At this time last year, I was 89 lbs and at the beginning stages of recovery from a year of IV and oral antibiotics for the treatment of Lyme disease.

Now, I’m back to my standard 110 lbs, my stomach isn’t killing me as much, and my energy is so much greater than it has been in the last three years. While I still have some bad days, or even just bad moments, I am more grateful than ever this year. Check out my list of things to be thankful for and hopefully you can relate!

1. My family. Holy moly, if it weren’t for my family I might be dead. I wish I was exaggerating but I’m not. They have been there through the pain, treatment, fainting, tears, and grief, among so many other things. They’ve supported me physically, emotionally and financially. They are amazing.
2. My friends. The friends who stuck around while I was at my worst are some of the greatest people I know. They chose to be around me. Now that I’m “back” to more of myself than I was when I was in treatment, I try to be the best friend I can be to them to pay their generosity forward.
3. My energy. Now I can work out, cook food, go out with friends and play with my nephews without paying awful consequences for it later. As long as I stick to my diet, exercise regularly and manage stress, I can generally make sure my symptoms stay in check. It used to be that I was symptomatic no matter what I did.
4. My job. My job enables me to work from home, so when I do have bad days, I can lay on the couch and work versus driving into an office and fighting the pain in public. My job is giving me independence I yearned for last year and the flexibility to deal with my illness on those bad days.
5. My faith. My faith has helped me to remain calm when things get bad. It has helped me adjust to this new lifestyle and accept it for what it is. It has also helped me gain a new and better perspective than I had before, one that is much more positive and much less detrimental to my mental health.

I hope for those of you out there with chronic illness, that this list resonates with you a bit. While we aren’t always doing great, the days that we are make this beautiful life worth it.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Let us know!