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With Grace and Grit - Life with Chronic Illness

Simple Life Hacks for People With Muscle Weakness

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Life Hacks

Chronic muscle weakness, stiffness and fatigue can reduce your strength and mobility. Try these simple low-cost or no-cost life hacks to make everyday tasks a little bit easier.

Many chronic conditions cause muscle weakness and restricted movement. These include autoimmune diseases such as myositis and myasthenia gravis, both of which can cause difficulty walking up stairs and lifting objects. Similarly, fibromyalgia can cause muscle pain and stiffness, which can affect balance and reduce mobility.

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Keeping Secrets: Why We Don’t Talk About Chronic Illness

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Small sprig of flower buds near vintage lock with two skeleton keys

We want to be accepted for who we are. But many of us are reluctant to talk about our chronic illness. Why do we avoid it?

We’ve all seen the t-shirts. Sometimes they boast a vividly colored ribbon representing a certain type of cancer. Or they announce the name of a specific disease followed by the words “awareness month”. And occasionally, they’re less specific but just as bold: “Proud Owner of a Broken Immune System!”

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When Your Chronic Illness Makes You Feel Useless

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Lonely woman sitting on the shore overlooking the ocean

Inadequate. Weak. Unworthy. Useless. These are just a few of the adjectives that describe emotions we may feel when we are chronically ill or experiencing chronic pain.

It’s not hard to understand why chronic illness makes us feel useless, or at minimum “less than”. After all, we’ve fallen into the fiendish snare of defining ourselves – at least in part – by what we do. It doesn’t matter if those things are related to what we “do” for a living or what we do for pleasure. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Read on for a fail-safe approach to living forward despite your illness.

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How to Take Care of Others When You’re Chronically Ill

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vintage card with uplifted hands holding a heart shape

It’s a role reversal. You’re chronically ill but you need to take care of someone else. It isn’t easy, but it can done. And the best part is that there is something transformative about providing care to others – especially when you are accustomed to having someone take care of you.

In spite of its many variations, the common denominator of all chronic illnesses is their persistent nature – their “chronic-ness“. So we learn to accept living in a state of flux. Sometimes we do it with grace. Other times, our approach is decidedly inelegant. After all, we are trying to find our way through a maze whose pathways lead to barriers we can’t anticipate.

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Half Full: The Hidden Upsides of Chronic Illness

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a glass half full of water surround by lemons, representing the glass half-full/half-empty concept

I never anticipated that I’d find the hidden upsides of chronic illness. If you dig a little deeper you’ll find them, too.

Have you ever been asked if you’re a “glass half empty” or “glass half full” type of person? I’ve never thought of myself strictly in terms of being optimistic or pessimistic. I choose to think of myself as realistic.

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Parenting with Chronic Illness: What you Should Know

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Parenting with chronic illness presents unique emotional and physical challenges. But there are things we can do to help our children – and ourselves – thrive in spite of our illness.

I’m not the mom I’d hoped I’d be. I have – more than once – allowed myself to re-examine the past. And I wonder how I might have parented differently if I hadn’t been ill.

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Three Simple Ways to Offend a Chronically Ill Person

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Cute cloud with lightning strikes on a bright purple background with an offended and angry expression

Family and friends mean well. But sometimes their efforts to make us feel better actually make us feel worse. Here are the top three things not to say to a chronically ill person.

I struggled with the title of this post. I could have gone so many different directions! From the decidedly diplomatic “What Not to Say to Someone who is Chronically Ill” to the definitively assertive “How to Completely Alienate Your Chronically Ill Friend or Family Member in Three Easy Steps.”

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What You Need to Know About Chronic Illness and Employment

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woman appearing stressed sitting at desk with laptop, phone and notebooks

Your job does not define who you are. Here’s what you need to know about chronic illness and employment so that you can make the best choice to honor your health and your heart.

Right or wrong, we’re strongly connected to the work that we do. We allow it to define us, and that’s a mistake. I’ll set the stage: you’re at a party or some type of get-together and you’ve just been introduced to someone.

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Three Things I Wish Doctors Knew

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doctor comforting patient in hospital bed

There are three things that I wish doctors knew – because these are the things that make the good doctors great.

I have a love/hate relationship with the medical profession. I’ll bet I’m not alone. I envy people who see their doctor once a year for an annual check-up, and maybe make the occasional visit for a sinus infection or a rash. I’m not that person. If you’re chronically ill, you’re probably not that person either.

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How to Define Your New Normal When You’re Chronically Ill

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The concept of a new normal, where a situation requires a change to our lifestyle. Presented as a word written in notebook on office desk.

Illness often forces us to change how we live – to find a “new normal”. But there are ways to define your new normal so that you can live well and thrive.

Has anyone told you that you’ll find your “new normal”? I remember thinking about my own “new normal” way back in 2006. I had completed a hell of a long course of treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was in what I like to call the “now what?” phase. The treatment was over. Now what?

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Why You Shouldn’t Compare Your Progress to Others

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The one thing that everyone who’s suffering from a chronic illness wants is to get better. But don’t compare your progress to others – you are unique and your road to healing is unique, too.

We know that our disease can’t be cured, but we hope for and can reasonably expect to manage our disease to some degree – enough to see and feel some level of progress. And the possibility for some level of healing means that there is reason to hope.

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The Grief of Chronic Illness – Mourning More Than the Loss of Our Health

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woman wearing white dress,releasing hand and touching the grass; concept of letting go

The grief of chronic illness extends beyond grief over the loss of our health. We mourn the loss of our place in the world.

We typically think of grief in the context of significant loss, like the death of a loved one. Irreversible. Permanent. Deeply painful. But grief isn’t reserved for that. We can and do grieve other kinds of losses. When we’re chronically ill, we grieve the loss of our health – but we grieve the loss of so much more than that, too.

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