Chronicles of the Chronically Ill

[flame-shadow]

hey did you know??? that if you stop stretching and maintaining mobility in your body then it goes away?? things get tight and you can't move the way that you used to??? and when you decide to try getting a stretch routine going that the first week fucking sucks because you keep going 'damn i used to be able to do this no problem' and then you have to switch gears and be kind to yourself and just focus on getting better from here instead of berating yourself for dropping the good habits in the first place??? and your body never stops aging so you gotta keep taking care of it and sometimes you gotta take care of it extra in certain areas because of things that happened when you were younger and it's boring and sometimes hurts but it's so necessary???

i am yelling this at myself right now i am going through An Experience (trying to get into a routine of body maintenance again for my physical and mental health)

[fucking-relax]

oh, Sisyphus! i got you

[iufyfitfcjgcjgc]

It’s even harder when you have chronic pain, chronic fatigue and probably long covid.

[the-breaking-point-sound]

I tried seniors tai chi and it left me in tears. Kms

[whatshouldwecallchronicillness]

When my brain decides it's a Bad Food half way through chewing...

[youngchronicpain]

Say it with me, kids, "I do not deserve this pain. I am in chronic pain due to forces outside of my control. I should not have to earn pain relief. I am good. I do not deserve to be shamed for my pain. It is not my fault."

[roughwaterwriting]

[deathtripping]

who will love me through all of this if not myself

[dailydivergent]

There’s no such thing as work-life balance for neurodivergent & chronically ill people.

This is because everything in my life requires work:

maintaining friendships

keeping up with my hygiene

managing bills

making money

remembering my basic needs

sleeping regularly

outputting creatively

All requires some aspect of work for me.

And when everything in your life requires work, your balance goes out the window.

If you're neurodivergent and overwhelmed — I see you.

If you're chronically ill and overwhelmed — I see you.

You're not dysfunctional.

You're not incapable.

You're doing your best.

[selfcare-journey]

Slow down, it's ok. Very few things in life are absolute

Deadlines can be flexible, career paths are flexible, relationships become close and far and close again, it's all going to be ok

[holymagdalenes]

"There's no hope for the future." And that's how they felt during the Atomic Age, during the World Wars, during the Enlightenment Revolutions, during thr plagues, during the Viking raids, during the fall of Rome.

Yet, we persisted.

[ave-immaculata]

[uncle-mojave]

[homovampirism]

Reminder:

[wheelchairtetris]

[Image id: a two panel comic meme. The first panel is hands holding a pill bottle that says "hard to swallow pills". The second panel is someone holding pills labeled "health and personal hygiene practices are not reflective of a person's morality." End ID]

[recomvery]

Your recovery is not erased because you had a setback. You are not starting over at 0. You already learned a lot. Keep going.

[furiousgoldfish]

only time you have to convince yourself it’s “not that bad” is when the option of escaping is already ruled out and you have to find a way to keep living like that

[bebsi-cola]

your time is worthwhile if your disability means you have to rest most of the time. if you can only do a few events a month, or a year, that's alright. if you need to sleep a lot, lie down a lot, that time isn't wasted. it doesn't make your experiences any less meaningful. feeling like you're missing out on different activities doesn't make the ones you do any less worthwhile. being disabled and restricted in activities doesn't make you boring or diminish your worth. there's no threshold for things you have to do to "really experience life" - you experience it by being alive. and every disabled life is a life that's worthwhile

[thesensethatyouchoose]

Me, reading The Body Keeps the Score:

[a-sip-of-milo]

I understand feeling like you've got no time to take care of your mental and physical health. I understand feeling like there's more important things to be worrying about.

But if you don't choose to do it, your body will eventually force you to. It will be at the most inconvenient time, it will stop you from doing those other important things all together and you will feel like utter shit.

So please, put yourself above the important stuff before you can't physically do it due to neglecting a huge aspect of yourself.

[virgo-79]

Denying yourself small joys doesn't do anything to help injustice or pain in the world. There's not some psychic reservoir somewhere where all of our collective attention and energy gets stored, where tapping into it to watch a show or read a book or go for a walk to see nature instead of news for a while siphons empathy away from terrible instances of crisis and tragedy.

Let yourself have little joys, and recognize that they matter. You're not going to single-handedly heal mass atrocities or resolve them any faster by denying yourself a break from horror. All you'll do is exhaust yourself.

[fibro-memes]

I feel this in my soul.

[atticollateral]

I love being disabled/chronically ill because I'll get this random burst of energy - and I never learn - and I go "ooh, ooh! I can do things now! Yippee!" So I do all the things that need to be done (yet I never seem to actually get everything done...) And I go "aw fuck..." And I'm out of commission for two weeks. TWO OF EM!!! ASININE I TELL YOU.