This theme exemplified that the experience of having a chronic illness meant that adolescents had to work harder. The effort was physical in nature (i.e., doing daily. exercise), mental (i.e., deciding how much medicine to take), and emotional (i.e., feeling frustrated). For some adolescents, "extra effort" meant having to be patient for things to return to normal in their lives or "time consuming" and "annoying" when managing their illness.