Finding a New Normal: Happiness & Satisfaction in a Life with Chronic Illness

Once again, I have not been able to write much here on the blog because I am still very severely crashed, for over a month now. In fact, these past two weeks have been even worse than before, which is discouraging. I still have no idea what caused this sudden worsening, though I have been working with my ME/CFS specialist to try a few new treatments.

If you're a regular reader, you know that I normal function fairly well, thanks to treatments, and that crashes--from both over-exertion and from infectious triggers--are usually pretty rare for me now. A crash this bad and lasting this long hasn't happened to me in many years, since the very early years of my illness. So, I continue to "rest aggressively," enjoy some books, and watch a lot of old Grey's Anatomy episodes!

Luckily, last month, before this crash, I wrote two guest posts for other blogs that have recently been published, so I'm sharing those here with you today, sitting up for ten minutes before I return to my usual horizontal position.

The Despite Pain blog is written by Liz, who writes a wide variety of helpful, informative, and inspirational blog posts. Be sure to check out the rest of her blog. My guest post, Finding a New Normal, can be read at the link, and you can find the rest of Liz's blog's features in the menus there.

I also wrote a guest post for My Rockin' Disabled Life blog, hosted by Sarah. She often features guest posts by other chronic illness writers, to highlight a wide variety of different chronic conditions and disabilities. I was honored to be included! My post there is called Finding Happiness and Satisfaction in a Life with Chronic Illness. You can read my post at the link, then explore the rest of Sarah's blog.

Both of those guest posts include practical tips, adapted from my book, Finding a New Normal: Living Your Best Life with Chronic Illness.

And now, I'm going to take my own advice: accept where I am today, lie down to listen to my body, and find some small joys in the lovely fall breeze coming through the open window, a hot cup of fragrant lemon herbal tea, and ... perhaps another episode of Grey's Anatomy to make me smile!