“healthy” isn’t the same for everyone

Trigger warning for talking about weight loss/gain. In the fall of 2017, when I was 19 years old, I lost a lot of weight. I was on a medication for chronic migraine that was working well at first, but did come with a lot of side effects — including weight loss. I didn’t mind the

when rest is difficult

I am neurodivergent, disabled, and chronically ill. Based on the Myers-Briggs and Enneagram personality typing tools, I’m an INFJ and 9w1. I grew up in conservative white evangelical Christianity. And I want to take about rest today, as it has been necessary but hard lately. Those things may not seem very related or intertwined; but

Stop Using Ableism To Defend Your Politics

This is an excellent article (that I believe the author still updates from time to time, though I could be mistaken) that explains what some ableist terms are, replacements that aren’t offensive or discriminatory, and why the terms are ableist. I’ve referred back to it multiple times personally, and recommend it often to others when

Ten Years

Being chronically ill impacts every area of life. It has touched my productivity levels and involvement in school, in jobs, in volunteer work, in churchgoing, in family gatherings, just to name a few things. There are a lot of feelings wrapped up in this day & this month for me. There were definitely times I

I Wasn’t Looking for a Side A Church

http://www.comingout4christians.net/side-a-side-b-primer.html explanation of Sides A & B if you’re unfamiliar with these terms  Side A: LGBTQIA+ affirming, anti-conversion therapy Side B: LGBTQIA+ non-affirming, anti-conversion therapy Side X: LGBTQIA+ non-affirming, pro-conversion therapy —————————————————————————————————————————————– I wasn’t looking for a Side A church. I’ve been in Side B and Side X environments my whole life. While many of the

Progress

I had a neurologist appointment this week. I’ve come to expect, through almost ten years of being chronically ill, that doctor appointments can come with their own emotions. Relief and validation when after countless appointments and tests, an answer is found. Exhaustion and disappointment when “we can’t find anything wrong with you”. Sadness when a

Life As A Sick Person

One of the conversations I regularly take part in, both in online and offline interactions, is about chronic illness and disability. A recent tweet I saw sparked the thoughts for this blog post – it was a person asking how phrases like “you let the pain win too much” affect various disabled/chronically ill people, especially

When Rest Is Elusive

I have been exhausted lately. It’s not like it’s unexpected or unusual for me. Fatigue has often been a part of my life since I became chronically ill as a 7th grader. Some days I’m more tired than others, but it’s always there, as with my other chronic illnesses/chronic illness symptoms. I don’t always have

Politics: My Previous Avoidance, And Current Engagement

If you know me in real life, you probably know that for a long time, any kind of remotely political discussion (or any discussion of anything remotely controversial, for that matter) was very stressful for me. I want to explain why that was, and why even though it still can be stressful for me, I’m

Your Faith Is Valid

If at this moment you only have the capacity/time/energy to read one article, please read Kyle’s that I’ve linked below. Christians repeatedly and notoriously invalidate the faith of many minorities, including disabled people and LGBTQ+ people, but also BIPOC. I’m more aware of/educated on this being directed towards disabled people and LGBTQ+ people, but in