Everyone has habits - good ones, bad ones and ones they wish they had. For those of us with chronic illness, the types of habits we need to build and the challenges we face when trying to build them might make the process harder. But we CAN do it. We just might need a little help.
When you have a chronic illness, the habits you want to break or build look different. Most of us are not working on getting better at hitting the gym or going for a mile run, or preparing food from scratch rather than eating out so often, or any of the ideas that come to mind when people think of the "typical" good habits to develop. And that is OK. We need to work on habits that will improve our health and quality of life. And while our goals might include fitness and better eating, they are often on a much smaller scale.
I personally have quite a few goals (or habits) that I want to work on. Some are new good habits that I want to build and many others are bad habits I have fallen into due to my illnesses. These "bad" habits need to be replaced with behaviors that are better for my health and quality of life. Some habits are really more routines I would like to develop but have trouble remembering to actually do.
For example, my painsomnia (inability to sleep due to pain) causes me to stay up most nights and sleep all day. I am unable to work due my illnesses, so theoretically I am able to sleep all day. But when I do that, I get very disconnected from my friends, family and the outside world. So I have set a goal to get up earlier even if it means I need to nap at some point during the day.
I also have a few other goals that would seem crazy to a "normal" person. One is to wash my hair at least once a week. Washing my hair is painful and exhausting but it needs to get done. Another goal is to eat at least two meals a day. I have stomach issues and very little appetite. This combined with crushing fatigue causes me to skip meals too often which is bad for my health. A few others are to turn off my phone and my light by a certain time each night, move my body in some way for at least five minutes each day and play with my cats more often.
Now I have known for a while that these are habits I wanted to work on and was committed to the two plus months studies show it takes to create a new habit, but I was making little to no progress for some reason. I would either forget when I last did something, if I had done it at all or even that it was a goal I wanted to build. (Thank you very much, short term memory issues and brain fog! You make everything so much more challenging. Please go away). Then I realized I was missing an important tool I needed to help me - habit trackers!
What is a Habit Tracker you ask? Exactly what it sounds like. It is a way to track the progress you are making in developing a new habit. There are various types of habit trackers - simple spreadsheets, artistic drawings that you color, jars you add stones too, you name it, people have thought of it. But what has worked best for me is a habit tracking app. It allows me to keep track of my progress on multiple habits in one easy place on my phone. And since my phone has my medication reminders on it, the phone is always with me.
After trying multiple habit tracking apps, the one I decided to use (and pay for the upgraded full version) is an app called Tally. (ios). I chose this app for a few reasons. It it colorful, uncluttered and once I figured it out, easy to use. The premium upgrade that allowed me to track an unlimited number of habits was not too expensive ($3.99 at the time of writing). It is also just pleasing to my eye. But what was the biggest selling point for me from a chronic illness standpoint is that there is no preset habits, routines or schedules built into the app. You can literally create and track any habit you want. And since the habits of people with chronic illness are not the same as most, this is key.
Here is what my Tally home screen looks like.:
In the example, it shows that I have reached my goal of playing with my cats at least four times in the week. Now that does not mean I will stop playing with them until the next week, just that I have reached the minimum of what needs to be done to keep them from getting frustrated and hyper. Since they are semi-feral cats who can get destructive if bored, this is a key goal for me.
The app also lets me have goals that are a little bit more complicated because on the detail screen for each habit I can add notes. The goal of checking the litter box three times a week is not about scooping it. Although this chore is hard for me and many with chronic illness, I am lucky enough to have help when I need it. This goal is to actually check the contents of the litter box at least three times a week. Weird, I know, but there is a reason. Two of my cats have chronic intestinal illnesses that flare up on occasion. Those flare ups can usually be caught early on by noticing changes in the type or amount of output in the box. And if caught early, I can start the needed changes to their diet and perhaps prevent the flare from getting bad enough to need a vet visit. But when I am having a bad week (or two, or three) and am not the one actually doing the scooping, I need the reminder to check for signs of a flare up. Otherwise the first sign is usually one of the cats peeing on my bed. And nobody like that!
Now the purpose of this post is not to be one big ad for the Tally app. It is to let others with chronic illness know what an amazing tool Habit Trackers can be in developing the behaviors we know will help improve our quality of life. I personally have seen an improvement in achieving my goals since I started using my habit tracker. Last week, I ate at least two meals every day! I can not even remember the last time that happened. And since I knew I would not be physically up to making lunch for the next few days due to a recent medical procedure, I asked my roommate to make me a lunch that I could just grab from the fridge and eat while he was at work. Before the habit tracker, I probably never would have thought about it and just skipped lunch.
There are so many options when it comes to habit trackers, both electronic and otherwise, that I suggest shopping around to find whatever one resonates with your personal style. But keep in mind that it should help you and make things easier so you can focus on your goals - not be another craft or art or computer project that you don't have the energy to keep up with - so keep it simple.
One final note about building habits. There is a tendency to think of so many habits you want to build or break once you get started. But you will get overwhelmed. So make a list of any that come to mind and then prioritize them. Once you know what ones are most important, pick just a few and work on those until you are meeting the goals (or at least close) before adding more. I personally categorized my goals and picked a few from each to start. My categories were Pet Care, Health/Hygiene, Sleep, Fitness, and Home/Family. Yours, of course, may be different.
I also found that it was very easy to identify "bad" habits I wanted to break. But I am a big advocate in the benefit of looking on the bright side. I believe it really does make a difference in my mental health. So instead of working on breaking the "bad" habit of sleeping too late, I am instead working on building the "good" habit of being awake by 11am. Being chronically ill brings enough negativity in to my life. When I open my habit tracker app, all I want too see is positive goals that are helping me move in the direction I want to go.
So give a habit tracker a try. Go forth and track those habits. You can create positive habits that make your life with chronic illness better, easier and more fulfilling. Happy building!
