5 Things Not to Be Angry At Living with Epilepsy

Becoming diagnosed with epilepsy is a life-altering event. Epilepsy does not care your age, your race or time within your life. This condition can happen to anyone. Some are welcomed to the world with epilepsy. Some are introduced to epilepsy at a young age. Some are blindsided at an older age. When diagnosed with epilepsy it is vital to not allow yourself to succumb to anger. To not abandon all of our positive emotions and adopt the negative emotions. Anger is equivalent to quicksand, only dragging you down rather than lifting you up. It’s an easy path to travel that many of us have taken several times. However, the path that puts us to the challenge is the one that motivates us to overcome.

We must recognize and avoid things that cause us to feel angry as we live with epilepsy. What are these things?

• Avoid being angry at people without epilepsy

It’s easy for anger to brew within at anyone and everyone who does not live with epilepsy. However, being angry at people without epilepsy is ineffective. It does no good to stir up anger or take out anger upon those who do not have the condition that you have. You have an opportunity to educate, advocate and possibly help an individual who knows someone living with epilepsy.

• Avoid being angry at family and friends

Family and friends are a diagnosees greatest support. Offering love, care, advice, and freedom from judgment. Living with epilepsy, routine medications, visitations to the doctor, testing, this can be daunting. For some, depending on family and friends to get to and fro, a consistency of questions if you’ve taken your medication or if you’re okay can feel frustrating. Even so, it’s important to remember that there are many blessings to be found, even though the feeling of discouragement lingers. What a blessing to have the love of family and friends. What a blessing to be cared about. What a blessing to be alive.

• Avoid being angry at the doctor who diagnosed you

Certainly, no doctor is thrilled to open the door, look you in the eyes and diagnose you with epilepsy. It’s necessary to be aware in order to take the crucial steps forward toward finding a cure. Too, in order to avoid each trigger that aggravates your seizures. To be left in the dark regarding your condition would simply be cruel. To be given the ability to know all that you can regarding your condition is power in your hands.

• Avoid being angry at yourself

Oftentimes, when diagnosed, some wrestle with many questions within themselves. “Did I do something to cause this to happen?” “Was it because of (fill in the blank) that this has happened?” “Could I have done something different to avoid this?” “I deserve this because I (fill in the blank).” An epilepsy diagnosis is not your fault. Don’t berate yourself with grief, guilt and blame. Doing so plants seeds of sadness, depression and halts you in place along your journey of overcoming. Allowing epilepsy to be the ruler of your life.

• Avoid being angry with life

So often, when diagnosed, many become angry with life. Yearning for normality. Longing for things lost. The ability to drive a vehicle. The ability to work a job. The self-esteem to date. Wellness to start a family with their partner. On and on. The greatest thing one can do is to not lie focus on things lost but things right in front of you and things to come. Most importantly, the fact that you are alive. You are alive to fight back.

There are countless lives that have been silenced at the hands of epilepsy and each of us not only fight for ourselves, we fight for the lives that have been dimmed. For the families and friends who stand alongside around the world. For the doctors and nurses who relentlessly battle back against epilepsy.

Life, though a challenge, is still and will always remain a beautiful and wonderful gift.

Send the negativity of anger that you feel in your epilepsy diagnosis packing and embrace the positivity of optimism, hope, and faith along your epilepsy journey.

If you believe you’re alone today, you’re not. Epilepsy is outnumbered by the sheer number of people who have the desire to put an end to the condition. To help the world have a greater understanding and those diagnosed know that they are the rulers of their lives. Epilepsy does not rule them.