Finding Your Balance: Using ACT and Mindfulness to Thrive with Autoimmune Disease
Living with an autoimmune disease while pursuing an ambitious career can feel like running a marathon with weights on your shoulders. The fatigue, pain, and unpredictability of symptoms often collide with deadlines, meetings, and the constant pressure to “do more.”
But here’s the truth: you can still thrive. It doesn’t mean pushing harder or pretending your health doesn’t matter. It means finding new ways to honor both your body and your goals. One powerful approach is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based framework that helps you live in alignment with your values even when life throws obstacles your way (Hayes et al., 2006; Hayes et al., 2013).
What is ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a proven approach that encourages psychological flexibility, the ability to stay present, accept what you can’t control, and take action toward what truly matters (Psychology Today, 2022). Instead of fighting your diagnosis or negative thoughts, ACT invites you to shift your relationship with them.
Here are the six pillars of ACT, with simple strategies for women balancing autoimmune challenges and professional ambitions:
1. Acceptance
Acceptance involves acknowledging your reality, even when it’s painful. For many living with autoimmune disease, diagnosis comes with both relief and grief (Vitacco, 2024). Relief that you finally know the cause for all your symptoms, but grief of the life you used to have or desire. Below I share an example of how we can practice “acceptance daily”.
Example: Instead of pushing through a flare, give yourself permission to rest—even if it means rescheduling a meeting.
2. Cognitive Defusion
Cognitive defusion means noticing your thoughts without letting them define you (Hayes et al., 2006).
Practice: When you catch yourself thinking, “I’ll never keep up,” pause and say, “I’m noticing I’m having the thought that I’ll never keep up.” That little shift creates distance and reduces the thought’s power (University of Michigan, 2024).
3. Being Present
Mindfulness helps you tune into the moment instead of worrying about tomorrow or ruminating on yesterday (Psychology Today, 2022).
Practice: Try a 5-minute breathing exercise before logging into a Zoom meeting. Just notice your breath and let your shoulders relax (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024).
One of the ways I personally enjoy practicing mindfulness is by focusing on my breath while running or taking long walks.
4. Self-as-Context
You are more than your illness, more than your stress. ACT teaches you to see yourself as the observer of your experiences, not defined by them (Thrive Training & Consulting, 2021).
Reflection: Write down three qualities that describe you beyond your illness (e.g., creative, resilient, compassionate).
5. Values
Values act as a compass. They guide your decisions and remind you what matters most (Hayes et al., 2006).
Example: If well-being is a value, you might prioritize spacing out meetings instead of booking your schedule back-to-back—even if the culture around you pushes for “busy.”
6. Committed Action
Committed action means taking intentional steps toward your values (Hayes et al., 2006).
Practice: Incorporate daily rest practices, like journaling, meditation, or prayer into your routine. These small, consistent steps build long-term resilience (Harvard Health Publishing, 2024).
Mindfulness Tools to Support Your Journey
If you’d like support cultivating mindfulness, here are some tools to explore:
Calm – Paid app (with a free trial). Great for guided meditations, sleep stories, and breathing exercises.
Headspace – Paid app (subscription-based, with some free introductory exercises). Focuses on stress reduction and daily mindfulness.
BlackFULLness – A paid app designed specifically with the Black community in mind. It centers culturally relevant mindfulness and wellness practices. While it requires a subscription, free access is available through their Community Partner Program, which partners with universities, nonprofits, and organizations to provide members with the app at no cost.
Insight Timer – Free app (with optional paid upgrades). Offers thousands of meditations, live sessions, and courses on mindfulness and rest.
Tip: Start small. Even five minutes of guided mindfulness can make a meaningful difference in how you manage stress and fatigue (Zielinski et al., 2019).
Final Thoughts
Living with an autoimmune disease in academia—or any high-pressure career—requires more than willpower. It requires new strategies that honor both your health and your ambition. ACT and mindfulness aren’t quick fixes, but they are powerful tools to help you live with greater balance, resilience, and self-compassion (Wynne et al., 2019).
Because thriving isn’t about pushing harder—it’s about moving forward in alignment with your values, at a pace your body can sustain.
📚 Want to dig deeper?
This blog was adapted from my chapter on women in academia living with autoimmune disease and the ACT model. You can view the full list of references and research here: Google Scholar Reference