This one’s a vulnerable share from my heart.
My #1 lesson from living with autoimmunity and a complex health story myself….
Learning to be ok with moments of discomfort.
This isn’t sexy or groundbreaking - it’s hard AF work.
And lemme tell ya - ya girl has had practice - a lot of it.
Here’s what I mean,
It’s completely natural (thanks to our brain's negativity bias) to want to panic, feel fear, perceive something as ‘wrong’ and immediately ‘solve it’ when symptoms or flares happen.
You want to solve it, you want it to go away, and for some us...you really mentally SPIRAL.
One uncomfortable symptom can send your brain into detective mode.
What did I eat? What did I do wrong? Why is this happening AGAIN!?
Suddenly, you're not just experiencing discomfort. You're experiencing FEAR about the discomfort.
And over time, your nervous system can start treating every symptom like a threat.
I know this well because this was me at points in my journey. I literally have so much compassion for the person who has gotten this diagnosis, felt ‘crazy’ in their health journey and felt like they had to explain themselves to those around them because on the outside they look fine.
This is (legit) my story.
So as someone who has really lived it, I cannot stress this enough - RADICAL acceptance of what is happening in the moment, even when symptoms feel scary, is absolutely vital.
The goal isn't to never feel discomfort again. It's to stop turning every moment of discomfort into a story of danger.
And this is NOT the same as ignoring your symptoms. Please don't ignore them. It's about learning to validate and acknowledge what's happening in real time, without spiraling into fear about what it means.
Here's my process:
1. ACKNOWLEDGE: State the fact and state the feeling
“I am noticing the bloat is back, I am frustrated that this is here”
2. Choose the high(ER SELF) road
That moment is a crossroads - you can let yourself go down the dark, spirally, “this will never get better, I’m stuck here” story OR you can remind yourself:
“I am my own example of healing. I have come out of symptoms/flares/sicknesses before.”
Radical acceptance to me = a full surrender to what is happening in that moment, even if you don’t like it.
You don’t have to like the symptoms. You can still want them gone and want things to be different. But instead of fighting what is, you are choosing to stay with yourself and remember:
“I've been through this before, and I can get through it again.”
3.) WORRY → CARE
Lastly - remind yourself that the reason you're worried or scared is because you CARE about something.
This immediately helps us shift to a higher vibe thought - ie “I feel scared when symptoms come up because I love to travel and I want to keep doing it."
Acknowledge; Choose the high road; Worry → Care.
Sounds weird, but teaching our clients to practice radical acceptance ALONGSIDE the in-depth functional gut health work we do is THE secret sauce.
Because what I've seen over and over again is that it's not just the mindset work OR the physical healing work that moves the needle most. It's BOTH, together.
You can be actively working to heal your body AND stop being at war with it in the meantime.
For those following our SENSY gal chronicles - this is just one of the many nervous system strategies we work on with clients.
Because especially for sensitive gals, nervous system work isn't just about meditation or calming down. It's about building CAPACITY to handle life.
If this resonates with you - you're just the type of gal we love working with. APPLY HERE.
