Show Notes
Living with chronic pain and invisible illness, I thought recording my audiobook was the hard part. I was wrong. What happens when you have to listen to your own story, all over again? You don't just hear the words. You relive them. In Part 2 of this behind-the-scenes journey creating the audiobook of my memoir, But You Look Just Fine, I share what it was really like to sit with the edited recording and hear myself telling my own story back to me. It was harder than I expected. I found myself reliving painful memories, wondering if I had shared too much, and listening for every tiny imperfection while battling the perfectionist voice telling me it wasn't good enough. On top of that, my trigeminal neuralgia makes wearing headphones for extended periods genuinely painful, which made the editing process even more difficult. But somewhere in the middle of it, I had a realisation. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be done. I talk often about slowing down, listening to your body, and practising self-compassion, but making this audiobook showed me I do not always follow my own advice. With encouragement from my therapist, I stopped focusing on what wasn't perfect and started honouring what I had actually accomplished. I wrote a book. I recorded an audiobook. I kept going. And that matters. If you are looking at everything you haven't done instead of everything you have done, this episode is for you. You are enough. What you are doing is enough. Your journey does not have to be perfect to be worth celebrating.
🎉 You are invited to my audiobook virtual launch! 📖 But You Look Just Fine: My Journey to Rediscover Joy Amidst Chronic Pain and Invisible Illness 📅 24 September 2026 ⏰ 7:00 PM Irish time 💻 Live on Zoom, hosted by Andrea Hayes 🎟️ Free, registration required 👉 Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/but-you-look-just-fine-audiobook-launch-celebration-with-andrea-hayes-tickets-1998429646870
What is something you've accomplished that you haven't stopped to celebrate yet? Tell me in the comments. If this episode speaks to you, LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE it with someone who needs to hear "you are enough" today. 📖 micheleroys.com 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Youtube and wherever you get your podcasts
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