A Health Update and My Why

If you’re on Instagram, then you’ve probably heard of the “Best Nine” that is common at the end of each December.  If not, it’s just a collage of the 9 most-liked photos you’ve posted throughout the year.  If you don’t already follow me on Instagram, please do!  It’s my favorite social media app.  I often post daily about whatever may be going on or something that is on my mind.  I also use the stories feature over there to some degree as well, often to share things I’m not sharing anywhere else.

 

My most-liked Instagram photo for 2017 was the Sunflower Seed Butter Fat Bombs, which also found their way onto the blog.  It really surprised me, though, because I’m simply not a food blogger.  Trust me – there are lots of amazing real-food bloggers out there – and I’m just not one of them.  In fact, I/we tend to eat really simply.  I love to prepare healthy and tasty meals for my family, but I don’t like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  I keep it really basic.  We often have some quality meat or fish with a GENEROUS side of veggies and plenty of healthy fats!  So, as I said, I was surprised when I realized this was the most popular of my Instagram posts this year.  Similarly, here on the blog, the fat bomb recipe has done quite well, falling just behind posts about my personal story (here – part 1 and here- part 2) as well as two of my posts about exercise (here, here).

 

What I’m here to tell you, though, if you’ll take the time to read, is that I have SO much more to offer you!  The food is important, and so is exercise.  But I believe we MUST GO BEYOND THE FOOD and EXERCISE, as I mentioned in this post.  In fact, I’ve already said this quite often, but sometimes it’s important to hear the same message over and over.  This is exactly what has continued to help me move the needle forward in my healing journey.  I tackled much of the physical parts of my journey early on – food, exercise, detoxification of self-care and household products, lab testing, supplementation, etc.  It took me a while to get to the juicy stuff, though!  And that’s okay- we have to be ready! 

 

You may be wondering, “What exactly are the juicy bits?”

 

It’s the deeper mindset, spiritual, and behavioral STUFF!  And when I talk about moving the needle forward – these are the areas that have moved the needle the most.  It’s too good not to share with you!  So, I know those aren’t the most popular posts, but I have to keep sharing, hoping that they’re reaching some of you.  And hoping that one day, more and more people will be ready for these messages.  Remember: I’ve promised to be genuine and authentic with you and if I didn’t share this information or instead chose more “popular” information to share, it just wouldn’t be me!

 

Now, let me get a little personal….

 

I can’t remember at exactly what point it was in my health journey that I started digging deeper, into those juicer bits.  I guess I’ve done SOME of it all along.  I’ve also had a lifelong “spiritual” practice, and have always trusted in God and the plan He has for my life.  This journey, however, has certainly rocked my faith at times and made me want to cry out, “Why me?” or “Why am I not getting better?”  It’s challenging to let go of our human timeline and allow God to be in control of the timing.  I’ve allowed these rocky moments to be fleeting for the most part, recognizing they don’t serve me.  From the beginning, I knew I would be able to share what I learned through my journey, and that made it easier for me because I love to share, serve, and teach.

 

But at some point, I had to go much deeper with the INTERNAL work! 

 

I guess it was late 2015, early 2016 that I realized just how very important my mindset was to my healing.  I also dove more into exploring how past experiences or trauma may have been holding me back or binding me with limiting beliefs.  I realized how hard it was for me to speak the following mantra: “I am worthy of healing,” or “I deserve to be healthy.”  I recognized that I didn’t really know why I would be “deserving”.  I’d think, “Sure, I’ve worked hard to recover my health, but I’m not special in a way that I ‘deserve’ this more than someone else.”  I really had to delve deep into these limiting beliefs and began to claim my worthiness.  Even sharing this still makes me emotional.

 

Also, over the years, I had really come to believe my body was broken.  It wasn’t necessarily a fully conscious belief, but I had been working so hard to “fix” my health issues, that I had naturally begun to feel as though I was broken.  Every doctor I’ve been to along the way has felt I was somewhat of a “mystery” in one way or another.  I don’t often follow the general trends of most patients.  So, why wouldn’t I have begun to feel this way?

 

It wasn’t necessarily a fully conscious belief, but I had been working so hard to “fix” my health issues, that I had naturally begun to feel as though I was broken.

 

Early in 2016, I ordered a book called, The Loving Diet by Jessica Flannigan. Her approach helped me to really start looking at my illness as a blessing.  I had been looking for the blessings all along, but I honestly hadn’t been able to fully embrace my illness itself as a blessing.  I mean, c’mon, right?  A blessing?  I kinda hated it, yet Jessica proposed I LOVE it!   So, I started working on it.  I also started realizing that I no longer wanted to be in the “sick” mindset.  Although I went through each day trying to function as best I could, despite whatever symptoms I was having, I always kind of pictured myself as somewhat fragile.  And to be honest, I was a bit fragile.  But my mindset wasn’t helping me any.  So, I started doing a little less research on how to “treat” and “fix” my continued symptoms.  I started playing up my strengths, instead.  And I simply just started spending less time focused on my illnesses and more time on other things.

 

Now, I actually am very passionate about all things health, so it’s not like I stepped away from all of it.  I continued with whatever protocols we were working on at the time and have adapted them as needed since then.  I research when I have to, but just not all the time anymore.  I also made an effort to stop calling any of it mine.  For example, no more, “my brain fog,” but rather, “THE brain fog,” if I needed to refer to it.  I didn’t want to keep owning it.  I still slip with that sometimes, but this mental shift is a big one.

 

And you know what?

 

The needle JUMPED!  The year 2017 was definitely my best year yet since starting this healing journey.  And you know what else?  I also used the mantra, “My body is healthy and whole and is working hard FOR me every day.”  I went as far as to start believing I no longer had Lyme and CIRS.  I haven’t officially had all of my CIRS markers tested…

 

BUT GUESS WHAT!

 

Back in November 2017, I tested NEGATIVE for Lyme. 

 

(Just as a word of caution, I feel it’s important to say that since Lyme can hide, it can be necessary to test using various methods and more than once to be certain, but I AM CLAIMING this!)  I truly believe that God needed me to stop doubting and to start living my WELLNESS, instead of my illness.  This is not to say that I ignore the things I still need to do to maintain and continue restoring my health, but there is so much more that can make me healthy than those things! 

 

So, now you know why I’m constantly writing mindset-focused posts.

 

And I hope that as you read them they are giving you the gentle (and maybe not always so gentle) nudges you need to start making shifts as well.  I’m for sure still on this journey too.  There is ALWAYS room for growth and I can’t wait to see what another year can bring!

 

What about you? 

Are ready to see where more growth can take you? 

Give me a “YES” if that’s you!