💪I create resources to help people adapt to living with chronic illness so they can thrive.
☕Why the "morning routine" advice isn't for you
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Hi Reader, Every August the same advice shows up: get your mornings together, build a routine, start the day with momentum. It's aimed at a body that gets to choose what happens next, and that's just not how mornings work when you're managing chronic illness. This week's post is about what actually helps instead. Knowing your non-negotiables, the few things that truly have to happen. Sketching out a full-capacity and a low-capacity version of your morning before you need them. Checking in quickly instead of negotiating at length. Deciding ahead of time what counts as a morning that went okay. And if your mornings move slowly, I want you to know you're not the only one. A lot of people are doing this same quiet math every morning, mostly in private, mostly without saying so out loud. You're not failing at something everyone else has figured out. Talk soon, |
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
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...
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...