How Chronic Illness Redefines What Actually Matters, with Tara Rule

This week on Calling in Sick, I’m joined by actor, content creator, and disability rights advocate Tara Rule for an honest, existential conversation about what happens when you come face-to-face with your own mortality… and decide to stop waiting for permission to live.

Tara and I talk about how chronic illness forces so many of us to grow up early, reckon with uncertainty, and hit emotional rock bottom. And that from those experiences and downward spirals, you can come to realize that we have nothing to lose by finally chasing the lives and creative careers we want. From content creation to acting, we explore why so many chronically ill people end up in creative spaces, and how “rock bottom” often becomes a strange kind of launch point.

We also unpack the full spectrum of chronic illness content… from crash-out creators to toxic positivity… and why all of it matters. Because the chronic illness journey isn’t linear, and neither is healing, ambition, or success.

This episode is about holding gratitude for simply being here today and allowing yourself to want more.

xx, Alex

💬 Comment: What’s something you’re no longer waiting for permission to want?

Substack EXCLUSIVES! This week, only our Substack subscribers will hear our two cents on what we would have changed in our early diagnosis days, when we knew it was time to quit our 9-5 jobs, and how I’m preparing to make motherhood more sustainable and accessible with chronic illness.

Subscribe to our Substack here: https://substack.com/@callinginsickpod

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Intro:

00:00:00 Welcome back to Calling in Sick!

00:01:01 Alex Catch Up

00:04:17 Episode Sneak Peak Housekeeping, and Substack Info

00:06:17 Alex’s Picks (Sacheu Lip Liner & Thrive Causemetics)

Tara Rule is Calling in Sick:

00:08:27 Intro to Tara

00:15:45 Tara’s career shifts (mortuary school, content creating, acting)

00:17:27 How a near death experience changed EVERYTHING 

00:32:09 Why it’s important to have different voices that paint the full picture of chronic illness

00:37:45 How Tara handles masking (or not masking) chronic illness for her career

00:42:40 Why is there SUCH a pipeline for chronic illness fighters to the creative space

00: 45:35 The fear of flaring versus the fear of disappointing others

00:47:16 How powerful our brains are

00:50:07 Navigating redefining success with a chronic illness

Conclusion:

00:58:13 One Brain Cell Show (Stranger Things (Netflix), Telepathy Tapes (Spotify); Haunted Hotel (Netflix) and Heated Rivalry (Prime))

01:03:16 Thank you for listening!!

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Produced by: Alexandra Wildeson — https://www.instagram.com/alexandrawildeson/

Alex’s Picks of the Week:

My go to passive wellness picks, in food form!!

✨Sacheu Lip Liner — https://go.shopmy.us/p-38126238

—> ALEXANDRA15 for 15% off

✨Thrive Causemetic’s Plumping Lip gloss — https://go.shopmy.us/p-38126276

Connect with Tara Rule

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tara_rule_/?hl=en\

• TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@tara_rule

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