Stuck in Traffic, Every Day: What Chronic Illness Feels Like

My Commute Never Ends: The Daily Grind of MS

By Mike

Some days, I get frustrated. Really frustrated.

It’s not just the symptoms—it’s what they represent. Living with a chronic illness like MS means dealing with unpredictability. One day I have energy, the next I’m struggling to lift my leg. Some mornings I wake up hopeful, others I’m hit with a wave of exhaustion before my feet even touch the ground.

And then there’s that inner voice—the one that asks,“Am I doing enough? Or have I given up?”

But here’s the truth I keep coming back to:Acceptance doesn’t mean surrender.And healing isn’t the same as curing.

For those who don’t live with chronic illness, let me offer a comparison.

Think about how miserable you feel when you catch a bad cold or the flu. You’re achy, drained, frustrated—you just want to feel normal again. But you can comfort yourself with this one thought:This will pass.

Now imagine that feeling never really ends.

Imagine waking up every day with that same exhaustion or pain, not for a few days, but as your new normal. There’s no magic return-to-health date. It doesn’t mean we’ve stopped fighting—it just means this fight doesn’t have a clear finish line.

Or think about traffic. That daily grind of sitting bumper to bumper, wasting time, feeling stuck. You vent, you curse, you show up to work irritated. But you still do it—every day.

Now imagine that same frustration—but instead of traffic, it’s your body.Instead of a commute, it’s fatigue, pain, or brain fog.And instead of a job you can clock out of, it’s your entire life.

It doesn’t mean we’ve given up. It means we’ve had to build a whole new life inside the limits of what our bodies allow—and that’s no small task.

Chronic illness forces you to adapt constantly. It asks you to show up to a body that doesn’t work the way it used to, and still find meaning, still find joy, still keep going.

And that’s why I say:Healing isn’t giving up.It’s learning how to live in this new version of life, with as much grace and honesty as we can muster—even when we’re tired, even when it hurts, even when we miss who we used to be.

So no, I haven’t given up.I’m still here. Still fighting. Still adjusting.Even if it doesn’t look like the fight you’re used to seeing..