I’m eleven weeks into a 12-week exercise challenge and I’m thinking about how my chronic illness helped me get here. When I started eleven weeks ago, I was very apprehensive. Dealing with chronic fatigue and migraine from long COVID made me unsure whether I’d be able to do something so physical. I went into it without many expectations, but with hope that the challenge could help get my physical health back on track.

Two and a half years of managing long COVID symptoms left me much less active than I used to be, with periods when I didn’t exercise at all, aside from what was required for my daily tasks. Long COVID took me from being an active person who exercised everyday to being a person who clutched the railing for support when I used the stairs, lay down to rest halfway through making breakfast, and sat in the shower because standing was too fatiguing. It completely changed my expectations of what I could and couldn’t do.

When faced with a change so fundamental, you can either fight it or accept it, and I did a little of both. Some days, I spent all my time in bed, willing my symptoms to go away with rest, while others, I went overboard with activity, wanting to live life in spite of my symptoms. No matter which way the pendulum swung, it was my body that ultimately called the shots.

After two years, some of my symptoms did get better. While I still experienced ups and downs, my physical fatigue slowly diminished over time. As often as I was able to, I started getting out for morning walks, when my energy was best. But after two years of inactivity and psychiatric medication, which often makes you gain weight, I found myself at 20 pounds above my normal weight. That’s when the idea of the 12-week challenge came in.

When I completed my first workout, I was ecstatic. I could actually do it, fatigue and all. I remember texting my mom and feeling so proud of myself. From there, I kept going, working out four days a week and walking when I was able to. There were some days I was exhausted after my workout and needed a long lie-down on the couch to recover. But that was mostly at the beginning as my body was getting used to exercising again. With a couple exceptions when I had to postpone a workout due to fatigue, I’ve stuck with it for 11 weeks. From being unsure whether I’d be able to do one workout to completing almost 12 weeks, I’m amazed at what I’ve been able to accomplish.

I attribute a lot of my success to the skills I’ve learned managing chronic illness. First and probably most significant, I’m good at routines. When you don’t know when, if ever, you’re going to feel better, the day-to-day becomes crucial to staying grounded. A daily routine offers consistency that, too often, a chronic condition takes away with its whims and sudden changes. Even if you have to adjust that routine because of your illness, it’s a structure through which to live your life in the face of uncertainty.

Second, people who manage a chronic condition are used to discomfort, and we have a superhuman endurance for it. If you have daily chronic pain, as I do with chronic migraine, you will struggle if you don’t develop strategies to cope with it. Whether those are based in mindfulness or distraction, they are all valid if they help you get through it. I didn’t know how much my mindset had changed vis-a-vis discomfort until the 12-week challenge. I was able to endure the discomfort of working out and building back muscle because I deal with discomfort all day, everyday. I’m used to it and I’m good at it.

I’ve started thinking of my ability to manage my condition as a superpower, allowing me to overcome obstacles in other areas of my life. Before this 12-week challenge, I probably wouldn’t have used the words determination, willpower, consistency, and commitment to describe myself. But these are words that I and people around me have used to describe me in the past 11 weeks. After going through what I’ve been through with my health, I have a grit I didn’t used to, one that allows me to manage all sorts of challenges, whether physical or emotional.

I think all of us with chronic conditions become superheroes through our experiences. The same illnesses that give us the most discomfort also give us the most valuable skills, qualities, and gifts. I think we’re some of the strongest, most flexible, and most resilient people out there. It’s time we started thinking in terms of our strengths, not just our deficits.

Undertaking a new challenge and succeeding can give you a sense of accomplishment, pride, and self-confidence. If you’re not in a place with your illness to exercise, maybe there’s another goal you want to set for yourself. Maybe your life is full of challenges already, and you just need rest and time. I was there. It took me two and a half years to get to where I am now. And I needed people to tell me it would get better while I was going through the worst of it.

I did lose five pounds, by the way. But what I gained is much more valuable: the knowledge that I can do more than I think I can, and if I set my mind to something, I can achieve it.