Why is it so hard to give ourselves permission to be sick?

In Episode 13 of the Enduring Long COVID Podcast, I talk about something I’ve been thinking about deeply: I spent almost 30 years as a nurse trying to make it safe for my patients to be sick. But when I became the sick person, I realized how difficult it can be to extend that same grace to myself.

People living with Long COVID and ME/CFS are often surrounded by expectations to work, keep up, push through, exercise, and function as though our bodies haven’t changed. Eventually, those outside expectations can become our own.

But respecting the limits of a sick body is not giving up.

You can want recovery fiercely while still respecting the body you have today.

Sometimes pacing begins with something even more basic than managing your energy.

It begins with giving yourself permission to be sick.

#LongCOVID #MECFS #EnduringLongCOVID

Living with chronic illness means making choices about where your energy goes, even on vacation. In this episode, I share how resting allowed me to participate, enjoy my family and actually experience my vacation. Sometimes you have to rest to live.

Pacing is more than resting when you’re tired. It’s learning how to live within an energy envelope that may change from day to day.

With Long COVID and ME/CFS, I’ve learned that every activity has a cost—physical activity, cognitive activity, conversations, showers, work, errands, and even things I enjoy.

I think of my energy like a scarce resource. I can’t spend everything I have today and expect tomorrow to take care of itself.

In Episode 11 of the Enduring Long COVID Podcast, I’m talking about what pacing actually looks like in my everyday life, what my body has taught me about warning signs, and why I’m learning to stop before my body forces me to stop.

Tomorrow deserves some of today’s energy too.

Many people think Long COVID changes your life overnight.For many of us, it doesn’t. It happens slowly.

One symptom at a time.

One activity at a time.

One loss at a time.

In this episode, I talk about the gradual decline that so many people with Long COVID and ME/CFS experience, and why it can be so difficult for others to recognize. If you’ve ever felt like your world has quietly become smaller, this episode is for you.

Thank you for listening to Enduring Long COVID.

#LongCOVID #MECFS #ChronicIllness #PostViralIllness #InvisibleIllness #DisabilityAwareness #ChronicFatigue #Pacing #LongCOVIDRecovery #EnduringLongCOVID

What if Long COVID didn’t create the problem, but uncovered something that was already there?

In this episode, I share a question I’ve been asking since the beginning of my illness. Could some people have been predisposed to immune dysregulation, with COVID acting as the trigger that revealed it?

I talk about my own health history, why I asked my doctor this question years ago, and how today’s Long COVID research is beginning to explore the role of the immune system, chronic inflammation, and other biological changes.

This episode isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about asking better questions and finding hope in the progress researchers are making every day.

If you’ve ever wondered why Long COVID affects so many different parts of the body, I hope this conversation encourages you.

🎙️ Enduring Long COVID Podcast with Sherri

Episode 8: What Are We Doing Wrong?

What if the question we’ve been asking is the wrong one?

In this episode of Enduring Long COVID, I explore why so many of us feel like we’re failing at recovery even when we’re taking our medications, pacing, resting, attending appointments, and doing everything we can to heal.

I share a new perspective that has been changing the way I think about Long COVID: our bodies don’t experience activities one at a time—they stack them together. Physical activity, mental effort, stress, sensory overload, conversations, and even decision-making all draw from the same limited energy reserve.

Instead of asking, “What am I doing wrong?” maybe the better question is, “What is my body trying to tell me?”

If you’re living with Long COVID, ME/CFS, POTS, or another post-viral illness, I hope this episode helps you replace self-blame with self-compassion and gives you a new place to begin.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow Enduring Long COVID so you don’t miss future episodes. Your follow, rating, and review help others living with Long COVID discover the podcast.

Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok by searching Enduring Long COVID.

For years, I searched for answers while feeling dismissed, misunderstood, and unsure of what was happening to my body.

Everything began to change when I found a physician who truly listened.

In this episode, I share how being believed allowed me to stop fighting for validation and start paying attention to my symptoms. It was through that trust that I began to recognize patterns like post-exertional malaise, pacing, stacking activities, and how my body was communicating its limits.

Sometimes healing doesn’t begin with a medication. Sometimes it begins with someone finally saying, “I believe you.”

If you’re living with Long COVID, ME/CFS, or another chronic illness, I hope this episode reminds you that the right healthcare provider can change not only your treatment, but your entire journey.

Thank you for listening and for being part of the Enduring Long COVID community.

Please subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs to hear it, and leave a review if it encouraged you.

#LongCOVID #MECFS #ChronicIllness #Pacing #EnduringLongCOVID

There was a time when nothing about my illness made sense.

I didn’t know that watching my favorite TV show could leave me exhausted. I didn’t understand why I stopped returning my friends’ phone calls. I thought exercise would help me recover, but instead it led to one of the longest crashes of my illness. And after moving my belongings in 2023, I entered what I now call my “upside-down world”—a place where even everyday tasks became overwhelming.

In this episode, I share the invisible lessons Long COVID taught me before I even knew they had names. We talk about neurological overstimulation, post-exertional malaise (PEM), the cycle of pushing through and crashing, and the guilt of believing you just weren’t trying hard enough.

If you’ve ever wondered why your world has gotten smaller, or if someone you love is living with Long COVID or ME/CFS, I hope this episode helps you feel seen—and helps others understand what life with this illness can really be like.

Thank you for listening to Enduring Long COVID. If this episode resonated with you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to better understand the reality of Long COVID.

#LongCOVID #MECFS #PostExertionalMalaise #PEM #ChronicIllness #DisabilityAwareness #BrainFog #InvisibleIllness #LongCOVIDRecovery #EnduringLongCOVID

In this episode of Enduring Long COVID, I share what happened after my second COVID infection and my attempts to continue working as a registered nurse.

I believed that if I could just find the right job, my health would stabilize. I transitioned from bedside nursing to the GI Lab and eventually to a work-from-home position, hoping each change would finally allow my body to recover.

What I didn’t understand at the time was that my environment wasn’t causing my illness. It was revealing how little energy my body had left.

This episode is about the slow decline that so many people living with Long COVID and other chronic illnesses experience the invisible losses, the shrinking world, the hope that each new change will be enough, and the painful realization that improvement isn’t always the same as recovery.

If you’ve ever felt like you were doing everything you could just to survive another day, this episode is for you.

Thank you for listening to Enduring Long COVID. If this episode resonated with you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who may need to hear it.

In Episode 4 of Enduring Long COVID, I share what happened after I returned to work believing I was recovering.

Although I was still experiencing shortness of breath, exhaustion, chest pain, brain fog, and an elevated heart rate, I continued working as a bedside nurse during the pandemic. My physician requested a reasonable accommodation to prevent further COVID exposure, but the accommodation was denied.

After being exposed again, I tested positive for COVID a second time in January 2021. Because I had never fully recovered from my first infection, I didn’t immediately realize I had become infected again.

This episode explores what it was like to work while sick, fear losing my career, navigate accommodations, and discover that changing jobs didn’t make the illness disappear.

The floor changed.

The department changed.

The job changed.

But the illness remained.

Thank you for listening to Enduring Long COVID.

If this episode resonates with you, please follow the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share it with someone who may need to hear these stories.