A blog on marginal gains in therapy (thanks to Caroline Spring) reminded me of how small changes can lead to big changes, but we often just want to jump ahead to the BIG ONE that’s going to make our lives 100% better.
So much of being disabled is about other people…how they think we should live our lives, what they think is best for our bodies and their fears and fantasies about us.
Finding as many ways as we can to have control and choice is a good way to buffer against the drains and attitudes in society that we cannot easily change.
One example of this is food – so much research is now coming forward on how our gut bacteria influences our physical AND even our mental wellbeing. This is no surprise to us but the supporting research throws up some amazing opportunities for control and choice in this area of our lives too. We may be able to improve symptoms of pain and fatigue as well as low mood and anxiety through what we choose to eat and drink, it’s not going to be a cure all, but it’s fascinating to find out more about how this could be a marginal gain for us.
And there are many other ways we can improve our lives through more control and choice:
We can divert anger about things in society by being more active in the disability community or supporting our disabled friends
We can build resilience by working towards improving our relationships with those around us and finding new friends who are accepting of us.
We can work on personal growth and self esteem through our hobbies and activities through things like mindfulness, relaxation, exercise (even virtual exercise can improve wellbeing!) gardening, being in nature. We can figure out what strengths the disability experience has given us and hone these….
We can improve our wellbeing by working on strategies to not let other’s negative thoughts of disability get us down.
And this is exactly what we aim to do at Spokz People: we enable you to use your disability to your advantage, find meaning in this minority experience and improve your resilience against negativity so that you can find more contentment in your life. Many therapists get stuck at ‘but we can’t fix or change the impairment, what else can we do? Well, lots actually!
Marginal gains, an excellent mantra to say to yourself daily….all the small things together will add up and cause a larger change….
What marginal gains have you made recently? What small changes led to larger ones in your wellbeing?
