Hey everyone,
For a long time, I thought I had to keep the different topics on my blogs totally separate. “There’s no way anyone with SI joint dysfunction would want to read about healing from neuroplastic pain,” I thought.
“Better put all of my mast cell info on a totally separate site, in case the SI joint people can’t relate to it.”
In case you didn’t know, I actually have a total of three sites. Sunlight in Winter was my very first blog, which I started back in 2012, about dealing with chronic pain/fibromyalgia.
Then, I started My Sacroiliac Joint Saga back in 2016. Originally, it was my open diary to myself, to take notes on the different approaches I was trying to heal from SI joint dysfunction. I left it set to “public” just in case there was one other person out there who could benefit from it– and now look where we are 🙂
Finally, I started Mast Cell Healing in 2018, when I realized I was at the beginning of figuring out another challenge.
Each site started out as a work in progress– I wasn’t quite sure I’d end up with anything to offer people. (So glad to say, I did!).
But I think the idea that I have three separate sites — that, really, life has thrown so many curveballs at me– felt a bit heavy.
“What if people think it’s weird that I have three sites? What if all my problems are just too hard to follow?”
These are things I’ve wondered about, sometimes. Like so many of you, I also have fought to be heard, and to be taken seriously. I’m very careful about how to present my health journey.
But, you guys. You guys have been so amazing.
I have honestly been having the most awesome chain of people signing up for coaching recently, and some of you guys have read all of my sites.
We have been having the most awesome conversations based on what I talk about on all three of my blogs, such as:
- “Which brain-based approach did you use for chronic pain? And how is that different from what you did for mast cell?”
- “Will pain neurophysiology education help if the pain coming from the SI joints?”
- “What should I do first– start DNRS, or learn the Muscle Energy Technique?”
And I just cannot tell you how much it has meant to me, to have people find value in all the different parts of my story.
I honestly have been through a lot. I’ve learned how to overcome a lot of different things. And it’s been amazing to be to be able to put these things into action, to help others.
Now I see that what I’d thought was a weakness, is actually a strength.
Now, I finally understand the common thread that was woven through so much of my experience. Everything I went through– mysterious chronic pain, SI joint dysfunction that was far more extreme than the average person’s, and mast cell activation syndrome– that actually all goes along with the genetic hypermobility condition I now know I have.
It was never really all “separate.” All this time it felt like I was chasing separate problems, I was actually experiencing life as a hypermobile person. Like many of you, I was dismissed so many times in a medical world that doesn’t know how to recognize hypermobility.
So, I just wanted to put it out there that I appreciate all of you so much– for seeing how the different pieces are connected, even where I hadn’t fully explained.
Find your “why”
Have you ever heard this expression? Your “why” is thing that drives you– the real reason behind what you strive for.
My “why” is that every time I help someone else find their voice, to feel validated, and to truly recognize that their symptoms are real– it helps me too. That’s why I blog, and why I coach.
It’s like somehow reaching back in time and creating a better world for that person I once was. That girl who was scared to see yet another physical therapist for her SI joints, because no one could help her and she felt like a freak.
I choose to lift others up, because I want to make sure no one else fell where I fell.
And it means so, SO much to me to know that it’s working.
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P.S. This feels like a slightly weird time in our country to be writing a post about being happy. If you follow me on social media, you’ll know that I am actually devastated about the loss of womens’s rights that we recently suffered, along with several other moves by the Supreme Court (such as cutting back the EPA).
If you missed my social posts, I hope you’ll check them out.
I decided to write post this today because this is the kind of victory that gives me strength— to be able to tie science and compassion together to help people.
If we are going to fight these appalling changes and stand up for our rights, we do need to take peace and strength in the things that matter to us. That is why I decided to post this today. I have faith that the fight is not over and we will keep going.
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 