A companion tool for Reluctant Warrior — and for anyone whose body has been through something.
If you're here, something hard has happened — or is still happening.
Maybe you were recently diagnosed. Maybe you're in the middle of treatment. Maybe someone told you you're "done" and you're wondering why it doesn't feel like it.
Maybe it isn't cancer at all. Maybe it's chronic illness that arrived and never left, or grief, or trauma, or a body that stopped being predictable and nobody can tell you why. Maybe you're the one caring for someone you love.
Whichever it is — I'm so sorry you're here. And I'm glad you found this.
One of the things I learned the hard way is that illness doesn't only happen to the body. It happens to all five realms of who we are: physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. Treatment addresses one of them. The other four are usually left to us.
This check-in takes about five minutes. It isn't a test, and there's no passing score. It's a snapshot of one moment — today — so you can stop guessing at what's hardest and start tending to it on purpose.
Take what helps. Leave what doesn't.
This tool is companionship and lived experience — not medical care, therapy, or a diagnosis. It won't tell you what's wrong with you, and it can't replace your doctors, your therapist, or your treatment team. Your answers stay on this device; nothing is sent anywhere. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please reach out to a crisis line or someone you trust today.
First — where are you right now?
This just helps the reflections meet you where you actually are. Choose whatever fits closest. You can skip it.
Your check-in —
Here's where you are today
This is a snapshot of one day, not a verdict. Healing isn't linear — these lines will move.
Realm by realm
A place to land
You are allowed to miss who you were. And you are allowed to welcome who you've become. Both can be true.— Reluctant Warrior
Before you close this, finish these two sentences. Not the polished version — the true one.
A Gentle Reminder
Whatever this showed you, hear this before you go: you are not broken. You are wounded — and wounds can heal. You are not doing this wrong because you're still struggling long after everyone else thinks you should have moved on.
Come back to this whenever you want. Not to improve your numbers. Just to check in with yourself, honestly, the way you'd check in on someone you love.
Dr. Christina Hibbert is a clinical psychologist and the author of Reluctant Warrior. This check-in is a reflective tool, not an assessment, diagnosis, or treatment recommendation, and it is not a substitute for care from your medical or mental-health providers. If any of this brought up more than you expected, that makes sense — please consider bringing it to a therapist or someone who can sit with you in it.
Your check-ins over time
Healing isn't linear. These lines won't be either — and that's not failure, that's the shape of it.
