I used to think recovery was a straight line. You have the surgery, you white-knuckle your way through the flare, the wound heals, and you check the “done” box. ✅️

But I’ve learned, the long and often painful way, that recovery isn’t a destination. It’s a practice. It’s something I find myself doing over and over again. Every new complication, every unexpected flare, and every life change seems that bit harder when you’re living with chronic illness.

Sometimes the recovery is purely physical; waiting for a stoma site to behave or for the fatigue to lift. Other times, it’s entirely emotional, searching for the “you” that felt confident before the latest setback… Most often, it’s a wildly inconvenient combination of both!

We need to stop putting pressure on ourselves to reach recovery and start acknowledging that we are constantly evolving through it. If you feel like you’re back at square one today, remember: you’ve recovered before, and you have the tools to do it again.