Some people who become chronically ill and/or disabled can point at a calendar at the date when their life changed. For others it is much more gradual. Initially I just thought I was worn out from a busy weekend, then thought maybe I was fighting off a cold, then realized something didn’t seem right but maybe a doctor could fix it, and then eventually, over time, it started to seem like it wasn’t going to go away any time soon. I also keep making connections to brief spells of symptoms at several other times in my life long before things got bad that seem like they could be related, so I can’t really pinpoint exactly when I got sick. What I can do is point at a calendar at the last day I felt good, healthy, energetic. And that day was five years ago today.
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How I “Came Out” About My Chronic Illness on Facebook
I spent a long time thinking about whether to post about my health issues on Facebook or not. What would people say? Would I lose friends? Could it come back to bite me in the butt later? In the end I decided that it was a risk I was willing to take. I was tired of having to explain myself to every person individually and thought this might make that easier. As it turns out, it worked pretty well! Obviously not everyone I know saw it, but I have had interactions with people after they saw the post and I loved that I didn’t have to start the story from scratch.
Another reason I decided to post about it is I saw other friends share challenges they faced (health and otherwise) and found myself grateful for their openness and vulnerability. I thought that if I appreciated their candor so much, perhaps others might appreciate my own.
I did worry that I might get some negative reactions from people, but I haven’t had anyone close to me react negatively, at least not to my face, and if anyone else saw my post and thought badly about me they kept it to themselves. Every reaction shared with me, whether from close friends or people I hadn’t spoken to in years, was positive. [Read more…] about How I “Came Out” About My Chronic Illness on Facebook