But You Look So Good

When you live with a chronic health condition, paying attention to your body is important. But what happens when paying attention turns into constantly monitoring, checking, Googling and worrying? In this episode, Sally and Seona explore health anxiety and why it can be particularly complicated when you already have a genuine health condition. We talk about the difference between sensible health vigilance and anxiety, why previous medical experiences can make us hyper-aware of symptoms, and how the anxiety–symptom cycle can keep us stuck. We also look at reassurance seeking, Dr Google and the challenge of living with uncertainty. 
Most importantly, we share four practical and psychological strategies to help you manage health anxiety without ignoring your body or allowing worry to take over your life. Because managing a chronic illness is already a lot of work—we don't want worrying about our health to become another full-time job.

⁠⁠⁠Livology (Psychology - Private Practice)⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠MS: Get Your Head Around It! (Online Course)⁠⁠⁠
⁠But You’ll Be OK (Online Course)⁠
⁠Webinars and Resources⁠
If you need any support after listening to our podcast, you can contact Lifeline in Australia at 13 11 14, available 24/7. For support in other locations, please visit⁠ ⁠Befrienders Worldwide⁠⁠.
⁠⁠Instagram @butyoulooksogoodpodcast⁠⁠

Managing a chronic health condition can sometimes feel like a part-time job — and on bad days, a full-time one! There are appointments to organise, medications to remember, symptoms to monitor, paperwork to complete, decisions to make and endless energy calculations. And that’s before you’ve even started your actual job, looked after your family or tried to have a social life. 
In this episode, Seona and Sally unpack the hidden physical, cognitive and emotional workload of chronic illness management, including the mental load of constantly planning around symptoms and uncertainty. We also talk about why “just resting” isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Finally, we share four practical and psychological strategies to reduce the workload, protect your energy and make sure managing your health doesn’t become your whole life.

Livology (Psychology - Private Practice)⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠MS: Get Your Head Around It! (Online Course)⁠⁠⁠
⁠But You’ll Be OK (Online Course)⁠
⁠Webinars and Resources⁠
If you need any support after listening to our podcast, you can contact Lifeline in Australia at 13 11 14, available 24/7. For support in other locations, please visit⁠ ⁠Befrienders Worldwide⁠⁠.
⁠⁠Instagram @butyoulooksogoodpodcast⁠⁠

When you live with chronic illness, social media can be a lifeline. Finding people who truly get it, discovering practical tips, feeling validated and connecting with a community can make an enormous difference. But there’s another side to the algorithm. Comparison, doomscrolling, symptom searching, scary stories and the pressure to be “doing illness right” can leave us feeling anxious, overwhelmed or inadequate.
In this episode, Sally and Seona explore both sides of social media and chronic illness, including why diagnosis-specific communities can sometimes become echo chambers. We’ll also share three psychological strategies to help you curate your feed, set information boundaries and protect the parts of your identity that have nothing to do with being unwell.

⁠⁠⁠Livology (Psychology - Private Practice)⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠MS: Get Your Head Around It! (Online Course)⁠⁠⁠
⁠But You’ll Be OK (Online Course)⁠
⁠Webinars and Resources⁠
If you need any support after listening to our podcast, you can contact Lifeline in Australia at 13 11 14, available 24/7. For support in other locations, please visit⁠ ⁠Befrienders Worldwide⁠⁠.
⁠⁠Instagram @butyoulooksogoodpodcast⁠⁠

What happens when being capable starts being used as evidence that you’re not struggling?
In this episode, we’re talking about weaponising competence—what happens when your ability to work, parent, socialise, achieve, or simply get through the day is mistaken for proof that you’re doing fine. We explore the reality that you can be incredibly capable and completely overwhelmed; strong and exhausted; functioning and struggling.
Because competence tells us what someone accomplished, but it doesn’t tell us what it took to accomplish it.
We’ll unpack the hidden costs of chronic illness, the pressure to keep proving that you’re struggling, and why a good day, or a successful week, doesn’t mean you’re suddenly well. Plus, we share psychological strategies for separating your performance from your wellbeing, recognising the true cost of functioning, and embracing the power of “both/and” thinking.

⁠⁠⁠Livology (Psychology - Private Practice)⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠MS: Get Your Head Around It! (Online Course)⁠⁠⁠
⁠But You’ll Be OK (Online Course)⁠
⁠Webinars and Resources⁠
If you need any support after listening to our podcast, you can contact Lifeline in Australia at 13 11 14, available 24/7. For support in other locations, please visit⁠ ⁠Befrienders Worldwide⁠⁠.
⁠⁠Instagram @butyoulooksogoodpodcast⁠⁠

Today you are hearing from Rachel. Rachel was diagnosed with type one diabetes at age 19 in 1998, and after six years of searching for answers, she received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2015. She also lives with an undiagnosed muscle condition that has affected her daily life for over a decade. In this episode, Rachel shares her journey through diagnosis, the emotional toll of chronic illness, and the lessons she's learnt about listening to her body, asking for help, and finding gratitude in the present moment. This is her story.

⁠⁠⁠Livology (Psychology - Private Practice)⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠MS: Get Your Head Around It! (Online Course)⁠⁠⁠

⁠But You’ll Be OK (Online Course)⁠

⁠Webinars and Resources⁠

If you need any support after listening to our podcast, you can contact Lifeline in Australia at 13 11 14, available 24/7. For support in other locations, please visit⁠ ⁠Befrienders Worldwide⁠⁠.

⁠⁠Instagram @butyoulooksogoodpodcast⁠⁠