Description

This one-of-a-kind journal exists to help you reconnect with your sense of self whilst you’re living with a disabling health condition. Each activity is designed to bring you closer to the things that bring you purpose and fulfilment, while never dismissing or minimising the challenges of living with a debilitating chronic illness. As you work your way through the pages, you’ll begin to carve out your own path back to yourself and truly appreciate who you are in this moment – your quirks and intricacies, the moments that bring you joy, how you show up in the world, your hopes for the future, and so much more.

Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness is divided into 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, including my own reflections and lived experiences, followed by unique activities divided into ‘low battery’, ‘medium battery’, and ‘better battery’ questions. They 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 there are some dreamy colouring pages illustrated by Victoria Barron in there too.

You can find out more about Pave Your Way With Chronic Illness in this blog post, but it’s been an absolute joy to bring this book 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 reminds you that this version of yourself, right here and right now, is absolutely flipping brilliant.