Hi All!
To give a brief summary, I have been through A LOT in my short lifetime. I am only 23 years old and I have fibro, chronic migraines, and Raynauds, among many others things. One thing that I have been somewhat successful at is not letting my illnesses control my life.
A couple months ago, I went through a life changing experience. I hit a rough patch and had the lowest outlook and was feeling very awful. Then, it got to the point where it was affecting my everyday activities and life. It was as if the fibro and migraines were taking over my life and there wasn't anything I could to stop it.
One day I woke up and just had enough of it! I was always being told that stress was a major factor as to how I was feeling and I didn't believe it. I would say "What am I stressed about?" "I don't have any stress" "It has to be something else" I believed all those things until I finally looked deep inside myself and "de-stressed" my life. I eliminated people who would bring me down, and became closer with those who were supportive. I decided to make the best out of every situation and focus on school as a way to learn and cope with my hardships rather than complaining or saying school was ridiculous. School is supposed to be hard so we learn about the material, and so we learn about ourselves in the process. As a result, I got rid of unnecessary stress. I started eating better and working out a lot more.
I have changed my attitude and outlook on life to a positive one for the first time in a long time. The results were, and still are, remarkable. I can honestly say that I feel good and I haven't been able to say those words in years! YEARS! I am now a believer that stress CAN have a negative effect on your health, a negative attitude CAN bring you down, and a negative outlook CAN hold you back!
It is up to us to take these experiences and learn from one another. Now, it is not easy to change how you feel and it can't be done overnight. However, taking it one day at a time and by realizing our blessings and the good instead of the bad will really help a person out if you take the chance to see it.
I hope all is well!
- Faith
Faith Young is the pseudonym used by one of Lumigrate's longest content providers, as she began writing at the age of 24 in Lumigrate's FIRST year on the Internet! In real life, this young woman who has been living with FMS for many years received her Bachelors degree in Health Education from Montclair State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude. To further her career, she is currently working on two Masters degrees, one in Counseling from Seton Hall University. Since she is a 6th grade health teacher working to educate students on the importance of being physically and emotionally healthy, we found it best to provider her with a pseudonym of her choice and "Faith Young" is what resonated. In the long run, this very real young woman has faith and hopes be able to use health education in counseling and provide up to date information at Lumigrate which will appeal to the younger people 'out there' and bring them 'in here' to Lumigrate in addition to our more mature adults. In addition, she is a LumiLiaison for Lumigrate.com and helps facilitate Lumigrate FMS fan pages on facebook. Search on Lumigrate and Lumigrate: Fibromyalgia and join us related to general and/or FMS specific information; Like us and those #s count with our advertisers and supporters and also allow YOU to keep up with what we're up to!
Links:
[1] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/positive-attitude-positive-outlook-grate-results#comment-619
[2] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[3] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/positive-attitude-positive-outlook-grate-results#top
[4] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/469%23comment-form
[5] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/469%23comment-form
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/positive-attitude-positive-outlook-grate-results#comment-1357
[7] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/power-skin-hunger
Comments
Wonderfully written, Faith ! You're a very talented communicator and I'm really pleased that you are out there educating young people about health education, while working on a graduate degree in counseling. You're going to help many and I have to say that, as hard as it is to have health issues, in my experience it has made me a MUCH better occupational therapist because I can 'commiserate' and truly understand where patients are coming from, and I find that my successes in improving my health and life serve as an example for them which is beneficial.
However, it just breaks my heart
to think of you having struggled with such pain and fatigue in your teens more-so than I. I only had 'monthly' pain, which was unbelievably bad, and fatigue in the afternoons, blackouts every time I stood up and poor endurance for physical things such as high altitude hiking -- essentially my childhood was not impacted too much/daily. But I got into my 50s and realized that the symptoms of adrenal fatigue were clearly there in my teen years and I so wished my phyisicans and family would have rolled up their sleeves and put on their thinking caps more. It WAS the 1970s and there was not nearly the information out there as there is today -- the answers are all out there (overall, naturally, there is always more for research to uncovers before totally resolving all the questions about fibromyalgia), it's a matter of people finding them and then USING THEM, which is what this piece you contributed speaks of. Finally allowing yourself to look at stress, for instance, and change your relationship with it.
Really marvelous piece you've shared here, Faith. Thank you! ~~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [2] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
Faith posted a new piece recently (Sept 2011) about skin hunger and the power of touch on the body, and she linked to this article for readers to follow along to and I thought I'd post a little piece here to link readers of this piece over to that new and also very good piece. So if you've not read it yet, OR have started there and come here and now want to go back where you came from, here's the link!
www.lumigrate.com/forum/power-skin-hunger [7]
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [2] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!