Rest Is Not a Failure:
#chronicpain
"Sometimes you have no choice but to hit pause and rest - until your body lets you do things again. 💔"
-Kawaii Doll Decora ❤️
Rest Is Not a Failure: Listening to My Body with Chronic Pain
There’s this unspoken pressure in the world to keep going. To hustle. To push through. To override discomfort in the name of productivity, success, or even just appearing “normal.” But when you live with chronic pain, your body becomes your compass — and sometimes, your limit.
I didn’t choose to have pain. I didn’t ask for it. But I’ve learned, slowly and sometimes unwillingly, to listen to it. Because ignoring it doesn’t make it go away — it just makes it worse. It steals more days from me, more moments, more joy.
Rest isn’t laziness. Rest is survival. It’s sacred. It’s what my body needs — not what society says I should do.
There are days I can’t move much. Days when brushing my hair feels like climbing a mountain. And then, there are days when I can do more, when the pain is quieter — not gone, just quiet enough that I can breathe a little easier. On those days, I savour the movement, the energy, the ability to do. But I’m learning not to punish myself on the days I can’t.
I’m allowed to wait.
I’m allowed to pause.
I’m allowed to say not today without guilt.
Disability isn’t about giving up — it’s about adapting. It’s about knowing my body better than anyone else and choosing, every day, to honour it. Even when it doesn’t work the way others expect it to. Even when I feel like the world is racing past me while I sit still.
There’s strength in stillness.
There’s power in patience.
And there’s no shame in needing rest.
To my fellow chronically ill and disabled warriors: your worth isn’t measured by how much you do. You don’t have to earn rest. You don’t have to justify it. You are already enough.
And to anyone who doesn’t understand — I’m not being dramatic. I’m not giving up. I’m surviving the only way I can. By listening. By waiting. By resting.
Because my body is not a machine.
It’s a home.
And it deserves care.
Sarah ❤️
