Michaela Haas on Growing Through Post-Viral Fatigue

Grow Through It: Health Issues & Illness

Michaela Haas, author of Bouncing Forward: The Art and Science of Cultivating Resilience, tells her story of traveling and living in Asia in her early twenties, becoming very ill at 26, and being bedridden for eight months. She describes her mind and body falling apart and says it took her years before she could become a functioning member of society again.

She eventually found a good doctor who put her on medication and had her change her diet. She left her husband, moved back to Europe, and surrounded herself with more understanding people. She also sought professional help for the first time in her life.

She had to learn to trust herself, her body, and her relationships again. She found help in a community of people similar to her — those who have experienced chronic fatigue and long Covid.

Her advice is to not give up. No matter how dark things are, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel (a trope, but true). Reach out for support, and keep reaching out until you get the help you need. Mindfulness meditation and the habit of gratitude are practices she committed to that helped her bounce forward. They might help you too.