Living with incontinence can take a toll on one’s emotional well-being and mental health. From unexpected leaks to odors, someone living with incontinence may feel embarrassed about their condition. However, it is good to remember that feelings are transient and change through the day-to-day. 

How can incontinence affect someone’s emotional well-being?

Incontinence leaks can be embarrassing and time consuming to clean up. Many individuals living with incontinence may feel embarrassed about their condition. This may result in them avoiding social gatherings to avoid any future instances of embarrassment.

Tips on Maintaining a Positive Mental Outlook When Living with Incontinence

Happiness, like any other emotion we feel, is largely a state of mind that we choose to experience. If we are not feeling content, we can change our perspective of the world around us and become more happy—by becoming more grateful, less judgmental, and more patient.

There are a variety of ways to stay upbeat and enjoy your days. It is important to remember these pillars of self-awareness and perception of your condition.

Love Yourself. You can’t love others until you love yourself. Be accepting of the things that you cannot change. Take care of yourself, especially your health. Be kind to others.

Speak positively about yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. If you are experiencing incontinence leaks and may be embarrassed around your friends or family, you need to remind yourself that bladder leaks is a common medical condition. 

Enjoy. Life is meant to be enjoyed. Find ways to enjoy your life! Enjoy the warmth of the sun. List what you’re grateful for. Spend time in nature. Smell the fresh air. Notice the good in others and ignore the bad. Find the bright side of not-so-great situations. Laugh at life. 

Live in the moment. Do not focus on the struggles you face living with incontinence. There are products that can help absorb urinary leaks such as disposable underpads, reusable incontinence underwear, sanitary pads, and more. 

Commit. Commit to activities you plan to accomplish. For example, if you want to practice kegel exercises in order to help maintain your pelvic floor muscles, you should honor that commitment. By doing so, you are helping improve your incontinence and make life easier by being able to control your bladder urges. 

Experience. We’re often so distracted with what happened earlier or what is going to happen next that we totally miss what’s going on right now. Go travel. Be courageous. Take a hike. Staying active can help improve symptoms of incontinence. Make more time for you by having incontinence supplies delivery set-up. This saves you time from having to go to the store.

Be present—it’s the only thing that’s real. Use each of your senses to experience what’s going on around you—the sounds, the people, the smells, the beauty—and how your body feels with each breath, each movement and the thoughts that arise within. 

San Pablo Commercial is a family-owned, small business with a mission to deliver affordable medical supplies to their customers. We offer a variety of incontinence products including SPC underpads, bed mats for children, tuckable bed protectors for potty training, and disposable bed pads for incontinence. We also offer an automatic delivery subscription for every 1, 2, or 3 month delivery. We ship directly to our customer’s home within 2 to 3 business days. We care deeply about our customers and want to make ordering incontinence supplies easier so that they can spend less time cleaning up spills and messes.