💪I create resources to help people adapt to living with chronic illness so they can thrive.
Letting go isn't the same as giving up 🕊️
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Hey Reader, I want to talk about a specific kind of guilt this week: the one that shows up right after you decide to stop expecting something of yourself that your body can't deliver anymore. If you've ever lowered a standard for your work, your plans, or your recovery timeline, and immediately felt like you'd given up rather than adjusted, this post is for you. I break down why that reaction happens, what the old expectation was actually protecting underneath the surface, and a few concrete steps for releasing it without the free fall. I also talk about where EFT tapping fits into this. Letting go isn't just a mental decision. The resistance to it lives in the body too, and tapping is one of the more practical tools I've found for processing that in the moment, instead of white-knuckling through it. If this is where you are right now, you can read the new post here: Take care of yourself this week, |
April Smith | The Thriving Spoonie
💪I create resources to help people adapt to living with chronic illness so they can thrive.
Hi Reader,A reader reached out and let me know the link to the blog post wasn't working - sorry about that! I've fixed the error and you can access the post now through this link:Letting Go of Expectations With Chronic Illness Without Feeling Like You're Giving Up Thanks for your patience and understanding, April SmithWebsite | Facebook | Bluesky | Pinterest
Hi Reader, A while back, someone asked me the question everyone asks: "So what do you do for fun?" I opened my mouth and nothing came out. The honest answer had become "manage my body," and I knew that wasn't the answer she wanted. I stood there running through a mental list of things I used to enjoy, trying to figure out which ones were still true. That gap between the version of myself I could still name and the version I could actually live is where this week's post lives. Not the grief of...
Hi Reader, I want to tell you about a kind of grief I didn't have a name for until pretty far into this journey. It's not grief for my health, exactly. It's grief for a person who was already in motion before I got sick. Someone with a trajectory. Plans that made sense. A version of themselves they were actively becoming, one ordinary year at a time. Chronic illness didn't just interrupt that person's plans. It asked me to let them go entirely, without ever asking permission first. For a long...