>>> I WILL NOT LET MY CHRONIC ILLNESS DEFINE ME <<<

In PART I of the video My Chronic Illness Does [not] Define Me, I shared my life-changing aha! moment when I realized that my 40-year-old practice of living with a chronic illness while staunchly determined not to let it define me, made no sense at all. The truth I came upon is that our chronic illness makes us WHO WE ARE in the most profound ways. It is our teacher (albeit a tough one), a faithful companion (granted, we sometimes wish we could dump), and a most demanding trainer who has shaped us into who we are.

The challenges it puts on our path has mapped our Hero’s Journey and each time we survive, we are transformed by the experience, we have tales to tell, horizons to describe and wisdom to share.

Our chronic illness DOES DEFINE US, and that’s okay. It’s actually more than okay; it gives us strength, courage and compassion and those are precious qualities the world desperately needs.

In this PART 2, I pledge to pick up the torch and become a voice for (young) women living with a chronic illness. When reading the avalanche of comments I received from posting PART I, it became crystal clear that this was to be my purpose in life. Why? Because I was told of daughters with no one to look up to, without role models or examples of what their life could look like. That moved me to my core because I could totally relate. I was 11 years old when I started dealing with this and my life would have taken a dramatically different course if at any point, I had had someone I could identify with.

Living with a chronic illness is a valuable life, an important life and it is time we stop hiding, apologizing, retreating within and censoring ourselves. THIS HAS TO STOP. We are literally extra-ordinary. We have an added dimension that makes us unique and the world needs us just as we are.

To remind us of that, I’ve written an empowering 
******MANIFESTO FOR THE CHRONICALLY DIFFERENT*****

You can get your full FREE COPYat WWW.ANNIEPAQUETTE.COM

With love 💚
XOX
Annie

P.S. The Manifesto is visually stunning. It was illustrated with art from artist Emily Magone.
P.P.S. This is the raw, unedited video I posted in B-School’s private facebook group 6 months ago.

#ChronicDifference