Welcome!

My name is Ashley and I am the chronically ill gal behind the blog!

A little about myself. I am a 22-year-old graduate student who struggles with chronic pain from several types of arthritis and chronic back pain. I’ve been chronically ill for 4 years, and I’ve been writing about it for about the same amount of time. Only recently did I decide that it was time to do something with it.

Chronic illness sucks most days. I try to remind myself of the good that has come out of it like a new community, a direction for my research, and this! But I find myself resenting all of the day-to-day hassles of managing a body that doesn’t listen (a horrible thing for a people pleaser). It can be lonely and I want to create a space that feels relatable and real.

I do research on what it means to be a chronically ill teen/young adult. I want to understand how people form their disability identity and sense of self. I love talking about what I do (so feel free to ask if you want to chat with me about it!) Some of my content here will touch on this, but most will center around my experience as a young disabled woman.

I won’t pretend to have it all together. Like many of my chronically ill friends, we are very good at looking like we have it all together. (I see you). I’m here to meet you where you’re at. No matter if you identify as chronically ill or disabled or some other variation, we can all agree on something. We’re chronically over it.