Is It a Good Day or a Setup?

When your body suddenly cooperates, and your brain immediately thinks, “What’s the catch?”

May 12, 2025

💥 Power Surge: What It Feels Like When You Finally Have a Good Day (And Don’t Trust It)

There are days that sneak up on you.

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You wake up and… your limbs cooperate. Your head’s clear. You don’t have to bargain with your bladder, brace for spasms, or chase words around your brain.

It feels… normal. And it’s terrifying.

Because when you live with MS, a good day can feel like a trap.
You want to enjoy it — maybe even do something spontaneous.
But part of you whispers, “If I do too much, I’ll pay for it tomorrow.”

So you scale back. You hesitate. You don’t trust your own joy.

That’s the chronic illness mind game: it teaches you to distrust ease. To second-guess your own body, even when it's behaving. To believe that if today’s too good, something worse must be coming.

But here’s the truth: you’re allowed to enjoy the good days without apology, fear, or guilt.

You didn’t cause this disease, and you don’t have to shrink every time it steps aside.
Use the good day.
Don’t overuse it.
Just be in it.

That’s not tempting fate.
That’s reclaiming your life, one unpredictable hour at a time.

🔍 Under the Radar: Weirdly Helpful Science You Might’ve Missed

  • A recent study shows that anticipatory anxiety (a.k.a. the “I feel good, but I know it won’t last” dread) spikes cortisol and messes with cognition — meaning the guilt you feel about feeling good… can literally ruin it.

  • Also, a small MS fatigue study found that people who intentionally rested during good days (not just flare-ups) actually had fewer bad days over time. Rest isn’t just a response. It’s a strategy.

🔥 Hot Plate, Cold Nerves: Cereal-for-Dinner Parfait

Sometimes the best thing to make for dinner is a mess.

What you need:

  • Your favorite cereal

  • Greek yogurt or whipped cream (or both, we’re not judging)

  • Berries, bananas, or leftover trail mix

  • Optional: peanut butter drizzle, honey, rage

How to make it:

  1. Layer it in a bowl like you care

  2. Realize you don’t

  3. Mix it all together and call it a Spoonie Parfait

It’s got crunch. It’s got comfort. It’s dinner. Let’s move on.

🗳️ Reader Poll: What Do You Do on a Surprisingly Good Day?

  • Clean everything like a maniac

  • Lie very still and pretend I’m not happy

  • Go outside, touch grass, cry a little

  • Use it up and hope for the best

  • Other? Hit reply and confess your chaos

💢 Mini Rant: MS Isn’t a Job Interview — Stop Performing Resilience

You don’t have to prove that you’re “handling it well.”
You don’t owe anyone optimism, energy, or productivity.
You’re not a damn TED Talk.
You’re a person with a nervous system that ghosts you mid-sentence.

You’re allowed to enjoy, rest, collapse, cry, rally, and not explain a single bit of it.

🗣️ Journal Prompt:

When was the last time you felt joy — and immediately questioned it?
What would it feel like to accept a good day without bracing for the fall?

We’ll be back Wednesday. Until then — take the good day if it comes.
No guilt. No rush. No catch. Just you, being here.