01/09/2026
This gorgeous little visitor landed on my table while I was having coffee the other day… and apparently had no problem posing for a photo. 😂🦜
It was such a small thing, but it made me ridiculously happy.
And it reminded me of something I've been thinking about a lot lately as I work through the edits of my book.
💚 Living well with chronic illness cannot mean waiting until you feel well to start living.💚
When you live with an illness that may not conveniently disappear, it's very easy to start thinking:
I'll do that when I have more energy.
I'll enjoy myself when I'm feeling better.
I'll get back to my life when my health settles down.
Except sometimes… it doesn't.
I've had to learn that living well isn't necessarily about feeling well every day.
It's about learning how to create a good life ‘within the capacity you have today’.
Some days that capacity is high. 🥳
Some days it's ridiculously low. 😕
But even on the low-capacity days, there can still be little pockets of life, a coffee somewhere you love, a conversation, sitting in the sunshine, laughing at something ridiculous… or having a very photogenic parrot unexpectedly join you for coffee. 🦜
That's one of the ideas I keep coming back to as I edit NO DAYS OFF.
A low-capacity day doesn't have to be a wasted day or a failed day.
Sometimes living well looks like doing more.
Sometimes it looks like deliberately doing less.
And sometimes it's simply being present enough to notice the good thing that's happening right in front of you.
If you live with chronic illness, what's one small thing that can still make a difficult or low-energy day feel like a good day? I’d love to hear from you
Michelle 💗