Stress Awareness Month

Living with a chronic condition can bring stress into your life. Some of the stresses are things you might expect - tests, hospital stays, appointments, symptoms. Other stresses might not be things you immediately think of – our Young Voices shared this list:  

  • Taking medication everyday it doesn't stop if you are going on holiday  

  • Attending hospital appointments/admissions  

  • Chasing prescriptions and picking them up  

  • Regular bloods and injections  

  • Nervous/ anxious before upcoming appointments 

  • Fighting for answers and making sure you are being listened to  

  • Having to tell new friends and teachers about your condition 

Our Young Voices also highlighted that this is on top of all the stresses of friendship, schools, and exams that lots of young people experience. Often chronic illness stress can tag onto these common stressors. For example, as well as being stressed about how you will do in your exam, you might also be stressed about what your symptoms will be like on the day.  

Managing stress when you have a chronic condition can be hard. Often the triggers for your stress can be out of your control, such as needing to have blood tests. There can also a be a pressure that comes with managing stress. For many chronic conditions stress can be a trigger for the condition to flare up. This can become a tricky cycle, where trying to manage stress can be stressful! Often the ideas you might see on social media for improving stress (like going for a run every day or going swimming in cold water) might not always be possible for you when you are having a flare.  

If you are finding life with a chronic condition stressful then please know you are not alone, and that there are plenty of ways for you to manage your stress in accessible ways.  

Here is a simple and accessible exercise for times when you might feel stressed (and even stressed about being stressed!).  

Grounding Technique   

How it Helps: This technique will help you to focus on the present when you are feeling stressed or anxious. Helping to ease your state of mind.  

Getting Started:  Find a space you are comfortable in and take some deep breaths. 

Guidance:  

  1. Start by taking some deep breaths.  

  1. Look around you, acknowledge 5 things you can see and say them out loud.  

  1. Notice 4 things you can touch. This could be your hair, clothes or the floor under your feet. Again say them out loud.  

  1. Listen to your surroundings. Say out loud 3 things you can hear. 

  1. Say 2 things you can smell. This could be the perfume you are wearing or the food you have cooked for lunch.  

  1. Finally, say 1 thing you can taste. It could be your toothpaste or chewing gum.  

  1. To finish off take a few more deep breaths. 

You can find more activities like this on our relaxing exercise page here. If you have any tips for managing stress then please get in touch with us so that we can share it with Teapot Trust Young Voices 😊  

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