Where do you turn when you’re feeling completely alone and you’re convinced no one could possibly understand what your life with chronic illness is like?
My friend and colleague, Laurie Edwards, just published, Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in your twenties and thirties. Not only does she include snippets from her own compelling life story. But she also shares other people’s stories (in full disclosure – she does quote me and I’m way past 30) who live with chronic illness.
I could have used a book like this when I was navigating those years. Many clients, women and men in their 20’s and 30’s, tell me how tough it is to feel that no one you know understands what you deal with on a moment to moment basis. And how isolating it could be … your friend is wondering whether to ask for the big raise and you’re just hoping to make it into work the next day. Or they’re wondering what bar they should go to and you’re hoping there’s a bathroom … and so on.
Laurie manages to cover much of what matters when you’re in this stage of life: the trials and tribulations of dealing with the medical system, what it’s like to be chronically ill in a chronically healthy world, and the challenges of creating personal relationships when you’re chronically unable.
It’s lively and it’s funny and a good read for those of us who don’t feel sorry for ourselves but realize that this isn’t a cakewalk either. Maybe you want to take it as your vacation reading — or just for a day at the beach.
Rosalind aka cicoach.com
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