Diagnosis can shatter your confidence

Following my post on rebuilding confidence after having a seizure in public, I wanted to make a post about rebuilding confidence following diagnosis.

Because being diagnosed with a potentially chronic condition can change how you feel about yourself.

Your capabilities, your independence, your ambitions, the list goes on.

We evolve over time, confidence isn’t static.

Epilepsy can also be so unpredictable, but owning the label and focusing on what I can control has helped me feel safer in myself and my abilities. #epilepsyawareness #invisibledisability #chronicillness #livingwithepilepsy #wellnessjourney my epilepsy diagnosis made me question who I was and what I was capable of my confidence vanished after one appointment I was an independent, ambitious girl with hopes and dreams epilepsy came out of nowhere.

It didn’t just change my health, it made me question my future I was doubting everything: What’s going to happen to me?

What am I capable of?

Can I be trusted with independence?

I had to stop fighting the label acceptance took me years, but it was the first step in actually changing how I felt about myself owning the label helped take away the power it held over me my diagnosis didn’t define me - it doesn’t describe who I am or my worth I started accepting the proof, not the fear I looked at what I’ve done and what I’ve managed to achieve despite epilepsy every obstacle I overcame showed me that I was capable those small wins built over time into a new, positive picture of myself I realised I had to pivot.

I focused my energy on what I can control I let the right people in, and stopped resisting them when I stopped hiding the diagnosis, I realised that it didn’t change how they felt leaning on support didn’t make me weak or incapable it finally clicked - I was the one stigmatising myself, and I needed to stop that to move forward diagnosis doesn’t define you.

I'm more sure of who I am now than I ever was before the diagnosis.