Human beings are evolutionary by nature. We evolve to grow, learn, explore, and to have an adventure, even within the small moments of our day-to-day life. But, when you are dealing with a skin disorder that is unpredictable and uncertain, it gets scary. Justifiably, the fear of the not knowing how much vitiligo is going to affect you tomorrow can make you stop living your life to the fullest and stress out. Whenever you spot a person with extensive vitiligo, you get afraid of what you don’t know.
However, no matter how scary it gets, it’s important to understand that there’s a price to pay for living with a fear of the unknown. Fear leads to anxiety, which works like a bleaching agent in vitiligo.
Understand that beneath that vitiliginous skin lays a human being. With or without vitiligo, looking forward to tomorrow is essential for your achievement and fulfillment of your life. Besides, stressing out over things you can’t control hasn’t done any good to anyone. Read on as we unlock seven ways to help you move past the fear of the unknown and uncertainty in vitiligo.
1. Think reasonably
It might sound like a little dark and gloomy to say that there is no certainty in life. In fact, certainty is a mental illusion that we create to make ourselves feel better. Ask anyone who’s had his/her life change in an instant. Circumstances change beyond what we perceive. Start to realize that you don’t know what tomorrow holds, you don’t know what the next hour holds, you don’t have control over others, and you indeed don’t have control over vitiligo. But, you have control over your energy, your choices, your actions, your way of interacting with the world. Knowing this shouldn’t be sad; it shouldn’t be scary, but liberating.
2. Visualize you breaking barriers
Imagine that you’re standing in the small, restricting, tight, little circle where you can’t move. Within this circle, it’s all very safe, familiar and comfortable. Now, look out when you visualize yourself feeling getting suffocated in this circle. Nothing outside feels known, but getting out of the ring seems liberating.
Now, see this circle and outside world in relation to past and future. Living in the past is as choking as living in that circle. You would want to choose future, even at the expense of not knowing anything.
3. Move towards your goals
All of us have dreams and goals to achieve in life. Start working towards them. Very soon you will find reasons to live and look forward to tomorrow. If you think you don’t have a goal to achieve (which is almost impossible), learn a new skill or sign up for a hobby based activity. Soon enough, you will sleep each night to evolve in that particular skill or hobby the next day. The fear of the unknown will be gone, and you will wake up with a new focus.
4. Watch what is stopping you
Carefully watch your thoughts and identify things that limit your vision regarding tomorrow. It is strange stares in vitiligo or unkind remarks. Is it bullying at school or the fear of having panic attacks (it is a real fear) while going out in public. Write the problem(s) down for further introspection. There isn’t a single problem in this world that can’t be resolved by talking to your loved ones. All you need is their assurance and guidance to tackle a specific blocker.
5. Revisit your bucket list
Make a mind map of what you want to do in a month’s time. List all action items, which have been there in your bucket list. Attempting to tick off planned activities and adventures one by one will help you live each day to the fullest and look forward to tomorrow.
6. Acknowledge your aspiration to live
You had this fear yesterday, but here you are waking up again to a new reality. Acknowledge that you want to open yourself up to exciting possibility and being willing to live with the uncertainty of not necessarily knowing what’s going to happen next. It’s going to be you who will achieve your goals in the uncertainty and emerge as a winner.
7. Pat on your back for doing great
Pat yourself on the back every day and say “look at me, I’m fine and I’ve nudged the edges and my vision towards life is now broader. It’s no more restricted to the size of my vitiligo patches. I’ve made the unfamiliar familiar.” Do this every day and repeat this process over and over and over, until the fear of unknown vanishes. Here are some more affirmations for your vitiligo journey.
