My Greatest Christmas Gift
Life’s gifts often come wrapped in sandpaper (Mina Grace Drake)
Once, being told that my illness was a gift infuriated me, but now I can see the truth in this statement.
Life’s gifts often come wrapped in sandpaper (Mina Grace Drake)
Once, being told that my illness was a gift infuriated me, but now I can see the truth in this statement.
What can you do when you are watching a loved one suffering who won't let you help?
Do you hate your body, the pain and other symptoms it puts you through, and its failure to perform? What if your body is not letting you down? What if your symptoms are simply your body's way of trying to draw your attention to what needs to change in your life? What if you started loving yourself and listening to what your body has to say?
The experience of chronic exhaustion is so often one of numbness: dislocation from our emotions, our needs and our bodies. We can lose the music in our souls that makes us want to dance and sing. Deliberately reconnecting with the music we love can be a powerful healing tool.
If brain fog and sensitivity make reading from a screen difficult, click here to listen to me read this blog.
What would it take for you to decide that you will do whatever it takes to recover? This is my story of a very personal pilgrimage.
At the age of eighteen, I chose nursing as a career because I wanted to make a difference in the world, to help people. Simple as that. Or was it? What does lead us to choose nursing, medicine, social work, or any other caring profession? What keeps us there despite the hardships? Why is it important to recognise and be honest about the roots of our motivation?
If you are exhausted and miserable over Christmas, remember that what you need matters too. Here are my top tips for setting boundaries that respect your right to peace, joy and healing at Christmas.
How often have you been told that, ‘We know so little about fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, ME, Long Covid’ and that you must learn to adapt, not hope? Recovery begins in the belief that there is hope, that there are answers. It ends with membership of a tribe who wake with a sense of wonder every morning at the great gift of life and movement and joy. I continue to find members of my tribe in the most surprising of places and times.

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