💪I create resources to help people adapt to living with chronic illness so they can thrive.
🪞 Do You Still Recognize Yourself?
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Hi Reader, Somewhere in my first year or two after diagnosis, I caught my own reflection and had this small, strange thought: I don't totally recognize this person. Not dramatic. Just a quiet double-take. Patience running differently. Energy running differently. Even my sense of humor felt rewired somehow, in a way I couldn't fully explain to anyone who hadn't lived it. For a while I tried to fix it, like enough effort could get me back to exactly who I was before. What actually helped was realizing different isn't the same as lost. The version of me that showed up after diagnosis wasn't a lesser copy of the old one. Just further along. Shaped by something real that had actually happened. If you've had that same double-take in the mirror, you're not imagining it. You're not the only one sitting with it either. More soon, |
April Smith | The Thriving Spoonie
💪I create resources to help people adapt to living with chronic illness so they can thrive.
Hi Reader, I want to start this email with a little transparency, because it’s something I value here and something I hope you feel in this community. First, a change to how I’m running the blog. Going forward, I’ll be publishing two new posts a month, plus two updated posts. I’ve been wanting to refresh a lot of my older content anyway, and this gives me a steadier, more sustainable rhythm. You’ll still get fresh content, and your favorite older posts will get a little extra care. Honestly,...
Hi Reader, Can I tell you something? The money side of chronic illness might be the heaviest thing we carry and the thing we talk about least. I know how it feels to put off opening a bill because you do not have the energy to face what is inside. I know the quiet math, the guilt over a smaller paycheck, and the way the holidays can make all of it louder. And I know how lonely it gets when it seems like nobody else is doing that math. You are not bad with money, and you are not alone in this....
Hi Reader, When someone asks how you've been, how much of your answer is edited? I don't mean lying. I mean the quick pass most of us run before we speak: this version for a coworker, that one for the in-laws, the real one for the two or three people who've seen us on a bad day. That editing takes energy, and it's energy we were already short on. I rewrote an older post about chronic illness and identity to get at this. It covers why "don't let your illness define you" can make things...