Can you chase big dreams with chronic illness? Itโs a question Iโve wrestled with more times than I can count. When your body has its own agendaโpain flaring, fatigue rolling in without warningโitโs easy to believe your dreams donโt get to matter anymore. But illness doesnโt erase purpose. It may change the pace, it may change the path, but your dreams still have a future.
Iโve had a lot of jobs and a lot of dreams. As a little girl, I wanted to be everything from a ballerina to a Broadway singer. Later, I became a teacher and thought Iโd found my lane. But when my health made it impossible to keep teaching, I wondered if there was anything left I could doโnot just to keep my mind busy, but to help my family too.
Years earlier, God had given me a vision: one day I would speak to thousands of women. I tucked that dream away because it felt impossible. I was nervous enough standing in front of a classroom, much less a crowd. Yet here I am now, speaking to women all over the world through my podcast. The very thing that felt out of reach has become part of my realityโnot in spite of my chronic illness, but in many ways because of it.
Redefining what “Big” Looks Like
Our dreams and desires shift as we grow. Sometimes they transform into new ones. Sometimes they need to be broken into smaller steps, taken at a slower pace. Either way, dreams can still unfold. And when the path looks different than we imagined, it may be less about abandoning the dream and more about adjusting how we walk it out.
So how do we begin to follow our dreams when our everyday life is so unpredictable?
The Myth That Illness Cancels Dreams
One of the biggest lies chronic illness whispers is, โYou donโt get to dream anymore.โ The unpredictability of symptoms makes planning feel impossible, and comparison to healthier people can make us feel like our goals are out of reach. But hereโs the truth: illness might limit how we move forward, but it doesnโt mean the dream itself is off the table.
Think about it this wayโif someone told you that you could only walk instead of run, would you stop heading toward your destination altogether? Probably not. Youโd move slower, sure, but youโd still get there eventually. Dreams are the same. The pace may change, but the path isnโt closed.
Redefining What โBigโ Looks Like
Sometimes chasing big dreams with chronic illness means rethinking what โbigโ even means. Maybe itโs not the flashy, all-at-once achievement you once pictured. Maybe itโs building something small, steady, and deeply meaningful.
For me, โbigโ used to mean a traditional careerโteaching full-time, climbing the ladder, doing all the things everyone around me seemed to be doing. Now, โbigโ looks like recording one podcast episode a week, sending out a newsletter, and showing up consistently for women who feel unseen. Itโs not Broadway or a classroom full of students. But it is impact. It is purpose.
Your version of โbigโ might be starting a business from your couch, raising your kids with love and creativity even on flare days, or writing a book one paragraph at a time. โBigโ doesnโt have to mean fast, loud, or publicโit means faithful, aligned, and true to you.
When we let go of what culture tells us dreams should look like, we can start to see that our unique pace and path arenโt less thanโtheyโre just different.
Building Flexible Pathways to Your Goals
When you live with chronic illness, you canโt always bulldoze your way through obstacles the way hustle culture tells you to. What you can do is build flexible pathwaysโways forward that bend and shift with your energy, instead of breaking under the weight of it.
Here are a few ways to do that:
- Break it down smaller than you think.ย If your dream is to write a book, donโt start with a word count goal. Start with one paragraph, one page, or even one sentence on flare days. Little pieces add up.
- Build margin into your plans.ย Expect setbacks. If you think something will take a month, give yourself three. That way, when life or your body interrupts, you donโt feel like youโve failed.
- Work with your rhythms, not against them.ย Pay attention to when your energy tends to be highestโmorning, afternoon, or late eveningโand reserve that time for dream-chasing instead of chores.
- Celebrate micro-wins.ย Every step counts. Marking small progress helps you see movement even when the finish line feels far away.
Flexibility doesnโt mean lowering the bar; it means creating a path thatโs actually walkable for you. Your dreams deserve that kind of care.
When Rest Feels Like a Roadblock
Rest is one of the hardest parts of chasing dreams with chronic illness. It can feel like every nap, every day spent in bed, every moment you have to stop is stealing time away from your goals. The world tells us rest is wasted timeโbut with chronic illness, rest is survival.
Hereโs the shift: instead of seeing rest as the enemy of your dreams, see it as the fuel that makes them possible. Muscles rebuild in rest. Minds reset in rest. Even faith deepens in the stillness.
Yes, itโs frustrating. Yes, it feels like youโre falling behind while everyone else is sprinting ahead. But your path isnโt measured by their pace. Rest is part of the workโnot a detour from it.
Sometimes the most radical way you can chase your dreams is by laying them down for a moment, trusting theyโll still be there when youโre ready to pick them back up.
The Hope Factor: Why Dreams Still Matter
Dreams arenโt just about achievementโtheyโre about hope. They remind us thereโs more to life than symptoms, appointments, and survival. Even when illness changes the way we live, holding onto our dreams gives us something bigger to reach toward.
For me, itโs not just about having a podcast or a platform. Itโs about the reminder that God still has purpose for me, even on days when my body feels broken. That vision He gave me years ago continues to push me forward, one step at a time.
Your dreamโno matter how small it feels right nowโmatters. It keeps you connected to possibility, to identity, and to the reminder that youโre more than your diagnosis. And sometimes, that hope is the very thing that carries you through the hardest days.
So donโt throw your dreams away. Hold them with open hands. Let them change shape, let them take longer, let them grow slow. But let them live. Because chasing big dreams with chronic illness isnโt about proving the world wrongโitโs about proving to yourself that life can still hold meaning, joy, and possibility.