Just like the emotional challenges we face in life and the, ahem…… angels disguised as idiots that are put in our paths, health challenges can also be an opportunity to learn more about who we are AND who we are not. Health challenges are indicators to tell us where we are resisting the flow of Life and moving away from our true nature. They are signals from our deepest and most wise self to slow down, take a look and perhaps heal what is inside of us.

About two years ago I was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalopathy – a disease that affects the nervous system and creates a laundry list of pathology. It took over six years to be diagnosed and in that time my health was deteriorating with no explanation. I went from doctor to doctor and specialist to specialist searching for answers with no luck. All the while I was searching within myself for what I was not facing or kidding myself about. I searched and searched with no luck there either.

Finally, after many years of searching I hit a dead end and it was then that I just surrendered completely and looked up and said, “I’m yours. Whatever I need to go through and for however long, I will. I trust I will get the answer when and if it’s ever to be so.” Three days later I found the doctor that changed everything. Today my health is back and better than ever.

Here is what I learned and am still learning from this journey:
1. I will surrender completely and just trust Life. My life path had tried so many times and in so many ways to show me this, but this one brought me to my knees and stayed in my face until I could no longer NOT get it!! To this day it isn’t easy to stand hip deep in crap and surrender but I got it!
2. When you let go you get what you need. Ugh! How much crap did I have to go through in my life to get this one finally! Again, letting go isn’t easy when all your alarm bells and whistles are going off but I got it!
3. I intuitively knew all along what was wrong with my body, I just needed to learn to assert myself above the “experts” because I AM THE ONLY EXPERT when it comes to my body.
4. I was denying key parts of my being that were banging to get out and be expressed. I now allow the fullest expression of my whole being. I won’t go into detail here. It’s personal, but I think you get the idea.
5. I have learned how to manage my energy in a way that shows self love above and beyond anything and anyone else. I no longer have the luxury of reserved energy because of this disease and it has forced me to be hyper-conscious of how I spend every bit of my energy and on whom. This consciousness has become a keystone in my work as a coach.
6. It’s no longer OK to just store great thoughts in my head and partially live them. It’s time now to have the rubber meet the road in what I believe.

This last point is crucial. As a coach I KNEW all this in my head and talked about it frequently to clients and in training other coaches but it wasn’t until this opportunity (meaning my health challenge) came along that it dropped out of my head completely and permeated my entire being. I’m a work in progress but there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not thankful for this incredible teacher that has come to show me who I am AND who I am not.

Let go and trust life.