The challenges of dating can be amplified when you're living with a chronic illness or disability.

Catastrophizing is thinking the worst possible outcome will happen and is related to anxiety and depression.

The observer self can help you get mental distance from unhelpful thoughts and make values-based choices based on a more complete sense of self, not based on what one small part of your experience may be telling you to do.

Most of us don’t like the feeling of pain, yet it is possible to be in pain and not experience suffering. Suffering arises when we do not accept pain and respond to pain with resistance. This creates a struggle with pain that can lead to becoming stuck in it.

Our thoughts and feelings influence our behavior (and vice versa), and if you believe you can achieve a goal, you are more likely to put in the work to achieve it.

Perseverance is the ability to be persistent even when things are difficult, or there is no immediate success—in other words, to keep going. Perseverance can help you reach a meaningful goal, is an important predictor of achievement, and is a way to build self-confidence and a sense of capability.

It is natural to want to avoid unpleasant or uncomfortable feelings and physical sensations, to think of them negatively, or to try to make them go away. For example, if I feel embarrassed, I might think, “I hate feeling this way.” Or, if I feel anxious or am in physical pain, I might think, “This feels awful. I need it to go away.”

Mental health is comprised of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It forms part of your overall mood, how you think, feel, and behave. Research demonstrates a strong relationship between mental and physical health, both of which are important components of our overall health.

Emotional reactivity refers to the frequency and intensity of emotional arousal. It includes the threshold and ease with which someone becomes emotionally aroused and the intensity of emotional experiences. For example, someone who becomes irritable very quickly and easily and experiences high irritability may be emotionally reactive.