Jodie DeLay, who lives with Crohn's disease, describes autoimmune disease and stress like “the chicken and the egg.” Stress can come from or aggravate symptoms, which leads to more stress, which leads to more symptoms. Her first step in dealing with this stress is simply acknowledging it.

“My approach is that when you feel like you’re losing ground mentally or emotionally, give it the same attention you would if you were bleeding,” she says. “Taking care of your mental health matters.”

Jodie is a mother of two and works for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. She has a mantra to help with stress: Grace, grit and gratitude.

“This year has thrown off our plans and expectations,” Jodie says. “Learning to say ‘I can’t control this but it’s okay,’ has been really helpful. Give yourself some grace and move forward.”

Jodie says it’s also important to have grit — courage and strength of character.

“I’ve been beating myself up because I’ve lost a lot of fitness since my gym closed,” she says. “I want to get back to running half marathons. I'm not going to be able to do that tomorrow, but I can in a few months if I get back into a routine now. And that takes grit.”

She practices her third pillar by making time to reflect on the things she’s grateful for.

“It's easy to feel down right now — you can’t go anywhere or see anyone,” she says. “But you can wake up and smell the rain, you can call people you love. I remind myself to be grateful for what I have every day.”

Audrey Fisher Killen, who lives with multiple sclerosis, started 2020 with a new focus: Healing.

“With autoimmune disease, your body is literally fighting itself 24/7,” she says. “So I wanted to focus on ways to heal.”

She didn’t know how relevant that focus would become. When the pandemic hit, like so many of us, she had to deal with the stress of not knowing what tomorrow would bring. She feared losing her job and worried about her family. Audrey is also the founder of Operating Shooting Star, an organization dedicated to advocacy and fundraising for autoimmune disease. She had big plans for fundraising events for the organization's 10-year anniversary — which had to become smaller and move online.

She decided the best way to manage those stressors was to add more things that reduce stress in her life.

“Swimming is a huge therapy for me,” she says. “And I love being around animals. I’ve been spending time at my friend’s farm and even tried yoga with kangaroos.”

Audrey’s key to maintaining mental health is creating a mindset of self-care. This means making time to destress a priority and not feeling guilty about taking time for yourself.

“I block out time for yoga or even to just watch TV and relax,” she says. “I remind myself that self-care isn’t a luxury — it’s important and I need to find time for it.’”