Looking at Endometriosis Lessons Positively

Living with endometriosis forces everyone to learn some lessons. After living with endometriosis for years, I learned to look at some of the positive aspects of these lessons. Seeing the silver lining in living with endometriosis can help your mental health.

Dating eliminator

Many people worry about disclosing a life-long health condition to somebody they have started dating. Initially, I felt the same discomfort and concern. A lot of prospective partners are not interested in living a life with a woman who will have chronic pain and possibly have fertility issues.

I chose to start being upfront with this information. It has always been a way to weed out people who were not looking for a serious relationship and other types of individuals I did not want in my life. This occurrence allowed me to save myself time, effort, and energy when it came to looking for a partner. I am positive it saved me from quite a few headaches as well.

To be prepared

To survive the pain and periods associated with endometriosis, being prepared is key. This means having medication and tampons/pads readily available. Since endometriosis has a way of making periods irregular, I kept a change of clothes and even a blanket in my car. This provided an extra piece of mind for me.

While this is frustrating at first, it can come in handy later in life. Due to needing to make sure everything is available for endometriosis issues, I became an awesome packer and planner. This made life much easier when it comes to packing a bag for trips! The planning skills have assisted in making me highly organized.

Just say no

I am not talking about drugs here! I am talking about just saying no to doing things when you do not feel well enough. Have you heard of the Spoon Theory? Spoon Theory uses spoons as a metaphor for the energy an individual has available to complete the day. This is especially important because overdoing it puts a massive toll on our bodies.

It took me a long time to master managing my spoons. A large portion of my family likes to rely on everybody else to take care of things that they should do themselves. I was always the person they went to for help. This lasted until I ended up on my kitchen floor crying because I was so overwhelmed and exhausted.

I had to learn to balance everything in my life. Some days are better than others, which allows me to get more done. If somebody wants me to do something, I consider my energy stores before deciding.  This has affected my relationships with people. But in a way that allows me to know who genuinely cares about me and not just about what they can get out of our relationship. Everybody needs a break now and then, some just more than other people.

What does not kill you...

To be honest, I hope you rolled your eyes as you read that subtitle. The true meaning behind the statement ‘What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’ is that every experience you have in life is supposed to make you a more well-rounded individual. Unfortunately, many people use this phrase to tell others to just deal with their pain.

Our bodies send out pain signals to inform us that something is wrong. Over 20 years ago, doctors were not interested in diagnosing a young teen with endometriosis. Since I was not treated well when I complained about my pain, I tried to just live with it. Ignoring my pain was almost fatal to me. This taught me not to care about the opinions of others. Additionally, I needed to listen to my body above anything else. Learning to pay attention to my body has helped me determine when something was not right with my body ever since then.

These are some of the outlooks I have taken from my own endometriosis lessons. It can be hard to see the positives when you are overwhelmed with everything at once. Ultimately, there are important things to remind yourself. Needing to miss events or cancel plans does not make you a bad person. Requiring extra help or more rest does not make you weak. It is also extremely important to never force somebody to be in a relationship with you or a part of your life. There is no reason to put yourself through that and it won't last. Love yourself!

Have you found a positive outlook to any endometriosis lessons?