Chronic Wellness

From working with disability activists around the world, I've learned a few things: More than 181 countries have passed legislation to protect and provide access to people with disabilities. How did the disability movement take a note from previous civil rights movements? What was the hard line they took that brings a lump in my throat today? How does this call me to be a better version of myself?...

In the first 18 years of the ADA, the definition of Disability had gotten very limited. The ADAAA set out to correct that problem. (To review: watch episodes 241-245 or this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLursF4R-Unw-HfI7260inwJF15Xy-K03M ) What does it mean to be Disabled? How does changing the systems, attitudes, structures, and beliefs, start to make positive changes for more...

The ADA was the first civil rights law in the world to protect the rights of and provide access for people with Disabilities. If you have chronic illness, you likely have disabling conditions and the ADA is there to protect you! Education, housing, transportation, employment, and public spaces, these are the areas to which the ADA provided access. First person stories about disability played a big...

How have I let our relationship issues impact how I ask for what I need? What ways do I limit myself or create my own obstacles? How can I get out of my own way? The pattern of trying to make myself smaller so that I don't have to have needs of others or rely on them is still ingrained in me after so many years of trying to change it. This surgery highlighted that again. Is this something you stru...

How has it been to get a new PowerPort? What is the placement like? I wonder why recovery has been more difficult than I expected? When do you notice your energy flagging? What things have taken more out of you than you expected? In the midst -- what are the things that feed you and light you up?

Mike Porath, founder and CEO of TheMighty.com talks about powerful ways people find one another on the platform. He then answers the question, “What would you like people to know about TheMighty.com?” He encourages people on the platform to share their ideas and feedback Mike@TheMighty.com and Community@TheMighty.com What is bringing him wellness or lighting up his spirit? Mike shares how he is pr...

Mike Porath, founder and CEO of TheMighty.com talks about his hopes for the future. He discusses a study Harvard did with TheMighty to look at whether content was making a difference people using the site as it related to suicide and suicidal ideation. How does TheMighty impact its community? What is the evidence? How do we make the platform more globally accessible? The primary thing TheMighty is...

Mike Porath, founder and CEO of TheMighty.com talks about what he’s learned from parenting a child that was born differently than he expected. What are their guideposts for parenting? What would he say to other parents who are on a similar journey? Finding a present-day focus brought relief. He also talks a bit where the name "TheMighty" came from and about the roll of guilt and grief.

Mike Porath, founder and CEO of TheMighty.com talks about how The Mighty got started. The Mighty isn't about health so much as it's about PEOPLE. What has surprised you about the ways The Mighty has grown and changed? How have you grown from parenting Annabel? What would you tell another parent who had a child born different than they expected her to be?

Mike Porath, founder and CEO of TheMighty.com talks about what it was like to have a daughter born with a chromosomal difference. How did The Mighty get their start? How has the platform changed from its initial spark? In the early days of his daughter Annabel's diagnosis, he found an old PDF on the web with 6 stories from parents who had the same condition as Annabel. He really connected with tho...

Here's an impromptu episode from the hospital. I'm waiting to get surgery. I had to get a COVID test before this procedure. How was that? As I've been waiting for the surgery, my anxiety has been ramping. What are my fears today? How am I managing those?

How have my behaviors around the particularities had me showing up like I'm controlling or parental? What fights have you been having for the whole of your relationship? How am I still learning to communicate and take up space? How do I still disconnect from my own experience? Communication, still at it and having a hard time getting it done skillfully after all these years. I'm excited to tell yo...

Just more than a year and a half ago, my mother died. I still miss her terribly. Our relationship was not always easy, my being gay was a painful and divisive thing between us. However, once I got sick, we forged a path with one another. Four months after her death, my dad was engaged. While that was shocking, I was ill equipped for this change. What happens when dad is not showing signs of dement...

Have you sought professional help in your relationship? What has been your experience with couple's counseling? How do our patterns of communication still serve or not serve us? What communication ruts and errors are we getting into? How does our decision to "chose one another everyday," play into our philosophy of getting couple's counseling? When did you decide to engage professional help?

What are the tender, raw, exposed parts of my life right now? How does living through a pandemic and the impact of racial injustices keep show up as overwhelm in my world and yours? My wife recently told me she has a crush on someone. Having survived infidelity together, we rewrote the rules of our relationship. When my body, identity, sense of attractiveness, have all taken hits because of illnes...

Today, 7/10 is Chronic Disease Awareness Day 7 of 10 deaths can be attributed to chronic disease – 7 in 10! The CDC says that 6 in 10 of us have a chronic condition in 4 in 10 of us have two or more. These are staggering statistics. Many of our conditions can be improved or prevented with lifestyle changes. We can shift our quality of life by: stop smoking, reducing alcohol, cleaning up our diet,...

When there are a number of things that are feeling raw and exposed, where to start? We have conflict in my marriage over where I spend my time and energy when I have some to give. If I think about my energy like the bars in a battery, I have to be judicious about how to use my energy bars. The decisions I make about my energy, have impacts on and implications for my wife. Should I use my energy he...

What happens when re-potting a plant and you go to expose the roots? What happens when roots are unearthed? What tender, raw, exposed parts of myself are showing right now? My marriage is suffering right now. Whether it's our sex life, how I prioritize what energy I have, how we relate to one another as partners vs. sick person and care giver, how to maximize my time each day without setting mysel...

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Thank you for tuning in for season two of the Chronic Wellness podcast! This season I'll be interviewing the Creator of The Mighty, I'll also interview the founder of HowStuffWorks.co. I'll also be talking about - mental health and chronic illness - how and when to apply for disability - how to feed our minds and spirits when our world is so small or locked down - what does it take to be a care gi...

What is the history of Juneteenth? How might that relate to us today? What are we not free of? What habits do not serve me? Are there people, habits, behaviors I should let go of? Acknowledging that there is a lot of privilege in asking these questions. With these thoughts and questions to think about. With today as my one year anniversary I will be taking the next two weeks off. Please check out...

Lis wondered, "how can I support others with chronic illness to survive and thrive?" Living with illness for a long time, challenges remained: connecting, creating, finding community with limited energy. Having persevered through darkness (in part, because of creativity), Lis wanted to be a muse, a light for others. With that in mind, she thought, how can I inspire others to survive and thrive? Wi...

Lis published "A Light In The Darkness," in 2018 as a way to share her story and give back. Through writing, she acknowledged the need for support as well as how her attitude impacts her wellness. In a marriage or partnership, how does she contribute to the health of the relationship? When we realize that we are not our disease, how do we transcend? This journey is not liner. What she can now look...

What was it like to leave the working world? Who am I without work? How can I effect change? These are questions Lis was asking. As an environmental scientist, her impact was concrete. Leaving the working world, she threw herself into creativity and struggled to feel like that was “enough.” Creative outlets predate her illness, but her focus on creativity has intensified since being sick. When vis...

Author, singer/songwriter, muse, Lis Sniderman is my guest today. We talk about her journey with the onset of dermatomyositis. At the precipice of being married and going on tour, she became critically ill. Beginning with a rash, this progressive muscle wasting disease changed the course of her future. She was fortunate to get a relatively rapid diagnosis (in the world of autoimmune disease). Her...