Millie Hardy-Sims
Stories (43)
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Medical Voices vs Disabled Voices
I was diagnosed in a hospital room. The language was clinical. Precise. Measured. Words like lesions, inflammation, progression, relapse. The explanation focused on my nervous system, on my brain and spinal cord, on what could be seen on a scan.
By Millie Hardy-Simsabout 9 hours ago in Motivation
A Voice
I did not set out to be an advocate. Speaking about multiple sclerosis began as survival. Writing was a way to untangle the confusion, the grief, and the constant recalculation that had become my daily life. Putting words to fatigue, to fear, to invisibility helped me make sense of a body that no longer behaved the way it once had.
By Millie Hardy-Simsabout 9 hours ago in Motivation
Unreliable
There is a particular kind of anxiety that begins before the phone is even picked up. It lives in the pause. In the rehearsed sentence. In the careful consideration of tone. It sounds simple: “I’m not well enough to come in today.” It feels anything but simple.
By Millie Hardy-Sims2 days ago in Motivation
Laziness
There is a voice in my head that does not have multiple sclerosis. It remembers who I was before. It remembers the pace I used to keep, the hours I used to work, the way I could move through a day without calculating the cost. It compares that version of me to who I am now and draws the wrong conclusion.
By Millie Hardy-Sims2 days ago in Motivation
Chronic Illness Math
Before I say yes, I calculate. The calculation happens automatically now, quietly and constantly, running in the background of every decision. It does not look like numbers on paper. It does not follow predictable formulas. It exists entirely inside my body.
By Millie Hardy-Sims4 days ago in Motivation
“It’s Just a Cold”
A cold is supposed to be ordinary. It is supposed to be inconvenient, uncomfortable, and temporary. It arrives, disrupts life briefly, and then disappears without consequence. It exists as a shared experience, something almost everyone understands and moves through without fear.
By Millie Hardy-Sims4 days ago in Motivation
Disabled, Not Difficult
There is a moment that happens quietly, almost invisibly. It appears in hesitation. In the pause before asking for a chair. In the careful calculation before explaining why I cannot stand for long, why I need to leave early, why I cannot simply push through.
By Millie Hardy-Sims7 days ago in Motivation
The Price of Enjoyment
Enjoyment used to be effortless. It existed without preparation, without calculation, without consequence. Saying yes to plans did not require negotiation with my body. Leaving the house did not require strategy. Fun existed in the moment, untouched by what might come afterward.
By Millie Hardy-Sims9 days ago in Motivation
Betrayal
There was a time when I never thought about my body. It existed quietly in the background of my life, carrying me from place to place without resistance or negotiation. Walking, standing, planning, committing — none of it required thought. My body was reliable. It was neutral. It was mine, and I trusted it completely.
By Millie Hardy-Sims10 days ago in Motivation
