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In Episode 13, Kari explores a deeply familiar tension for people living with chronic illness: being told “don’t overdo it.” While often well-intentioned, Kari explains how this phrase can feel controlling, dismissive, and painful, especially for people who already live with constant limitation and loss.

This episode is not about ignoring consequences or denying the reality of chronic illness. Instead, Kari centers choice and autonomy, emphasizing that chronically ill adults still have the right to decide how they use their bodies, even when those choices come with a cost. She challenges the idea that risk assessment belongs only to healthcare providers or loved ones, pointing out that everyone, ill or not, makes daily decisions that balance effort, desire, and consequence.

Kari distinguishes between denial and intentional choice. Denial looks like ignoring limits and warning signs; intentional choice means understanding the risks, planning for them, and deciding that an experience, connection, or moment of normalcy is worth the recovery that may follow. She shares personal examples, painting a room, tending a garden, attending events, that highlight how quality of life can sometimes matter more than symptom minimization.

The episode also explores the emotional layers beneath choosing to “overdo it”: anger at the unfairness of illness, grief for lost capacity, and even moments of rebellion as a way of reclaiming humanity. Kari normalizes these feelings while encouraging safe, thoughtful decision-making rather than high-risk behavior.

Practical strategies are woven throughout, including planning rest before and after activities, adjusting hydration or medication when appropriate, modifying events, accepting help without shame, and avoiding stacking multiple high-cost activities. Kari also offers scripts for responding to people who repeatedly warn or monitor, helping listeners protect their autonomy without escalating conflict.

The episode closes with reassurance and permission: wanting a full life does not make someone reckless. Choosing joy is not denial; it’s human. Sometimes rest is the right choice. Sometimes the moment is. Both are allowed.

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In Episode 12, Kari explores the therapy of nature and how time outdoors can support people living with chronic illness, pain, fatigue, and nervous system dysregulation. Kari begins the episode by reflecting on a familiar moment in nature, using sensory details to model what it means to slow down and simply be present outdoors.

Kari reflects on how nature offers something rare in modern life: non-demanding, predictable sensory input. She explains why this can be especially regulating for chronically ill bodies and for people experiencing anxiety, depression, or emotional overwhelm. Nature, she says, doesn’t ask us to push, improve, or prove anything, it gives permission to exist as we are.

The episode explores how nature supports the nervous system, including parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) activation, reduced stress hormones through visual exposure to greenery, and regulation of breathing and heart rate through natural sounds. Kari connects these effects to chronic pain, fatigue, migraines, and autonomic dysfunction, emphasizing that regulation—not exertion—is often what the body needs most.

Kari reframes accessibility by expanding the definition of “nature time.” She reminds listeners that nature doesn’t have to mean hiking or physical activity. It can be a porch, houseplants, sunlight, bird sounds, or simply opening a window during a migraine. She emphasizes that passive exposure still counts and encourages listeners to let go of doing nature “the right way.”

The episode also touches on the emotional healing that nature can offer, particularly during grief, sadness, anger, or frustration. Kari reflects on how nature helps people feel smaller in a comforting way, offering perspective, continuity, and a reminder that life moves in cycles without urgency.

She shares her own journey of redefining her relationship with nature as chronic illness changed her physical capacity. Through sitting still, nature photography, and watercolor painting inspired by the outdoors, Kari discovered new ways to connect that felt even more therapeutic than the high-exertion activities she once loved.

Kari closes with a gentle reminder: nature doesn’t cure chronic illness, but it can make living with it more bearable. Healing isn’t always forward motion, sometimes it’s settling, resting, and allowing yourself to be held by the world around you.

Episode links:

https://rosaliehaizlett.com/

https://rosaliehaizlett.com/collections/books

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If something you heard today resonated, share the episode or leave a review, it helps others find the show.

Read more at bothsidesofthecouch.substack.com or karirusnakcounseling.com/bothsidesofthecouch

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In Episode 11, Kari explores a major but surprisingly under discussed scientific breakthrough: the creation of a cellular atlas of the human ovary, recognized as one of the most important discoveries of 2024. Kari explains why this research is long overdue, given the historic underfunding and neglect of women’s health and the health of people with ovaries.

She begins by naming an important distinction, while this research is often framed as “women’s health,” not everyone with ovaries identifies as a woman. Throughout the episode, Kari intentionally uses inclusive language to reflect the full range of people impacted by ovarian biology, including trans men, nonbinary, and intersex people.

Kari breaks down the science in accessible terms, describing the ovary atlas as a high-resolution, cell-by-cell map created using advanced imaging and molecular sequencing. She compares it to “Google Maps for the ovary,” allowing researchers to finally see how ovarian cells develop, communicate, age, and respond to hormones, something that was previously impossible due to the complexity and variability of ovarian cycles.

She outlines why this research matters so deeply: improved understanding of fertility and unexplained infertility, major implications for menopause research, and potential breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating conditions like endometriosis and PCOS. Kari also highlights how this atlas may lead to more targeted, preventative, and personalized hormonal care across the lifespan from puberty through menopause.

Drawing from both her professional and personal experience, Kari connects this research to chronic illness, explaining how hormonal shifts affect fatigue, pain, autonomic function, migraines, autoimmune flares, and dysautonomia. She shares her own delayed diagnosis of endometriosis and reflects on how earlier scientific understanding could have changed her treatment and quality of life.

The episode also addresses the emotional impact of medical dismissal and gaslighting, naming how generations of people with ovaries have been told their symptoms were “normal,” “too emotional,” or not worth investigating. Kari emphasizes that scientific validation restores dignity and may prevent future generations from experiencing the same harm.

She closes with practical encouragement: trust your lived experience, ask informed questions, seek second opinions, and advocate fiercely. Kari frames the ovary atlas as a turning point. This blueprint will shape women’s health and ovarian research for decades and reminds listeners that while the body has always held wisdom, science is finally starting to listen.

Research Referenced in This Episode:
Cellular Atlas of the Human Ovary Using Morphologically Guided Spatial Transcriptomics and Single-Cell Sequencing
Jones AS et al. (2024)
https://www.ginecologiarobotica.com.ar/assets/documentos/CANCER-OVARIO-sciadv-adm7506.pdf

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Thanks for listening to Both Sides of the Couch!
If something you heard today resonated, share the episode or leave a review, it helps others find the show.

Read more at bothsidesofthecouch.substack.com or karirusnakcounseling.com/bothsidesofthecouch

Support the show: buymeacoffee.com/karirusnak
I currently run off donations only, I pledge to only work with advertisers I can 100% support.