Gaining confidence with a disability diagnosis
Gaining confidence with a disability diagnosis
Receiving any disability diagnosis can bring up a mixture of feelings and emotions but they are a normal part of the journey to acceptance and living confidently with it.
Depending on your diagnosis, it can be a liberating time or a time of grieving for your life pre-diagnosis.
Regardless of whether you have been diagnosed with a disability or not, working towards self-acceptance and self-confidence is incredibly beneficial for your health and well-being.
Everyone deserves a chance to live their life as best as they can but this can be hindered by your outlook.
So how do you gain acceptance and confidence following a disability diagnosis?
Give yourself time to come to terms
Acceptance and confidence often don’t happen overnight and it is important to give yourself the time and space to come to terms with your diagnosis, especially if it follows a traumatic indecent.
Maybe your body works differently now or maybe this diagnosis has impacted the plans you have for the future.
While you may feel the need to put on a brave face, feeling the full spectrum of negative and positive emotions post-diagnosis is crucial for you to pass through the grieving process and into self-acceptance.
Learning to live with a disability isn't always easy and suppressing feelings is not helpful to you or those around you.
Allow yourself to fully experience your feelings without judgement and tell those around you how you feel.
Sharing your emotional process with people you trust is not only helpful for you to unload and be comforted how you need, but it also helps them support toy better.
You have the right to live a healthy and fruitful life and you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself for how you are processing and coming to accept a diagnosis.
To help maintain good mental health, exercise however you can to keep your body moving and maintain a healthy diet.
Acceptance: the step to confidence
Self-acceptance is something almost everybody struggles with, but it is an important part of living a fulfilling life and building self-confidence.
Your acceptance process is something that is individual to you and shouldn’t be rushed. You should avoid comparing your process or progress to anyone else and focus on how you feel you are going.
But while it is healthy to grieve how things were for you pre-diagnosis if things have changed, don’t let it hold you back from moving forward.
Focusing on the negatives and what the diagnosis means could lower your mood and lead to experiences of depression.
If you feel consistently low for a long period of time, seeing a mental health professional is a helpful option to help work through those feelings and move towards a place of acceptance.
Similarly, other forms of more personal therapy such as art therapy, music therapy or a hobby can help you process your diagnosis through expression.
Do some research
There is a saying: knowledge is power.
Doing research about your diagnosis and utilising the resources we have available are great ways to educate yourself about your diagnosis and disability.
Outside of medical literature, the internet hosts many support groups of advocates and others living with disabilities who you can connect with to discuss your diagnosis and learn how to better live with it.
Being open to meeting new people to build your support network of people who love and accept you for you and not your disability is incredibly valuable for being a confident person.
Knowing what is going on with your body and what to expect will also give you a sense of autonomy that can help you prepare yourself for change and be able to adjust more quickly - giving you the confidence to tackle whatever life throws at you.
Your research can show what adaptive technologies, tools and devices are available to assist you in everyday life.
Creative skills and strategies to streamline processes and activities in life are developing everyday and doing some research can help you gain confidence and learn how to adapt your own routine to how you would like.