How to be happy with chronic illness & the big reason you need to embrace it
I was playing Wordle the other morning. I have a thing going with my friends where we tell each other how many attempts it took us. These check-ins are more a quick and fun way to connect; I really don’t care if it's taken me all 6 tries, or if I don’t get it at all.
The enjoyment of Wordle, for me, is in getting my brain to work in a different way, the excitement of wondering whether this will be the word of the day, that connection with my friends each day and the humour of, so often, not being able to see what’s staring me right in the face!
For me, 9.9 times out of 10, the results of a thing come second to the experience.
But for some reason, I forgot to remember that when it came to my chronic illness, my life, and the way I was going about healing. Until one morning, it hit me.
I was watching life pass me by, so focussed on becoming healed, so convinced that I didn’t deserve to fully embrace, enjoy or experience life until I had ‘succeeded’ at this whole healing game.
I made the decision that no matter how my chronic illness manifested itself, I was no longer going to chase the state of being ‘healed’, because I needed so badly to start living again.
I also knew that completely disregarding my chronic illness wasn’t the way to go; none of this ‘doing it despite my chronic illness’ malarkey.
I had a strong feeling that there could be another way, but it was going to be a leap of faith.
When we choose the journey, when we choose to immerse ourselves in experience, results follow.
But when we choose results, so blinkered are we, we often sacrifice experience. Which, in the context of aiming for ‘healed’ in life with chronic illness, means sacrificing the journey and experience of life itself.
The desire to heal makes sense. Of course it does! But in today’s mainstream society - where we’ve been tricked into believing we’re broken, less than and need fixing - healing has become a goal; a result we need to achieve in order to become humans worthy of joy, happiness, fulfilment, and fully experiencing life. That all gets put on the backburner of then and when.
The experience of healing has been lost, and for so many, the experience of life along with it.
My journey to figuring out how I could embrace my life and my chronic illness led me to create Your Chronic Illness Ally.
Your Chronic Illness Ally is a chance to take back the experience of healing, and the experience of living, without feeling like you’re letting go of results, feeling better and becoming healthier.
In guiding and supporting you as you rebuild and reconnect to yourSelf, it shows you how you can have both experience and results. Aka, it shows you how you can heal, without having to sacrifice life on the way there.
Because you are worthy of life no matter the severity or state of your chronic illness. You don’t need to heal first.
Your Chronic Illness Ally is for you if;
You’ve reached a point of ‘no more’, feeling like whatever happens next, your biggest desires are to feel alive again and reconnect with yourself outside of your chronic illness.
You’re feeling the need to revisit the foundations of self-concept, uncover some new layers around why you feel the way you feel about yourself, and show love to the parts of you that are calling for it.
You want to shake the status-quo of living with chronic illness because you know it’s not serving you.
You’re ready to take the next step in seeing your chronic illness as your guide, ally and superpower.
Your chronic illness takes up way too much of your brain space and gets in the way of you living life…you know you want more than that.
You want to make a shift/take a leap in your life, and want to work with your chronic illness, allowing it to help you get there.
If you're ready for all of that and more, click here and open yourself to life with your chronic illness as your ally.
I’m Alana, Chronic Illness Coach, Writer and Podcaster
After 10 years of trying to fix, fight and ‘cure’ my chronic illness, I decided to chuck away the rule book and instead embrace my chronic illness as my guide, ally and superpower… and I’ve never been happier or healthier!
