In this episode of the Becoming You podcast, I share the life lessons I’ve learned from my autoimmune disease and how you might be able to apply them to your own life.
To give you a quick background, it was 2004 when I got sick while I was in the middle of a very intense MBA program. I was also one year into my marriage at this time.
Now, it seemed like your typical fever at first. But as it progressed, it felt as if someone was tying a heavy anchor around me, and the world began to move slower and slower.
I was finally prompted to see my GP. After a week of tests, I got word that something was very wrong with my immune system.
I was sent to a rheumatologist and, eventually, was finally given the diagnosis that I had mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), which is basically a combination of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and polymyositis.
Symptoms include immense joint pain, inflammation all over my body, exhaustion, lethargy, mental fog, and difficulty performing simple mundane movements (like taking off my clothes or even picking up a spoon).
In short, I went from being a healthy 23-year-old to being told that I had to live with this debilitating disease forever. Specifically, there were things I could do to manage it; but, there was no cure for it.
There was no other way I could put it: The moment I got that diagnosis, I believed that I was cursed.
It’s now 2021. And guess what? I’m doing more than okay 17 years since my diagnosis.
Living with MCTD for that length of time quite literally brought me so many life-altering lessons that I’m here to share with you today.
Lesson #1: I am the expert when it comes to my body and life.
Your job, however, is to define your own future once you hear what the doctors have to say.
Everybody is conditioned in life to act (or react) in certain ways to different situations. I learned to thrive by becoming aware of this fact and taking the reins.
Lesson #2: Your body is meant to calibrate to healing and wellness.
Your body is always, always, healing.
It is always trying to reach equilibrium—a center. And that center is wellness.
Give your body a chance and listen to the wisdom it holds for you. We don’t tend to hear this wisdom because we often live in our own heads.
Stop trying to figure it out. Slow down and listen to your body. Eat as it tells you to eat. Move as it tells you to move.
That’s all the wisdom we need.
Lesson #3: Accept, honor, and appreciate your body wherever it’s at.
Take a moment and ask yourself these questions:
“How often am I angry at my body?”
“How often am I judging my body and how it seems to lack what I need?”
“How often do I actually tend to my body with love, honor, and respect?”
You cannot hate your way to a body you love.
Make peace with your body where it’s at in order to get to where you want to go.
Lesson #4: Try new things.
It seems like such a simple concept; but, don’t we so often overlook what’s simple and yet so profoundly vital?
You see, I believe that your “aliveness” or “beingness” comes from exploring your edges.
Lesson #5: The food you eat is your medicine.
Your food is your “first line of defense”, so to speak. I’ve been on my plant-based diet for ten months now, and I’ve only begun to reap what I’ve sown. During those first three months, my coach and I didn’t observe any changes at all. I was actually feeling quite discouraged.
Lesson #6: Control your diet based on how you want to feel.
When we cut out the things that aren’t good for us, such as sugar and alcohol, we find it difficult because we look at it as deprivation.
We know, logically, that we’re doing the right thing, but it doesn’t make it any easier on our bodies.
Instead, I’ve learned to look at this through the lens of the benefits I will receive as a result of cutting out these unhealthy foods and drinks, instead of focusing on what I lost.
