Friendship and Chronic Illness
By: Lydia Andrew
Friendships are an important part of life. Some come and go but the ones that remain or that are formed in the most challenging of circumstances, are the ones that make life worth living.
I used to think I had lots of friends. It turns out that actually I only have a few and a lot of acquaintances. That may be true for a lot of people but I think having a chronic illness, like myself, complicates relationships. Being my friend presents challenges that healthy people don’t have to consider. On a practical level,  I always have to think about any social event I’m trying to participate in and prepare in advance for. It is difficult to be carefree and spontaneous. There are always meds, kits and appointments to work with and I often have to cancel plans last minute. I carry this burden that I can be a constant disappointment. It is hard to explain the severity of my situation to anyone without feeling I am burdening them with the worry and responsibility if something were to go wrong. I long to be able to travel freely, but the reality is everything has to be planned. Having chronic illnesses makes you grow up fast and I often feel much older than my years. I worry that I am not the fun person I’d like to be or that people want me to be. Â
Given all of this, I really appreciate the friends that I do have and I am sad about the ones I have lost along the way. I think it must be hard for people to know how to play it, what to say and how to be around someone that is sick. I feel perhaps some people would rather not deal with it than have to try and think around my needs. But at the end of the day, if I am a friend worth having, communication and empathy surely is key.
Most people don’t understand how life feels on toxic medications, how could they? Invisible illnesses are perhaps the most difficult to understand.
The advice I would offer is embrace the person, don’t be frightened or offended.  I am living my life to the best of my ability and not everything around me is heavy or difficult.
I have an amazing friend that has travelled this journey with me since we were at school. She isn’t ill herself, but she is like a sister and I can always count on her for emotional support. She always goes above and beyond; we message each other most days, she cancels plans if I need to see her and understands the enormity of my situation. She doesn’t just contact me when she knows I’m ill or in the hospital. She recently sent me a message about the differences between Validation and Hope and Toxic Positivity and knowing she understands to this level, is invaluable. The important thing for me about our friendship is the normality of it. I also have a few chronically ill friends that laugh and cry with me, and no explanations is necessary… they just understand.
Below is the chart that my friend sent me from @sitwithwhit.
Â
Comments
HOW CAN I RECOVER MY STOLEN NFT
Sometime in the year 2025, I met a broker on Instagram who convinced me into investing on a fintech platform, with a lot of juicy offers, I thought I could secure the future if my kids by investing. Few months into this investment I had already invested about $140k usd, then after about 7 months in 2025 I wanted to cash out my profit and see if I can invest but they didn’t allow me, asking me to pay more money, then I knew I’ve been scammed, I couldn’t do anything but cry out my pain, all my life I’ve saved just to lose it like that? I summoned courage and kept searching for solution. One day I approached my colleague at work and told her all that was going on with me, she introduced me to an expert in cryptocurrency recovery and cyber security, I contacted this team via Gmail Smithwhitehackservice@gmail.com he assured me of recovering my funds. In less than 24 hours, this team of great hackers recovered all my money including the said profits, I can’t thank you enough Smithwhite hack service. You and your team have done a remarkable job and I want other victims of crypto scam to also get help. If you’ve been duped from binary options scams or related scam do not hesitate to save yourself by contacting.
smithwhitehackservice@gmail.com
WHATSAPP +1 55 95 08 24 03
7492 Brooks Rd, Vevay, IN 47043
Scammed Recovery Specialist /Genuine Hacker/Wizard Larry
One recovery company with a solid track record is WIZARD LARRY RECOVERY EXPERTS. If fraud, investment scams, or unresponsive brokers have caused you to lose money. Their team focuses on tracking down and recovering money from cryptocurrency schemes, fraudulent trading platforms, and internet fraud. To provide victims with a clear route to asset recovery, they integrate legal expertise, financial investigation methods, and local understanding.
WIZARD LARRY RECOVERY EXPERTS is a good choice if you’re looking for a recovery partner with knowledge of the market and expertise in both conventional financial and cryptocurrency investigations. Communicate with them
Their homepage., wizardlarryrecovery . c om
Scammed Recovery Specialist /Genuine Hacker/Wizard Larry
One recovery company with a solid track record is WIZARD LARRY RECOVERY EXPERTS. If fraud, investment scams, or unresponsive brokers have caused you to lose money. Their team focuses on tracking down and recovering money from cryptocurrency schemes, fraudulent trading platforms, and internet fraud. To provide victims with a clear route to asset recovery, they integrate legal expertise, financial investigation methods, and local understanding.
WIZARD LARRY RECOVERY EXPERTS is a good choice if you’re looking for a recovery partner with knowledge of the market and expertise in both conventional financial and cryptocurrency investigations. Communicate with them
Their homepage., wizardlarryrecovery . c om