Posted by Brittany Washington
on December 04, 2025
Learning to Love a Body in Pain — My Journey with Fibromyalgia & RA
Living with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis means waking up every single day inside of a body that doesn’t feel like the one you grew up in. A body that aches, burns, tightens, and resists even the simplest movements. A body you’re constantly learning, nurturing, and negotiating with — no matter how much faith you try to hold onto.
For many years, I worked to love my plus-size body. I embraced my curves, my natural hair, and every part of me that the world told me to hide. But nothing prepared me for the challenge of learning to love a new version of my body — a body that lives in pain 24/7.
Fibromyalgia and RA affect every waking moment. People often see the smile, the positive posts, the humor, and the strength… but they don’t see the exhaustion behind it. They don’t feel the pain that never fully goes away. They don’t hear the private moments when I wonder why my body has to fight so hard just to exist.
Explaining chronic pain over and over again is one of the most draining parts of chronic illness. The pain is invisible, which means you’re constantly asked to justify it. But every time I explain it, I relive it — and that takes a toll.
Yet even in this struggle, I’ve found a deeper understanding of myself.
I’m learning that loving my body doesn’t mean loving the pain.
It means honoring the resilience it takes to move anyway.
It means giving myself grace on the days when even breathing hurts.
It means acknowledging that my body is not broken — it is battling.
For anyone else living with chronic pain, I want you to know this:
You are not alone. You are not weak. You are not “too much.”
Your strength is real. Your story is valid. Your survival is heroic.
This is a journey of patience, softness, and rediscovery.
And even on the hardest days, I’m learning to love this version of me too.
