When it comes to planning for the future, talking to family and friends about your multiple sclerosis (MS) can be challenging, but it can have many benefits.
Family and friends are important people to you and speaking with them about concerns for the future can help people know what is going on for you and how you feel.
It can also let people know the difference between what is important ‘to’ you and what is important ‘for’ you. This can be important to talk about as it can identify what matters ‘to you’, rather than focussing on what’s the matter ‘with you’.
Talking about MS can be difficult for some people, whether that’s because it is an emotive topic, or it feels like people don’t ‘get it’, or it could be that you find it hard as you would rather continue in life as you would always have done. Understanding MS with its variable nature can be difficult, the more you talk to those around you, the more they will understand how you feel.
Open conversations can help share the load and it can help family and those closest to you to be involved in decisions you want to make and your reason for making those decisions.
If communicating is tough but you really want to make it work, you can set ground rules to help avoid conflict or potential difficulties.
Setting ground rules does not mean that your family conversations need to be formalised, but it can mean that everyone involved is included.
Making time and space to talk regularly and keeping your ground rules simple can lead to the successful communication you really want. For example, your ground rules might be to switch devices off, don’t talk over anyone, listen to others, digest what’s been said before responding and make sure everyone gets to take a turn.
