While I’ve spent over a decade trying to accept & prioritize caring for my disabilities… I’m finally processing how difficult this year’s many new, unexpected, and worsening symptom experiences have been.
I think that’s why, when I was looking for a resource I could offer alongside this image, The Thriving Spoonie’s “Burnout With Chronic Illness: Why It Isn’t a Phase” hit me so hard:
You keep showing up because you have to. You adapt because there isn’t another option. And over time, exhaustion stops feeling like a temporary setback and starts feeling like your baseline.
Burnout becomes especially difficult to recognize when it’s woven into survival. You adjust expectations. You compensate where you can. You normalize being depleted. And because you are still technically functioning, it’s easy to miss how much this way of living is costing you until your body forces a reckoning.
Please take care, however you need.
I’m sending you lots and lots of love.
– n