*The F.I.C.

I'm sorry, but I can't...

Anyone with a chronic illness knows the feelings of guilt that go with "I am sorry but I have cancel..." at the last minute because their condition stopped them.

 

A friend (with her own chronic illnesses) and I had been making and breaking plans for a long time. During one of our middle of the night texts conversation she cancelled plans for the following day. She started apologizing and I could tell she felt bad about it. Although disappointed, I understood completely. Telling her I understood wasn't helping her feel any better about it. So I found another way to say it.

 

F.I.C.

That was how the F.I.C.( Fuck It Clause or Forget It Clause) was created. I told her from then on we would consider any and all plans tentative until someone actually left their house. The F.I.C. is the understanding between people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, etc, that sometime we can't do what we planned to do. Doesn't matter if we made those plans an hour ago or a month ago.

 

Those of us living conditionally have called the F.I.C. many things. We said "I'm too tired", "I'm not feeling up to it", "I'm having a bad day." But all of those things, though true, have been invalidated by people saying they are just "excuses". Its not an excuse, that's my life. So, from now on we use a new saying. "Sorry, F.I.C., lets reschedule."

 

Do you have different ways of saying F.I.C.? Tell us about them in the comments below.