I am so excited to announce Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness, my brand-new book! Keep on reading to find out all about it and how to get your copy…

This self-discovery journal is a companion to How To Do Life With A Chronic Illness, and it’s full to the brim with unique guided activities to help you reconnect with your identity alongside managing a life-altering health condition. The journal is released on 19th June and you can pre-order your copy now from wherever you like to get your books. EEEEK!

Pre-order your copy on Waterstones*

Pre-order your copy on Amazon*

Pre-order your copy on Bookshop.org*

[ad] Links marked with * are affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission on any orders placed via these links, at no extra cost to you!

Mind if I tell you a bit more about this journal and how it came about?

Rediscovering Your Identity

I’ve always struggled with the ‘don’t let your disability define you’ narrative. As somebody with M.E., my disability affects every waking moment of my day. It influences each and every decision I make, it’s hugely impacted my relationships with others, and having lived with the symptoms since I was a teenager, it’s played a massive role in shaping the person I’ve become as an adult. I don’t ‘let’ my disability define me – it does that all on its own.

Don’t get me wrong, of course I don’t want my condition to be my entire identity. After all, there’s so much more to me than my diagnoses alone. However, sometimes the things that make me feel most like ‘me’ seem as though they’re so deeply buried under debilitating symptoms and ableism in the world around us that it can be hard to keep sight of them. And I’d be willing to bet that might resonate with you too.

It was this very struggle that prompted me to create my new journal, Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness. I wanted to produce a resource that would provide a safe space for you to reconnect with your unique sense of self, while never dismissing or minimising the challenges of living with a disabling health condition. Throughout the pages, I’ve endeavoured to create an outlet where we can find our way back to ourselves and appreciate who we are – our quirks and intricacies, the moments that bring us joy, how we show up in the world, our hopes for the future, and so much more.

As with How To Do Life With A Chronic Illness, I’ve chosen not to focus purely on the medical aspects of living with a health condition. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great symptom trackers and medication recording methods out there and they definitely have their place. However, when the opportunity came about to create this journal, I knew that I wanted to lean into the more personal and social elements of life as a disabled person. These things are so crucial to quality of life when you have an energy limiting condition, and yet are still so often omitted from the conversation. I really hope this book helps to change that.

About This Journal

Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness is divided into the following six sections:

• Let’s Talk About You, reflecting on your personal identity alongside chronic illness.
• Life Looks Like This, exploring your current way of living and the routines and habits that serve you well.
• Be Your Own Hero, considering our preferred communication styles and how we can advocate for ourselves while managing our symptoms.
• Create Your Happy Place, contemplating the things that bring you joy in life and how we might make them more central to our day-to-day environment.
• Your Social Circle, reflecting on your relationships with others and how we can nurture strong bonds in a fatigue-friendly way.
• Thoughts For The Future, exploring our personal hopes and preferences about how we want to spend our limited energy and how we might set compassionate goals for ourselves.

Each section begins with a couple of pages to read, where I share some of my own reflections and lived experiences relating to each topic. This is followed by activities divided into ‘low battery’, ‘medium battery’, and ‘better battery’ questions. We all have different illness severities and energy envelopes, but you may find the low battery sections feel more doable during the times you’re wading through brain fog, whereas the ‘better’ battery questions may feel most fulfilling on one of your calmer symptom days. Our capabilities can vary day-by-day, but I chose to use the term ‘better battery’ instead of ‘full battery’ as I’m sure I won’t be the only one who can no longer remember what that feels like!

There’s also no specified timeframe for completing the journal or any commitment to return to it daily, although I’d recommend completing the sections chronologically to get the most out of it. You can work your way through at a pace that suits you, and I’d recommend really indulging in the experience – if you can, silence your phone and put any distractions to one side, and make yourself a lovely big cup of your favourite hot drink. I’m already excited to settle down under a blanket with my journal, an array of coloured pens, and a nice mug of tea by my side. Absolute heaven.

I’ve really endeavoured to make sure the activities in this book are a good and fulfilling use of our valuable energy, and that they don’t feel forced, tokenistic, or cringey. I won’t give away too much, but some of the activities inside include ‘this or that’ questions, spaces to design your dream pyjamas and bedroom set-up, creative prompts to doodle your access needs, zones to record the things that bring you joy, word-searches and time capsules, and perhaps most excitingly of all (in my humble opinion)… colouring in pages. The journal is illustrated by the brilliant Victoria Barron and you’ll find beautiful designs to colour in and places to doodle and customise scattered throughout. Ever since the journal went into production I’ve been counting down the days until I could get my hands on those pages and start colouring in. If you order a journal for yourself, you probably won’t need three guesses to work out which design is my favourite…

It’s been an absolute joy to bring Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness into the world. Above all else, I hope it provides a safe and enjoyable space for you to reflect on your way of life and your authentic ‘you-ness’, and that it reminds you that this version of yourself, right here and right now, is absolutely flipping brilliant.

Creating this journal was made possible by the success of my previous book published by JKP in 2024, How To Do Life With A Chronic Illness. The whole experience was a dream come true for me, and finding out that the self-narrated audiobook made Audible’s Best Of The Year list was an utterly surreal moment. It means so much to know that How To Do Life resonated with so many people, and I hope this new journal is able to make a similar impact too.

Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness is available to pre-order now from wherever you like to get your books, and wow, I’m sitting here typing this now and it’s all starting to feel VERY real. If you’ve found yourself on this page or you champion my work online, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for your continued support. You’re genuinely helping me to pave my own way forward, and it means more than you know. Thank you, for everything.

Will you be purchasing a copy for yourself or a loved one? If you do, I really hope you enjoy it!

Pre-order your copy on Waterstones*

Pre-order your copy on Amazon*

Pre-order your copy on Bookshop.org*

[ad] Links marked with * are affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission on any orders placed via these links, at no extra cost to you!