Chronic illness feels like the price you have to pay to be a woman, much less a mother, in our culture. Spend a few minutes on TikTok or Instagram, and you'll quickly encounter messages suggesting that chronic illness is simply a manifestation of unresolved trauma or poor self-care. While I don't think I caused my illness, I do think that it is forcing me to live my life differently. Living with chronic illness calls you to live differently. And yet, chronic illness is calling you to live differently.