“Why me? Why now? Is this how things are going to be for the rest of my life? Why is my body so broken?”
If you’ve dealt with autoimmunity, chronic illness, or symptoms that nobody can seem to explain, you’ve probably asked yourself these questions too.
I was fortunate to receive an accurate diagnosis of Hashimoto’s and SIBO before I even really realized that I was sick, but it was years before I saw true progress, and thoughts like these were no stranger to me.
I’ve always been a doer, a type A fixer, a problem solver. So naturally, when Hashimoto’s and SIBO came up, I set out to fix them through diet and lifestyle. I did everything I knew to do, and after many months without a change in my symptoms, I got discouraged. I started to feel betrayed by my body.
I decided to seek out a new naturopath and see if a fresh pair of eyes could help me. That decision was a turning point in my healing. Not because of the doctor, though she has been an invaluable part of my progress, but because of the shift in my mindset that happened when I started working with her.
I decided that I was just going to trust the process. I was going to follow all of her recommendations, not worry about my symptoms, and have faith that over time, things would change.
It took several months, but one day, I noticed that my bloating was a little better. Not long after that, my menstrual cycle started to show signs of returning. While we did add some new and different treatments, I believe that my shift in mindset was a big part of what finally allowed my body to start to heal.
I decided that I had to ditch the “woe is me” mentality and take responsibility for my healing, instead of hoping that my doctors would fix me. I acknowledged that it was a privilege to get to take care of my body in this way. To learn to listen to the feedback she was giving me. To honor her by saying no to some things so that I could say yes to others.
I also had to shift my mindset around cost. Working with functional medicine providers and alternative therapies is rarely covered by insurance, and I had a lot of hesitation, fear, and even guilt around spending so much money on these things. Shifting my mindset to acknowledge that this spending was an important investment didn’t change the total amount, but it did change the way that I perceived it. I set up a budget and started planning for what I needed.
And lastly, I had to reframe the idea that my body was failing me or against me in some way and instead consciously proclaim that my body was on my side. She wasn’t bad or broken, she was just doing her best to communicate her needs to me, and I was learning to listen.
Shifting my mindset was an essential component of healing my Hashimoto’s naturally, and is one of the tips that I share in my Top 5 Tips to Heal Your Hashimoto’s Naturally handout, which you can download here. If you’re looking for more comprehensive support on how to create a healing lifestyle and get your life back, you might also be interested in The Healing Hashimoto’s Course. You can find more info on that here!
Have you seen the impact on mindset on your own health? Tell me about it in the comments!
Until next time,
Tracey