A health, wellness and chronic illness blog that aims to articulate lifelong illness and disabilities from various perspectives.
Have you ever thought to yourself that it’s not a good day today, and then watch your mind and body spiral downwards helplessly? These feelings are all part of the human experience, no matter age, gender, circumstance, health or wealth. You are not alone. What I hope to illustrate with this post is the humanity […]
Continue reading "Today is Not a Good Day to Make Decisions (and That’s Okay)"
This poem was written during the peak of my struggles with steroids as a teenager, when I was first prescribed them. If you would like to understand a little more about the side effects and how they affected me, the article can be found here: High Dose Steroids: The First Question You Will Definitely Ask. […]
Continue reading "It’s Just One of Those Nights (Poetry on Steroids)"
*Note from A Chronic Voice: Lisa is writing a series of guest posts on the blog on effective methods to cope with chronic illness, principles which she has applied to her own life with success. In this article, she shares how her initial skepticism (and even derision!) about using a gratitude journal turned into an […]
Continue reading "The Value in Seeking Out Moments of Gratitude (and How to do it)"
CLICK HERE to submit your own entry, and to read about what others are up to as well! Budgeting You could budget your energy or your time. As a person with chronic illness, rationing everything in your life is probably the norm rather than the exception. But what I’d like to budget for October are […]
Continue reading "2018 October Prompts: Budgeting, Speeding, Slowing, Evaluating & Escaping"
Welcome to the Second Edition of Book Recommendations for Spoonies! Like the first roundup of book recommendations, these are all books written by people with illnesses themselves, or revolve around related topics. They’re suitable even if you’re a healthy person with no medical issues, and provide many interesting cultural and humane insights from around the […]
Continue reading "Book Recommendations for Spoonies: Part II"
*Note from A Chronic Voice: I’m excited to have Callie on the blog today, as she shares some thoughts about self-identity, both from the perspective of a patient and also as a psychologist. She talks about the emotions many of us experience when first diagnosed with an illness, such as confusion, anger and grief. Often […]
Continue reading "Finding Your Self Behind the Illness (Your Story Isn’t Over Yet)"
*Note from A Chronic Voice: Rose does a beautiful job articulating the struggles with self-worth and self-trust that many of us with chronic illness experience. Society has many pre-conceived, rigid notions of how a person should and shouldn’t be, which can strip away the essence of our humanity. We form stories about ourselves. Read Rose’s […]
Continue reading "The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Prisons or Paths to Freedom"
When Inspiration Becomes the Standard We often tell ourselves or others to ‘be strong’ or to ‘be brave’. Instead of instilling inspiration, these statements can sometimes provoke the opposite effect. It becomes another standard we have to meet, and triggers more ripples of fear. But the fact is, you don’t have to be strong, at […]
Continue reading "You Don’t Have to be Strong, Just a Little Stronger Than Before"
*Note from A Chronic Voice: Angela and I met at a party through our ex-boyfriends (talk about how life goes 😉 ), and I never knew that she suffered from chronic illness too. She was living overseas – which can be especially tough for a spoonie! – and seemed so outgoing. After I started this […]
Continue reading "I May be Chronically Ill, but I’m Also Chronically Resilient"
*This post was first published on chronicillnessbloggers.com, and is being republished here with permission from the editors. *Trigger Warning: Mentions of suicide, suicide ideation, and depression. This article is based on my personal experiences, and is not to be taken as medical advice. This is Just One of Many Methods I Use to Combat Depression […]
Continue reading "Give Your Best Anyway, Even When You’re Feeling Depressed"