From health victim to powerful, vibrant wellness
You know how they say that the Universe whispers in your ear, then tries to get your attention with a tiny stick, and THEN you get hit with the 2×4? Well, that was me with my health.
Before I figured out what to do, before I figured out how to do it, and before I reclaimed my own power to become well, I was sick … and getting sicker. Doctors didn’t really seem to know what to do with me. Sure, they made some diagnoses, and I got a variety of tests and medications, but I still was slipping downhill. Not rapidly at first, but, over time, it got serious.
Two defining moments finally came when I was so sick that some of my time was spent propped up in a corner between my bed and nightstand. Because it was too painful to even lie down.
The first happened when my caring nurse practitioner suggested we next try Mayo Clinic to get some answers. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. Oh no, I was that ill of a person. I could see my future in a heartbeat — tests and more tests. More money gone. More time gone. And, despite the worries of losing all that, the biggest became … the kind of life I enjoyed — gone.
The second was watching the blue sky with fluffy, white clouds drifting by as I was too ill to do anything but watch them out my bedroom window. Along with Mayo, was this going to be my life — watching life pass me by? Oh, hell, no.
I went from victim to fighter. I started putting piece after piece after piece together. I found great resources. I researched and read myself silly. I studied holistic health on my own. I figured out — with me as the guinea pig and, then, sometimes, friends and family — what worked and what didn’t. What mattered and what didn’t.
The woman who might have become a Mayo patient — she is so gone. The woman who watched life pass by as she was ill — gone. I know what to do, how to do it, and I do it. Not via torture and endurance and the strength of will that’s more rigid than steel. I don’t have that. Seriously don’t. My wellness road has curves and changes and goofiness and trying out new stuff and letting myself off the hook and finding what I enjoy within each of the building blocks. It’s finding my way. Because that’s the only way that works.
My passion now is helping others find their way. We’ve lost our connection to the guidance system that helps show us the way. Put that back in place along with the areas that matter — the ones you might never, ever been told matter — and you’ve got a complete system to live well and, gasp, still enjoy life.