Autoimmunity and the Good Girls: Behind-the-Page with Sara Hirsh Bordo
May 12, 2026 · 20 min · 14 segments
Have you ever ignored a gut feeling or a signal from your body? We have absolutely all been there. Learning to embrace the wisdom and power of our own bodies is a life long journey but it is…
This week's episode features a very few precious highlights from my multi-hour interview with fellow eldest daughter, fellow multi-time diagnosed and trauma survivor, entrepreneur and writer Michael Morrison.
I'm especially excited to share this, and one more to come later in the series, because the experts are women like us.
No one knows the eldest daughter experience like another eldest daughter, and from my research, over 60% of us diagnosed with an autoimmune are either the eldest or the only daughters in our families.
I write in the book, "You, too, might have made an unconscious bargain for a life of safe belonging instead of self-identity." For Michael, this was especially true in her girlhood within a deeply instilled faith-based upbringing.
Now in her mid-30s, Michael is wiser than her years and continues to be forced to make really difficult daily decisions for her own chronic pain and her health.
A conflict of empowerment and faith were echoes that rang loudly in my 1,000-woman research.
Many, many women wrote in that they struggled to be both good for God and good to themselves.
If this resonates for you, be it good for outside authority and good to yourself, you are not alone, and I'm glad you're here for Michael's brave and beautiful story.
This week's episode features a very few precious highlights from my multi-hour interview with fellow eldest daughter, fellow multi-time diagnosed and trauma survivor, entrepreneur and writer Michael Morrison.
I'm especially excited to share this, and one more to come later in the series, because the experts are women like us.
No one knows the eldest daughter experience like another eldest daughter, and from my research, over 60% of us diagnosed with an autoimmune are either the eldest or the only daughters in our families.
I write in the book, "You, too, might have made an unconscious bargain for a life of safe belonging instead of self-identity." For Michael, this was especially true in her girlhood within a deeply instilled faith-based upbringing.
Now in her mid-30s, Michael is wiser than her years and continues to be forced to make really difficult daily decisions for her own chronic pain and her health.
A conflict of empowerment and faith were echoes that rang loudly in my 1,000-woman research.
Many, many women wrote in that they struggled to be both good for God and good to themselves.
If this resonates for you, be it good for outside authority and good to yourself, you are not alone, and I'm glad you're here for Michael's brave and beautiful story.
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