Something you may or may not know about me, in the fall of 2013, I developed a chronic illness while earning my Masters of Speech-Language Pathology. It turns out, illness doesn't wait around for the perfect timing and it doesn’t discriminate. This post isn't to gather anyone's sympathy about my situation or what’s happened to me, so please, don't feel bad for me for a moment. It's not about that. I’m sharing because my own health and wellness journey has been one of the most impactful turning points in my life and career. It was the catalyst that ultimately led me to becoming an NTP and building Speaking of Health & Wellness, LLC to serve my clients in a way that combines my passions and knowledge. In hindsight, I am endlessly thankful.
I came across a card recently that I wrote myself years ago and it sparked a variety of emotions within me…
During the last academic semester, December 2014, my cohort was about to head off on holiday. One of my very passionate professors was running late for class and having a particularly rough day. She found herself caught in a back and forth with an editor or publisher (I can’t exactly recall) about a major piece of her life’s work. Her legacy that she had poured her heart and soul into, and they wanted to tailor it beyond what felt still authentically hers.
Rather than diving straight into the material, she passed out notecards for the room, instructing us to date them. She shared the details of the day she was having and continued she’d been experiencing health challenges (but was going to be alright), and apologized for the length of time it was taking her to get certain grades back to us. The room was quiet. Many of us were shocked that she was sharing so personally in this way. She didn’t intend to make us feel sorry for her though. It was meant to be a moment of truth and realness. Likely to be judged but she didn’t care. She “felt the fear and did it anyways”. In her frazzle and honesty, she was so vulnerably human and inspiring to me, especially in the midst of what I was going through in my own health journey.
She put the class material on pause to share her own rawness with us and inspire us to be creators of change in our lives and careers. She spoke about passion and leaving a legacy. She challenged us to check in with ourselves as we concluded our final week of SLP Masters coursework, and think about the work and purpose that we would give to the world…and then write it onto the card. Put it out there. As you may have expected, she gave us heads up that if we were comfortable we should share them aloud in class as colleagues, and then keep them for ourselves to reflect on.
I was terrified to share my truth
but I wanted to take the moment and opportunity seriously
At that time, I was slightly over a year into my health journey. I was under the care of a Naturopathic Doctor and her Registered Nurse/Nutritional Therapist after visiting numerous allopathic doctors without answers or relief. I was improving my health and lifestyle rapidly to keep up with my food and environmental sensitivities. I was fatigued, battling chronic pain, and experiencing a body burden overload.
Meanwhile, I was learning a number of highly inconvenient truths about our food, healthcare, educational systems and industries, along with our government agencies. In my learning I came across financial ties and a series of issues that made me uncomfortable and more cautious with my purchases. I was upset about my circumstances and grieving in many ways, but desperately determined to create something positive from my circumstances. I can see that so clearly now when I look at the language I used on my card below…
When you read it, if I seem angry, it’s because I was.
And for the record, I no longer refer to myself as someone who is “sick”. Our word choices influence our mindset and thoughts, which influence our reality. I now choose “healing” and try to be mindful of the way I speak of my health.
The Naturopathic Doctor and Registered Nurse/Nutritional Therapist that I was seeing had both strongly encouraged me to look into autism spectrum disorders as whole body conditions when they learned what I was studying. This stretched my mental capacity in many ways to consider and learn about but since then I’ve been consumed with the topic.
As it turns out, there is a plethora of literature that currently exists and their publications are not slowing any time soon. An increasing body of evidence exists to support that autism spectrum disorders (at least certain subgroups of) are whole body epigenetic conditions. [1.] The challenge is getting this literature in the hands of the public and professionals to be accepted as mainstream knowledge in the face of an estimated 17 year research lag! [2.]
