How to cope with eczema emotionally?

This article is contributed by health coach Michelle Pang.

As an eczema patient myself, a rash on the skin makes me itchy and uncomfortable. When winter comes, my skin becomes drier, sometimes to the extent where I couldn't sleep. Even worse, I have to go to school or work the next day, my mind and body became so exhausted. Not knowing when it will (ever) heal, I become more and more frustrated.

At times, I didn't want to go out nor communicate with others, it feels like no one can understand me, negativity accumulates over time.

Slowly, I realized that every time my eczema flares up, in addition to physical discomfort, it often comes along with lots of psychological stress. Because of this realization, I wanted to get rid of this negative state of mind. I was thinking - well, eczema will probably come back, what kind of mentality helps? Then I noticed that my mood changed and my whole life was way easier!

I hope you find my following tips useful.

Body signals : are you listening?

When eczema flares up, our body is trying to give us signal. Think about it, is it because there is recently unconscious stress? Are you dealing with mood swings? This is how our body reminds us to be aware of our own state of mind, maybe to take a break - which is critical part of our self-care and self-preservation practices. In order to understand what we are facing and release our suppressed emotions.

Don't let external factors dictate your mind

Sometimes eczema will appear suddenly, it is seemingly unpredictable.  When we cannot avoid those situations, what we can change is our state of mind.  But the mood of many people is easily affected by the external environment, and the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy are almost derived from external factors. Just as every time we have an eczema flare up, our mood is affected, and our emotions fall into downward spiral. Conceivably, it will become a stumbling block for eczema healing, resulting in a vicious circle.  Therefore, we have to learn to transform our state of mind by changing our perception to the environment (eczema).  We should treat each occurrence of eczema as an opportunity, for us to understand ourselves a little more, including physical, mental, stress and so on.  Every time we know ourselves better, it is a worthwhile learning process.

Make peace with eczema

We must also accept ourselves, accepting the fact that it is difficult to get rid of the symptoms right away, and learn to coexist with it. When I see eczema as my "friend", who comes to visit us when our body encounters pressure/environmental changes, I can stay calm, not feel stressed about it,  nor force myself to recover as soon as possible.  It can also help me to be pay attention to our daily routines, examine our own thoughts, our own behaviors, and get rid of eczema eventually.

Eczema does affect our body and mind. Sometimes, just a  shift of one perspective to another, can transform our mind into a peaceful state.