Living Well

Living Well

How I Dealt With the Grief of Losing My Oncologist When He Retired

Feeling sad when your oncologist retires is typical, especially when that person is tasked with saving your life. Here are my tips for coping and moving on.

Living Well

If You Experience Health Anxiety, You’re Not Alone

Health anxiety is common in people living with chronic conditions — and your fears are real and understandable. Learn tips for reducing anxiety and how to get help if needed.

Living Well

How Pets Can Keep You Happy During Breast Cancer Treatment

Pet ownership may affect both your emotional and physical health in positive ways during breast cancer treatment. For me, my cats' loyalty and love helped me through.

Living Well

When You See Us: What I’ve Learned by Staying Flat — and Embracing My Authentic Self

Instead of undergoing breast reconstruction, Veronica Laurel decided to remain flat. Here's what she learned throughout her journey about embracing her authentic self.

Living Well

What Breast Cancer Looked Like for These Women Who Were Diagnosed While Pregnant

A breast cancer diagnosis while pregnant isn't common, but it's an experience filled with many questions and decisions. In this article, two women share their experiences.

Living Well

How to Deal With Not Wanting to Leave the House After Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer treatments can weaken your immune system, leading you to isolate and stay at home. Here are three tips to lessen any social anxiety post-treatment and get back out into the world.

Living Well

The Benefits of Gratitude When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Shifting to an attitude of gratitude can be the difference between surviving and truly thriving.

Living Well

How to Navigate Anger and Resentment During and After Breast Cancer

Anger and resentment can be normal feelings, especially after a breast cancer diagnosis, but it's important to remember that you're not alone and help is out there.

Living Well

The Mindflight Journal: A Journal for Chronic Illness

Meet Nicole and Aisley, the mom and daughter partnership behind the Mindflight Journal. Building from their own experiences, they've designed a journal for those living with chronic illnesses. Trust me, it's a game-changer.

Living Well

How Undergoing 8 Surgeries for Breast Cancer Has Shaped My Relationship with My Body

After eight surgeries, I am now living without breasts, ovaries, fallopian tubes, a uterus, and a cervix. Here's how my relationship to my body has changed over time.

Living Well

Why I Chose to Run a 15K After Breast Cancer

It took a while to get my body back into shape to run a 15K after breast cancer, but it helped me in so many ways both physically and emotionally.

Living Well

Consistency Is Overrated

Consistency helps us feel safe and reduces anxiety. But it also can create unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to redefine consistency (and success) so you’re OK with the ebbs and flows of life.

Living Well

I Never Believed in Complementary Therapies for Breast Cancer Effects — Until I Tried Them

I was always skeptical of complementary therapies like acupuncture, but didn't realize their benefits until I gave them a try to relieve cancer-related anxiety.

Living Well

How to Navigate Hair Loss from Breast Cancer Treatment

Hair loss can be a common side effect of chemo treatment for breast cancer, but you have several options, such as wigs and scarves, to help you navigate this temporary change.

Living Well

How Therapy Has Helped Me Throughout Breast Cancer Treatment

Therapy can be an invaluable tool that can help you before, during, and after breast cancer treatment. Here's how it helped me process my thoughts and emotions.

Living Well

5 Tips for Prioritizing Your Own Needs When You Live with a Chronic Condition

Taking time to focus on your own needs isn’t selfish — it’s responsible and necessary.

Living Well

6 Tips for Taking Care of Your Mental Health When You Live with a Chronic Condition

Six community members share their advice for navigating the mental health impact of living with a chronic condition.

Living Well

Medical Burnout in People with Chronic Conditions Is Real — Here’s How to Cope

It’s important to address burnout as soon as possible to keep yourself healthy and happy.

Living Well

4 Lessons from Breast Cancer Treatment to Help You Cope as Pandemic Lockdowns End

Just like the time after active treatment, reentering the world after pandemic lockdowns is an adjustment. Go at your own pace and give yourself some grace.

Living Well

7 Tips for Practicing Self-Love After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Show yourself some extra kindness as you navigate this life altering experience.

Living Well

How Living with Chronic Illness Has Helped Improve My Relationship with My Body

Whether you live with a chronic illness or not, living in a body is a complex experience.

Living Well

How to Be Your Own Best Advocate When You’re Living with a Chronic Illness

Good self-advocacy in medical settings requires a complicated balance of confidence and humility.

Living Well

Realistic Approaches to Setting Resolutions When You Live with a Chronic Condition

Living with a chronic condition often means working within your body’s parameters, which can mean editing your expectations. Always give yourself grace and remember that your New Year’s resolutions — if you choose to set them — don’t have to “match” anyone else’s. They only have to feel helpful to you.

Living Well

Your Productivity Doesn’t Determine Your Worth. Here’s How to Let That Sink In

Despite what our culture may lead you to believe, you are so much more than a to-do list.

Living Well

8 Tips for Navigating Difficult Times That I’ve Learned from Living With a Chronic Illness

There's tremendous wisdom to be gained from the experience of living with a chronic condition.

Living Well

Don’t Have the Energy for Zoom Happy Hours Right Now? Me Neither, and That’s OK

It can be hard to ignore internet pressure to have a “productive pandemic.”

Living Well

Working from Bed Isn’t Lazy — It’s Accessible

As a disabled person, working from bed makes it possible for me to have a job.

Living Well

How Nature-Based Therapy Can Improve Your Mental Health

Medication isn’t the only way to treat your mental health when you live with a chronic condition. You might be surprised by all the benefits you can find right in the world around you.

Living Well

We Need to Talk About Chronic Pain and Suicide

People with chronic pain are at a higher risk of mental health conditions, which can lead to suicidal ideation and suicide. Several factors can heighten this risk, which is why it's important to speak up about it.

Living Well

How Chronic Illness Helped Me Cultivate Better Reading Habits

Through bibliotherapy I've learned that books can offer greater insight and healing than I ever imagined, as long as I pay attention.

Living Well

11 Gift Ideas for the Breast Cancer Community

If you’re looking for gift ideas for loved ones within the breast cancer community, check out this list to support the businesses of other survivors and find useful and interesting gifts.

Living Well

How the Spoon Theory Helps Me Explain My Health

It can be hard to explain the way that a chronic condition impacts your daily energy. The spoon theory is a clever way to help get the point across.

Living Well

How to Reimagine What Fulfillment Means to You When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned

Life’s uninvited challenges, like illness and loss, can help us find deeper fulfillment in the present moment.

Living Well

A Public Health Crisis: Preventing Loneliness in Chronic Illness

Loneliness is more prevalent than ever in the U.S. — and people with chronic illness are likely familiar with it. Here's how to stay socially connected even when symptoms or flare-ups get in your way.

Living Well

Cancer, Creativity, and Finding a Flow

Despite cancer, we can all tune into the joy of each moment as we pursue our passions and creativity.

Living Well

Finding Gratitude After My Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Gratitude lets me feel positive emotions, linger in good experiences, and gives me a sense of tending to my overall holistic wellness. Here are some tips to get started.

Living Well

Swimsuits and Scars: Learning to Embrace My Body

My breast cancer scars are so much more than imperfections to me. These scars gave me my life back. If I didn’t learn to embrace them, I never would.

Living Well

The Power of Music Throughout My Breast Cancer Journey

Music therapy can have beneficial effects on people with cancer. Here, Caroline Johnson shares how music has helped her throughout her breast cancer journey.

Living Well

Gardening Is My Mindfulness Practice of Choice — Here’s Why

Watching my plants grow and bloom, as well as the benefits of grounding, are just some of the ways gardening teaches me to be more mindful for my chronic illness.

Living Well

10 Ways to Get Involved This Breast Cancer Awareness Month ... If You Want To

Whether you decide to get involved during Breast Cancer Awareness Month or not, remember that your well-being comes first.

Living Well

7 Ways to Boost Your Confidence During Breast Cancer Treatment

Facing a cancer diagnosis is a life-altering experience. It is completely normal and valid to experience feelings of anxiety and to struggle with your self-confidence.

Living Well

Uncover These 3 Superpowers to Reduce Pandemic Stress

We can't control the ongoing pandemic, but we can control how we react to the stress it's creating in our lives.

Living Well

My 11 Favorite Books, Movies, and Podcasts for Every Stage of the Breast Cancer Experience

Sharing and bearing witness to each other's stories is super empowering.

Living Well

8 Tips for Coping with ‘Reopening Anxiety’ When You’re Living with a Chronic Condition

Ready or not, the world is reopening around us. Here's how to reengage on your own terms.

Living Well

Mindset Matters: Moving Through the Strange Feeling of Grieving Your Old Life

Grieving your old self is a little different than grieving a loved one who's passed. Here's how I moved forward.

Living Well

Reframing Your Mindset with Breast Cancer: Why My Friends and I Have Embraced Stoicism

For these women with breast cancer, embracing the philosophy of stoicism has helped them reclaim their lives, find peace, and savor each moment.

Living Well

How ASMR Can Benefit People with Chronic Illness

If you live with a chronic illness, ASMR may help you feel relaxed, comforted, or even relieved from chronic pain. But triggers aren't the same for everyone.

Living Well

How Movement Became My Medicine

I was only 4 years old when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Slowly but surely I started to understand the consequences of missing playtime and not moving my body.

Living Well

Ask the Dietitian: What Are Some Health-Supportive Recipes for Breast Cancer?

Following a nutritious diet while living with breast cancer is an important part of supporting your overall health. Dietitian Jillian Kubala shares a roundup of recipes to help you stay energized throughout your day.