Motivational Tips
‘It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light’
Aristotle Onassis
Learning to live with any chronic illness is a very long, gruelling and emotional process. It takes great stamina, patience, resilience, strength and determination. Just getting through one day at a time can be a real challenge. It’s incredibly easy to be sucked down, caught up in a complete whirlwind of emotion, and it can be a constant battle to keep going.
No-one else can possibly tell you how you feel; it is your own instinct and knowledge of your own body and your individual capabilities. Sometimes I know that I just have to give in and rest, simply because that’s what my body tells me. Other times I know I can fight back, and carry on. I try so hard not to get frustrated and remain upbeat, but to say it’s a challenge is an understatement.
Learning to live with Fibromyalgia turned me into a bit of a recluse on many occasions. It made me feel very anti-social, and it wasn’t always because of the physical pain I was suffering; sometimes it was more about the mental and emotional stress the illness put me under.
I recognised a pattern whereby tremendous pains would flare up; making it impossible to do the simplest of tasks, and it automatically affected my mood. It would drag me right down, invariably I would become very tearful, and so the only solution was to just hide myself away and wait for it to pass.
Over time, of course, this had a powerful knock-on effect, resulting in a complete loss of confidence and personality changes; there was always this voice in my head telling me I was a really boring person with nothing interesting to say. I never used to be that way, I always had a great time and an active social life, but I started feeling more and more as though I was losing myself. In short, Fibromyalgia overpowered and overwhelmed me both mentally and physically.
But I fought back. I knew these insecurities were in my head. But it’s very hard to shake off the negativity; I have to keep challenging myself to overcome it and have more self-belief. Fibromyalgia is a truly nasty syndrome that plays havoc with your mind as well as your body. There have been a number of things that have helped me; natural coping mechanisms to help me remain focused and positive which I would like to share with you. I hope they can help you as much as they’ve helped me.
At the end of the day, you are your own salvation. No-one else can fight your battles for you, and it’s up to you to change your way of thinking and look for the joy in the world around you. I have had a very long emotional battle within myself, but I worked through issues that I had and emerged a much stronger, happier and more contented person. It took me a very long time to accept the changes going on and I still have insecurities sometimes, but then again who doesn’t?