will eventually adapt and find workarounds but honestly it will be such a struggle just to use my daily medical equipment not being able to see properly that I feel dismal about trying to use a computer.

Anyway it has me feeling exposed and vulnerable. There's nothing I can realistically do to insulate myself, so I have to accept it. How do you cope with feelings like this, if you are sick long term?

I have always hidden my illness but this year has separated the wheat from the chaff...and I am the chaff! All my colleagues (NHS) are working still, front line, the hero’s. I am working from home and feeling extremely useless. I am trying to appreciate the advantages, and focus on today, but it feels very very hard at the moment.

I try not to think about it if I can avoid it. And if I can't avoid it, I try to cultivate a thicker skin about it (ironic when part of the issue is thickened patches of skin).

Fuck it. I'll manage somehow. Buggered if I know how sometimes, but I always seem to in the end.

I try to concentrate on my strengths, of which I have many, despite a long term illness messing me up. 😉

My daughter has a long term illness and she just seems to adapt. Today she is having an awful time with walking and she just finds ways to adjust her lifestyle to suit. I find she makes time to be kind to herself so she doesn’t get frustrated by some of her symptoms that can interfere with her daily life. She always finds solutions and I actually quite admire her stubborn will to overcome hurdles. She has days where I can see she is a bit ground down with it all but like another poster said, an attitude of ‘fuck it, I’ll manage somehow’ definitely seems to get her through those moments.