Toxic Positivity in Chronic Illness: Hope Without the Lies
Toxic positivity in chronic illness asks you to fake being fine. You can be hopeful and honest at the same time — and honesty is the only thing that makes hope believable.
Toxic positivity in chronic illness asks you to fake being fine. You can be hopeful and honest at the same time — and honesty is the only thing that makes hope believable.
If you live with chronic illness, you’ve probably been told to “just cope” more times than you can count. The SMART program — Stress Management and Resiliency Training — is an evidence-based approach that actually works with your physiology instead of ignoring it. Here’s what it is, what I got out of it, and whether it might be worth exploring.
A chronic illness flare is a period when your symptoms intensify — sometimes gradually, sometimes overnight, sometimes for reasons you can identify and sometimes for absolutely no reason you can name. And if you live with a chronic condition, you already know that flares don’t politely limit themselves to one system. They pile on.