Chronic Illness - The Energy Economy: When Every Goal Has a Price
People with chronic illness live inside an economy most others never see — an economy where the currency is energy, and the supply is both finite and unpredictable.
Every task has a cost. Not an emotional cost, not a motivational cost — a literal physical cost.
Things that look small from the outside — making a phone call, attending a meeting, running an errand, answering a message — may require the kind of budgeting other people reserve for major projects. You don’t “just” do them. You plan for them. You weigh them. You decide whether the return is worth the expenditure.
This changes the shape of a life:
Goals take longer. Not because the person is uncommitted, but because the body sets the pace.
Progress comes in bursts. A good day might allow a sprint; the next day may require stillness.
Rest becomes part of the plan. Not a retreat, not a failure — a strategic investment in tomorrow’s capacity.
The challenge isn’t laziness. It isn’t lack of motivation. It’s physics. A body with chronic illness demands respect, and the person living in that body learns to negotiate with it daily.
This is the energy economy: a world where every goal has a price, and every victory — no matter how small — is earned.
image and some content/research from AI
post inspired by Living Well with Chronic Illness by Joanna Charnas
Book Description:
Living Well with Chronic Illness is a self-help guide for anyone who has a chronic illness or who knows and cares about someone else who does. The 20 chapters concisely address a comprehensive range of issues including daily routines, relationships, medical and legal services, a joyful life, and much more. In our hectic, information-laden world where the Internet places billions of contradictory facts at our fingertips, the straightforward content of this book is an alternative resource for people who want to feel better and don't want to spend hours searching for answers. The tools inside, presented with compassion, humor, and a wealth of knowledge, are for those who want to apply and enjoy new health-promoting ideas immediately.
Living Well with Chronic Illness evolved from the author's personal experience with chronic illness and 26 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
From the author:
In the mid to late 1990s, I was particularly sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness I’d
lived with since I was nineteen. During these years, I had several run-ins with large
bureaucracies, including the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles and Harvard
Community Health Plan, the largest HMO in the state. After I’d successfully obtained the
services I needed, I’d tell my father about these confrontations, carefully leaving the distress
they’d caused me out of the narrative. My father repeatedly responded, “You ought to write
about that.” I was a Social Worker for a large AIDS service organization at the time, and my
reply was always, “My experiences aren’t unique. My clients often encounter these same
problems.” We had some version of this conversation for a couple of years.
At the same time, I had an otherworldly feeling I should be writing something. I’d been praised
for my writing since I was twelve, but I had no desire to be an author. I was struggling to remain
employed due to my poor health, and I had difficulty completing my independent activities of
daily living, like doing laundry. Adding a major project to the mix was not an option. But the
thought that I ought to be writing persisted. I’d had several psychic experiences that portended
future events, so I’d learned to respect them.
Eventually, my father’s constant suggestion and my insistent instinct converged, and I began
taking notes for the book that became Living Well with Chronic Illness. Both my father and that
voice in my head were spot on. Living Well with Chronic Illness was number one in its small
category on Amazon.com, and it was an American Book Fest Best Book Awards Finalist in
2017. I’m so grateful I finally listened to my instincts and my smart father.
jc, October 2022
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For more posts about Joanna Charnas and her books, click HERE.
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