We are now taking a break from the regularly scheduled programming of me telling my chronological long-haul story, to make a necessary PSA to help preserve my mental health with some important boundary setting. Anyone who is reading this that has a chronic illness, I give you my full permission to use this piece when you run into these situations, because I know you do (I’ve commiserated with many of you abut how much we hate some of the below things). I also give you my permission to copy and paste this and tweak it to your liking. Then just save it and have it ready to paste in messages to people when you don’t have the energy to deal with them (assuming you respond at all. Not responding is such a valid option. I keep trying that, but some people keep pushing anyways).