What to do if your mind is affecting your physical health.

Be kind to yourself, your body can hear everything you say!!!

During my early dark days lots of people including my nearest and dearest and doctors insisted that my pain was all in my head, that I was mentally unwell and this was causing the pain. I know now it was the other way around. The breakdown of my immune system and body caused me so much anguish that it developed into a vicious circle of poor physical and mental health. One fed the other as my body failed me, my sense of worthiness diminished. I began to be unkind to myself feeling like a burden to those around me, this made the physical pain so much worse and my recovery so much harder. I let unkind words from people I loved feed my negative conversation with myself and I started to believe I wasn’t fit for purpose. 

Many autoimmune and chronic pain sufferers find it hard to express what they are going through to their loved ones. It’s so tough on anyone who is trying to understand. The reality is we really need emotional and physical support to get well. I learned a very valuable life lesson - We do need love and support to be well and get on in life, the most powerful source of this comes from within.  

Whether you are ill and in pain or not this is a valuable lesson to learn. It is so easy to lose yourself while you are busy loving and taking care of the needs of those you love. Rediscovering the importance of taking care of my physical and emotional needs, and even remembering what they are has been an invaluable experience. A journey that hasn’t been easy but one I am grateful for. 

So how have I battled with my inner voice? 

I’d lost myself somewhere along this journey, the pain from my body and unkindness led me to blame myself. Fixing this was so important to my recovery, something I didn’t know and would have never discovered without my brilliant friend and life coach Georgie Muir @chasinglobsters.

This is just one of the many things Georgie has helped me understand. She has helped me so much to understand myself and how I react to situations. The importance of forgiveness and thinking forward and not back. There are too many lessons to mention, she continues to work with me to achieve my dreams and to get the Jolly Allotment community thriving.

My illness helped me discover who I could rely on in life and I wasn’t on the list. Georgie Muir helped me to see that if you love yourself, and accept yourself, for who you are, you are more likely to find others that love you. So be realistic about your mistakes, learn from them and forgive yourself. Don’t let the negative inner voice get so loud that it is all you can hear. Better still reason with the negative voice and ask it why it is there and listen, really listen. It’s not an easy thing to do, possibly the hardest bravest thing I’ve ever done but my word I wish I’d done it years ago. Powerful stuff. 

Life should be about how we feel, being comfortable in the skin we have and not about how we look or how acceptable we are to others. It’s not about being impressive, it’s not about pleasing an audience, its about being happy living an authentic life.

Thank you Georgie Muir, you are as wise as you are beautiful. 

Check out @chasinglobsters on Instagram and if you ever feel like life is getting muddled she will definitely be able to help you find a way through. She really is a wonderful life coach. 

You can read more about my recovery and how I have rebuilt my immune system  here in my story on my site and more about  Georgie in my journal post ' the little book of wizards ' or on her website www.chasinglobsters.com

Polly x

Thank you for reading the Jolly Journal - I really appreciate your interest and hope it's of value to you. I am dyslexic and for years this stopped me writing because of the fear of getting it wrong. Now I am embracing my fear so I appreciate your understanding if you see a mistake I have missed. Thank you! - Polly x

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