Coping With Chronic Illness - Getting To Know Myself - Part 1 - The Outside Me

Chronic Illness.  Getting to Know Yourself.

I became ill at a very young age.  As the years went by the lines between me and my illness started to blur.  And at some point I realized that I was mixing the two. 

Now that was a little annoying because this is not what I want to be known for.  I don't want my illnesss to be my outstanding feature or what people think of first when they see me.  I knew there was so much more to me, I just couldn't always put my finger on what it was.  And there is something really wrong about that.   

So, I started recording all kinds of questions about myself.  Seemingly easy questions, harder questions, funny questions, superficial questions, deep questions.  And I slowly started to think about my answers.  

You would not believe the simple, basic things I did not know about myself.  And the answers weren't always so easy to come by.  It took a long time.  But over the months I did start to see the real me emerge.

No matter how old we are when we get sick, it’s easy to lose ourselves in our various illnesses.  So it’s important to be reminded from time to time that you are a person, not an illness.  You have a personality, interests, likes, dislikes, values, opinions, obligations, and responsibilities.  So, for the next little while I plan to provide some questions designed to help us get reacquainted with ourselves gradually.  Here are the first eight (I’m starting out easy).

Keep in mind:

Periodically you may want to change your answers as you know yourself better or your tastes change.  That is a good thing.

Remember that most of these questions have no right or wrong answer.  This is just about getting to know yourself so that you can make better choices and understand why you do certain things.  It is also for helping us see the good in ourselves, not just the bad.

The outside me:

1.      What color are my eyes?  (Mention all the colors you can see in your eyes.)  

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2.      What color is my hair?  (Mention all the colors you can see in your hair.)

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3.       What are my favorite colors and color combinations?

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4.      Do I prefer to wear bold colors or background colors?

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5.      Do I wear glasses or contacts and which do I prefer?

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6.      How tall am I?

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7.      What does my name mean?

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8.      What are the top three things I like about the way I look? 

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Extra credit:  You can use the answers to the first two questions to discover some of the colors that look best on you.  Check out the book The Color of Style.  It helps you ascertain your best romantic color, dramatic color, tranquil color, energy color, and essence color.  A very interesting read.

There will be a series of lists – some playful, light, or superficial, some a little more introspective but all along the lines of getting to know yourself again.  I am doing them also, as we go on.  I’m printing them out, writing the answers, and putting them in a binder.  I think I’ll title it, “Laina – The Book”.  :)

 

As we go forward please share your thoughts on this endeavor.  It was helpful to me but I am interested to know if this sort of thing is helpful to you.