“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 Love Feels Like A Waste

“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” -Alfred Lord Tennyson “But what is grief, if not love persevering?” -from WandaVision (I haven’t watched it, I just really love this quote) Throughout my life, but especially over the last year or so, I’ve at times felt like my love

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

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

Some Things I Wrote This Week

It’s not uncommon for me to draw from things I and others write on social media to include in my blog or to spur some more thoughts on. So, today, I’ll share some things I’ve shared on social media over the past week.   tw/cw/cn – pet death [about Snowflake, my 14-year-old cat who was

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

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

My Story: Faith and Chronic Illness

TW/CW/CN – chronic illness, religious abuse/trauma, suicide, self-harm   This is a topic I’ve written on before, but I haven’t really gotten into the earlier days of chronic illness for me and how it impacted my faith at the time. I was 12 years old when, on a Friday night in September 2010, on the