I Am Not a Chronically Ill Person
I am a person navigating a chronic condition.
On May 4th, The Nourished Leader™ facilitated a conversation on financial strategy, money, women, and self-trust at a local golf tournament.
It was an incredible experience speaking with a group of women about the reality that women do not experience money the same way.
Our financial lives are influenced by many factors — responsibility, caregiving, confidence, health, visibility, leadership, risk, identity, cycles, and capacity.
One of the core ideas I shared during the event was this:
Women experience money differently because women experience life differently.
And those realities should be taken into consideration when we think about financial planning, career decisions, leadership development, sustainability, and most importantly - financial agency. We must design around it.
More on that in this video/post.
As always, I opened with the personal story that inspired The Nourished Leader™ - living well with sickle-cell. To my surprise, many people became deeply interested in the condition itself.
Not necessarily in a voyeuristic way, but it caught me off guard because it wasn’t the central point I was trying to make. The point was never: “Look at the condition.”
The point was: Look at the realities women are navigating while still trying to lead, work, grow, contribute, build wealth, and make decisions about their lives.
After the event, I started reflecting more deeply on the resources, practices, systems, and tools available for women living with chronic conditions — and the very specific things I personally do to navigate my own life, leadership, work, finances, and capacity. My business coach suggested I spend some time doing market research.
So I did.
Letting the algorithm teach me what people are actually saying about living and working with a chronic condition as a reality.
UGH!
“Chronic illness confessions.”
“Chronically ill mom.”
“Living as a chronically ill woman.”
I could feel my body shrinking while scrolling.
It’s not like I can’t relate, and I certainly live it.
It’s because I refuse to reduce myself to a condition or consume material that reinforces what can quickly become self-imposed limitations on my life and well-being.
I have a chronic condition. It impacts my life profoundly — my work, my energy, my confidence, my relationships, and my leadership.
And in my life, no matter the circumstance, I have CHOSEN to declare living with it as an asset, NOT a liability.
Many women I work with are quietly wrestling with the tension around their lived experiences with chronic conditions.
How do you honor the body, its rhythms, and its realities without disappearing from your own life?
They still desire leadership. Career growth. Visibility. Impact. Contribution. Meaning.
While navigating realities most people cannot see.
That’s the conversation I care about.
Not productivity at all costs or building an identity entirely around depletion. Because while chronic conditions impact identity, they are not identity itself.
That distinction matters.
The Nourished Leader™ is not just a leadership philosophy.
It is a practical approach to building a sustainable career, leadership practice, and life while navigating fluctuating capacity, chronic conditions, and the realities that impact how we work and live.
High-performing women do not struggle because they lack ambition, intelligence, or discipline.
They struggle because they try to build their lives around models that were never designed with their realities in mind.
The question becomes:
How do I design my work, leadership, decisions, finances, rhythms, and support systems in ways that allow me to grow sustainably?
The goal isn’t becoming untouched by hardship.
The goal is refusing to let hardship become the only language through which we know ourselves.
That is the work.
Not just mindset or motivation, but practical advanced leadership, career, and life design rooted in capacity, clarity, and courage.
That’s why at The Nourished Leader™, we offer one-on-one coaching, group programs, and resources designed to help high-performing women navigate career, leadership, and chronic conditions with greater capacity, clarity, and courage. Send me a msg!
Questions from The Nourished Leader™ Community
What does it mean to lead & work while navigating uncertainty, chronic conditions, pressure, pain, ambition, and complexity?
Each week, Natalie answers one reader-submitted question on leadership, resilience, clarity, capacity, and sustainable high performance.
Submit a question here →
What’s Happening:
The Nourished Leader Collective
Beginning this May, The Nourished Leader Collective will gather on the second and fourth Thursday of every month for a live leadership masterclass and conversation designed for high-performing women navigating uncertainty, complexity, and evolving demands in the workplace — especially those learning how to lead sustainably while managing capacity, burnout, or chronic conditions.
Thursday, May 28 | 12:00–1:00 PM ET
The Nourished Leader™ Masterclass : Immunity to Change
A practical leadership conversation on the hidden patterns, beliefs, and competing commitments that keep us stuck — even when we genuinely want to grow.
Thursday, June 11 | 12:00–1:00 PM ET
The Nourished Leader Collective™
Designing a Sustainable Career While Navigating Chronic Conditions
A practical conversation for high-performing women navigating fluctuating capacity, career growth, leadership, and sustainable success.
Together, we explore what it means to lead in complex times with clarity, resilience, confidence, and courage.
Connect With The Nourished Leader™
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