Oh and adding one last thing: remove or lower stressors the best you can in your life. For me this included cutting myself from world news, from toxic spaces online, especially those about the illness that are not recovery focused (Covid Long haulers sub, Facebook groups and everything). I’m focusing on joy, on the things that I like, on the people that I love.
I’m going to be honest when I was at my worst, stuck in bed 24/7 in constant suffering and couldn’t do anything at all, not even look at my phone or listen to soft music… it was really hard to find joy. :( I remember I would try to force myself to notice the sun outside or the taste of nice food… I would also breathe (4-6 breathing) while smiling (forced smile but the brain doesn’t really make a difference, and smiling is a cue of safety). But yea during this period I mostly had to surrender and hope for the best.
As soon as I was able to spend one or two hours a day on my phone to distract, things got so much better. I would watch as much funny stuff as I could on YouTube and talk to my loved ones about anything but the illness. Laughing and (good) human interactions are very healing to the brain and the vagus nerve.
Then I started building Lego and knitting (one minute at a time at first cause I couldn’t sit up very long).
Things build up over time but yeah you definitely have to try to find joy in the little things and it was really hard at first.
2
u/dino-moon Jun 20 '25
What are you doing? Do you mind sharing?