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When you first get diagnosed, it's hard to be happy. There's definitely an adjustment period to realizing you have a disorder you will have to monitor for the rest of your life to ensure you stay healthy. To keep stress levels lower with this, regular monitoring to give yourself peace of mind that your iron levels are within normal ranges can help. If you have a fear of needles, learning to overcome that or finding coping mechanisms (for me it was getting my dog certified as an ESA so she could go to treatments with me) helps. As I write this, I'm still in the early stages of learning to live with HFE, but I'm sure as time goes on this will just become a new normal and I'll learn to be happy in spite of constant needle pokes and having to make sure I'm taking care of myself.