CULTIVATE AN EXCEPTIONAL LIFE
Chronic illness, trauma, or other life challenges may appear to obstruct the path to living your best life, but they don’t have to. Certainly, your plans may have been uprooted, but your life has the potential to transcend the ordinary. You can cultivate an exceptional life, despite the challenges you may encounter. After all, you are much more than your condition, your trauma, or your failures.
Cultivate an Exceptional Life is a lifestyle blog designed for the chronically ill. However, many readers without chronic illness also find our content inspiring and valuable. Whichever category you fall into – welcome!
Are you ready to overcome challenges, unlock your potential, and create a life that is truly exceptional?
Join Leisa Watkins and let’s embark on this empowering journey together.
Start exploring our website now and take the first step towards cultivating a life of resilience, empowerment, and fulfillment!
CULTIVATING
HAPPINESS & JOY
CULTIVATING HEALTH & WELLNESS
CULTIVATING MENTAL STRENGTH & STAMINA
Chronic Strong: Thriving With Chronic illness
I also have a section of our site dedicated to providing support, information, and resources for individuals living with chronic illnesses.
RECENT ARTICLES
Multiple Sclerosis vs. Primary Progressive Aphasia
Understanding chronic illness means navigating a landscape where symptoms can overlap, conditions can mimic each other, and clarity often feels elusive. Today, we'll explore Multiple Sclerosis vs. Primary Progressive Aphasia, diving into the unique features of Primary...
Symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a condition that quietly, yet profoundly, disrupts the harmony of the body. It occurs when the mast cells, those tiny sentinels of our immune system, release too many chemicals at the wrong time. The result is a cascade of...
What is Endometriosis? A Guide to Understanding the Condition
What is Endometriosis? Endometriosis is like a hidden, uninvited presence in your body—a condition where tissue that should be confined to the uterus finds itself elsewhere. This tissue, which mirrors the lining of the uterus, begins to grow in places it doesn’t...
The Art of Writing a Self-Compassion Letter: Embrace Your Worth and Heal
Writing a self-compassion letter is a powerful practice that allows you to embrace kindness, understanding, and patience toward yourself, especially in challenging times. In our fast-paced world, it's easy to be our harshest critics, but self-compassion offers a...
Embracing the Quiet Magic of New Beginnings
On this first day of the year, a soft hush falls upon the world, as if the universe itself is holding its breath, waiting for us to make the first move. The sun rises quietly, casting its golden light across a landscape that has been touched by the frost of the past...
Serving Others When You Feel Limited: Creative Ways to Give Back
Finding New Ways to Serve When You Feel Limited Many of us discover, as we face the challenges of living with chronic illness, that the desire to give, to serve, to make a difference, remains unshaken. In fact, it often grows stronger even as our bodies or minds may...
Club Wyndham Kingsgate Review, Williamsburg, Virginia
We stayed at the Club Wyndham Kingsgate resort during our trip to Williamsburg in August of 2021. While we focused primarily on sightseeing, the resort offered many amenities we didn’t have the chance to use. For guests seeking rest and relaxation, this property has...
A Christmas of Grace
Merry Christmas! As the day unfolds, there’s a quiet invitation in the air, a call to step away from the frenzy of the world and embrace the soft stillness that Christmas brings. It’s a time to breathe, to reflect, and to rediscover the grace that comes with the...
A Story of a Cancer Diagnosis: Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Embracing Resilience
Stories of a cancer diagnosis are often filled with fear, uncertainty, and the unrelenting weight of the unknown. Ours was no different. It all began with a simple assumption: This surgery is pretty routine. After all, it’s just a sinus infection. That’s what we had...
Southern Utah Vacation – An Unexpected Journey
It was October 2020—a moment suspended between the chaos of what had been and the hope of what might be. The world was cloaked in uncertainty, and so was I. Like many, I’d been tethered to the familiar walls of my home for months, yearning for a taste of something...
8 Tips to Develop Better Decision Making Skills
There are moments in life when decision-making feels like a breeze—especially when it’s a business choice. We weigh the facts, see the options, and in an instant, the path ahead becomes clear. But when it comes to matters of the heart and soul, how often do we falter,...
Emotional Intelligence Strategies for Chronic Illness
Living with chronic illness creates a unique rhythm—a delicate dance of fluctuating pain, lingering weariness, and the quiet uncertainty each new day brings. In this journey, emotional intelligence can serve as a gentle yet powerful companion, offering support without...
Hello! I’m Leisa. I’m a chronic illness bloggers, speaker, author, mother, wife, and much more.
I’ve learned to navigate life’s transitions with a certain grace, even when the road ahead seems filled with hurdles. You could call it my superpower—finding the strength to push forward, no matter the storm.
Not too long ago, my daughter and I were beginning to heal from a car accident that seemed to come out of nowhere. A driver, distracted by their phone, barreled into us at over 90 miles per hour. In the blink of an eye, our world was altered forever. And just when we thought we were adjusting to our new reality, life threw us another curveball.
In the span of a single week, my husband was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and three days later, I received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. To add to this overwhelming weight, our daughter was hospitalized, and my children were also grappling with their own chronic illnesses.
By this point, I was no stranger to hardship. As a family, we face nearly 30 different health conditions, including Epstein Barr, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lyme Disease, Dysautonomia, multiple sclerosis, and more. We’ve weathered storms of financial ruin, personal trauma, loss, and the heartache of multiple miscarriages. Yet through it all, I’ve found the strength to keep going.
In our home, we face these struggles head-on, and we’ve learned to embrace the possibility of joy, even in the midst of adversity. It’s this mindset, this belief that life’s challenges don’t define us, that I hold close. With the right tools, a supportive community, and a mindset rooted in possibility, we can thrive—no matter what life throws our way.
And so, I invite you to join me on a journey of resilience, healing, and growth. Through sharing my personal story, the lessons I’ve learned, and the strategies that have helped me, I hope to inspire you to cultivate an exceptional life, despite the trials you may face. Let’s walk this path together, one step at a time.
