QC: Finding Yourself With Chronic Illness

Life can move fast when your health changes, and the pressure to “figure it all out” can take over your days. We sit down with Kodi Adamson, a writer, advocate, wife, and mom who has spent the past decade learning how to live with chronic illness while protecting her marriage, her identity, and her joy. She shares what happened when her health shifted early in her relationship and how honesty and humor helped, but also why she needed something deeper to get through the hardest stretches. 

Kodiopens up about a traumatic event around Christmas 2024 and the decision to take a step back in 2025. Instead of chasing every diagnosis and answer, she focuses on a practical, body-aware reset: a three-part list that helps her find what still feels like her. She revisits old interests, tests them in real life, and then makes a clear call on each one: keep it, adjust it, or drop it. The result is fewer distractions, less overwhelm, and more emotional clarity, especially when chronic pain, fatigue, and uncertainty make everything feel heavier. 

We also talk about what happens after bad doctor news and how easy it is to slip into fight-or-flight choices that don’t actually help. Kodi shares the small set of “favorites” that reliably pulls her out of a spiral, like painting, puzzling, playing piano, and riding an e-bike, plus the permission to keep simple comforts that work. If you’re looking for chronic illness coping strategies, relationship resilience, and a realistic way to rebuild self-worth, this quick, focused conversation offers a tool you can try today. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the one activity that brings you back to yourself.

Transcript

Quick Connect Welcome And Disclaimer

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Life moves fast, and so should the answers to your biggest questions. Welcome to Indo Batteries Quick Connect, your direct line to expert insights. Short, powerful, and right to the point. You send in the questions, I bring in the experts, and in just five minutes, you get the knowledge you need. No long episodes, no extra time needed. And just remember, expert opinions shared here are for general information and not for personalized medical advice. Always consult your provider for your case-specific guidance. Got a question? Send it in, and let's quickly get you the answers. I'm your host, Alana, and it's time to connect. Today I'm joined by Cody, who is a writer, advocate, wife, and mom who has spent the last decade navigating life with chronic illness, alongside love, parenting, and all the messy realities in between. After her health dramatically changed early in her relationship, Cody and her partner faced challenges that tested everything they thought they knew about marriage, resilience, and partnership. Through honesty, humor, and a whole lot of lived experience, Cody shares what chronic illnesses taught her about relationships, self-worth, and survival. Not the polished version, but the real one. Join me in welcoming Cody Adamson to the table. What have you found to be the most beneficial other than humor way to kind of walk through those challenging times?

The Three-List Joy Reset

Using Favorites To Avoid Spirals

Closing And How To Send Questions

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Well, I'm actually actually so that was like something I really explored this past year. Um I'll just I don't want to get too too heavy on like something that happened. I had a very traumatic thing though happen Christmas of 2024. So 2025, I just needed to take the year off. Like I just needed to not chase all of my problems. Like I had to go to a few doctors' things for a handful of issues that were rather like acute, like couldn't ignore them. But otherwise, like I didn't chase for answers, I didn't chase for diagnoses. And then what I took the time to do was like actually really explore this. Like, what makes me feel like me? And I created this list where I had three sections, right? So the first section was I wrote things I used to enjoy. And that could just be in any phase of my life from when I was a kid to even presently, things I used to enjoy. And then I would go and do that thing again. Um, like, like for example, I used to play at open mics a lot. I used to sing and and play my instruments and and everything like that. So I would I went to the open mic, tried it out again, and then like I really paid attention to like how am I feeling? Do I feel myself? Do I feel grounded right now? And then so that's where it would lead to my second section, which was keep, adjust, or drop. So either I keep it, like, okay, yeah, I feel I feel good right here, or I didn't quite feel it. So I'm gonna adjust it, try again, or like, you know what? Nope, that wasn't me at all. I've I'm I've I've that part of me is just gone now. And so I would just drop it. And then I that third section just allowed me to kind of write those notes of just like, okay, this, I think I need to adjust this, and this is how I'm going to adjust it. And I'm gonna try it this way next time, or any other thoughts that would come up about it. And so honestly, by the end of the year, I told my therapist, I was like, turns out I was doing a lot of things that like weren't good for me. I was just like spitting myself out there in the world, just like trying to find joy, trying to find dopamine, honestly, half the time. Just something to like feel like I'm enjoying my life. And I said, I was just doing a lot that like I didn't enjoy. I said, Turns out by the end of the year, I only have like four or five things that like I really enjoy that like I really sit with it and I want to do it and I feel myself. And he's like, that's normal. It's like it's not normal to have like 25 things. I was like, Oh, I did. So overachiever. I wasn't trying. I think my brain just like was never really checking in with like, does this actually feel like me? Cause like you hear, you'll, you know, you'll see like trends online. You're like, well, that's cool. I'll try that, or you know, and so I was collecting just too much, and I was like overwhelming my system with just nothing that really helped me enjoy who I am, or to like climb out of like really rough moments. So like I just had another like phase of one of my so this year I'm now starting to go back to like trying to figure things out with my body and the past doctor appointment I had gave me some news that I didn't love. So I was sad, ate some chocolate because that's one of my things. Turns out not dropping chocolate. Nope. Turns out that is on the favorite list, on the top. And then I came home though and I painted. And normally I would have gone and done something arguably like borderline reckless because I have really bad habits of like, I don't like my life. I'm gonna do something wild. Um, instead, though, because of the year I had, I took that information from my list and I'm like, I need to paint right now. And my insides were like, no, we need to run, we need to go and explore because of that fight or flight. Yeah. And like that like grip with like mortality that sometimes is just really hard to face. Um but instead I came home and I painted and like I was able to just like pull myself out of that dragging down type feeling so much easier by the end of the day. Anyways, I just kind of went off on a minute there, but it's just something I was like really explored this past year, so I'm really passionate about it. So that's just so painting, um, puzzling, playing piano. Um, those are kind of my things that I oh, and riding an e-bike. And my husband got me one for Christmas. So those are like my four things is that like I do any one of those, and it just really helps me feel myself and feel like I'm enjoying life again.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

That's a wrap for this quick connect. I hope today's insights helped you move forward with more clarity and confidence. Do you have more questions? Keep them coming. Send them in, and I'll bring you the expert answers. You can send them in by using the link in the top of the description of this podcast episode or by emailing contact at indobattery.com or visiting the Indobattery.com contact page. Until next time, keep feeling empowered through knowledge.