5 Healthy Habits I’ve Developed Because of Asthma

My friend Kelly Kunik over at Type2Diabetes.com recently wrote an article called 6 Good Habits I’ve Developed Thanks to Diabetes. Before I even started reading, thoughts started tumbling through my head of positive things I do for my health that likely wouldn’t be the case if not for my asthma—I quickly sent Kelly a Facebook message asking if I could “steal” her topic idea, and fortunately she said yes because I’d already started writing!

Healthy changes… because of asthma

1. Have—and regularly see—a family doctor. Because of my asthma I need to have a doctor—and because of my other medical issues, I have several specialists too. But as a byproduct of my asthma, in particular, I found a family doctor (even if it was a bit late where my asthma was concerned), and that helped some when I’ve had other medical issues develop.
2. Exercise (at least sometimes). The reality is, if it weren’t for my asthma, connecting with my friend Steve, and getting involved online, I probably wouldn’t even exercisesometimes. Because of my asthma, I found myself getting active, with a degree in kinesiology, and with more friends who are good (active) influences on me. I never would’ve thought that 11 years ago!
3. Consider nutrition (again, at least sometimes) This is really just a byproduct of being more active than I might otherwise be—for whatever reason, on days where I exercise, it is a huge motivator to improve my otherwise semi-brutal 7-year-old-esque food choices. After all, I can still choose strawberries over cookies or chips when satisfying my inner 7 year old’s palate. (And strawberries are delicious.)
4. Focus on embracing the good things. Certainly there are things that are harder to do with asthma, but harder does not mean they are not worth it! Living with a chronic illness like asthma means, so long as I keep my focus on it, I get a lot better at focusing on the good things—even if that’s just comparatively good! While my positivity came into my life before my friend Jay did, I certainly have him to thank for the phrase “good things” and everything it encapsulates for me.
5. Mostly excellent self advocacy skills. While this is in part mainly due to a series of unfortunate healthcare experiences, I’ve developed a slew of self-advocacy skills that I’m (usually) not afraid to whip out when I need them—although, sometimes my brain needs to work a little faster to catch up! Self-advocacy skills are something that I don’t believe you can ever perfect (because some sort of wrench is always going to be thrown into the works!), but I’ll settle for my “mostly excellent” self-advocacy skills. And, well, even when they’re lacking in excellence… they’re a whole lot better than they were!

While some would say having asthma makes me less healthy, I like to think I’m actually healthier because of my asthma—and definitely healthier than I would be had I not developed asthma! I am sure there are other ways my asthma makes me healthier than I would have been otherwise, too.

What healthy habits have you developed because of your asthma?