I am a sufferer of Crohn's. The good news is they're saying we're only about 5-10 years away from a cure for IBD. The bad news is they were saying that when I was diagnosed about 8 years ago.
Really, it's just a matter of accepting that the way you live your life is going to be different from how other people live theirs. I haven't eaten carrots or steak in years. I know people who love a big, juicy steak and I used to really miss it when I was first diagnosed; nowadays I look at it and it doesn't even look like food to me. I've changed the way I think.
Plan for the fact that you're going to flare up once in a while. I know that I'm going to flare up probably about once every 6 months, with occasional bad days in between. I have a specialist and I know the hours that the local clinic is open, so if I'm sick and have to miss work it's not a big deal to get a note. I have freinds and family and a contingency plan in the unlikely event that I have to be hospitalized. I pay attention to what I eat and buy and when in an unfamiliar setting I always locate the bathroom before doing anything else, just in case.
Colitis is a part of who you are now. Some people have nasty addictions, some people have diabetes, some people have an overbite or a steel plate in their hip or whatever else. You happen to crap blood every once in a while. It helps realizing that you're not alone, you're not some sort of debilitated freak;
everyone has their defects, this just happens to be yours.
It's okay to get a bit pissed off about it sometimes and it's okay to get a bit depressed too. There are things that you could do before that you can't now and that's always hard to accept. Sooner or later though, you just have to accept that this is a part of your life, it's not going away and that it's really not that bad, as far as these things go. With a bit of adaptation, mild to moderate IBD can be lived with. Even severe cases; when I was in high school I had it pretty bad (my duodenum was inflamed, I couldn't eat anything for months at a time) but I managed to make it through. It's not ideal, but it's the hand life dealt me and after a suitable period of bitching and moaning I'm ready to just play it out now.
If you don't have one, definitely find a good specialist. If all your specialist is doing is treating the flare ups with cortisone, I have to question his effectiveness. There are a large number of maintenance drugs out there that will help to keep things under control without the use of steroids and those are always the preferred options. Aside from changing how you look and feel (mood swings anyone?) cortico steroids can have some nasty long term side effects, such as destroying your joints and causing bone density loss. They should be the last resort, not the first.
And get yourself a good book on the subject to read up on it. My mum bought
Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis by Dr. Fred Saibil shortly after I was diagnosed and it really helped us both to know exactly what this illness is and what to expect.