Change your story, change the storyteller

~ Carolyn Thomas

https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11800/womans-guide-living-heart-disease

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Published by Carolyn Thomas

8 thoughts on “Change your story, change the storyteller”

  2. Pingback: Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer

  3. My life changing heart event was 11 yrs ago when I was 58 and within 3 years was put on disability. The state of my overall health has deteriorated ever since.

    While I don’t revisit those heart events and medical treatments, I now am almost obsessed with a new determination to reject most of Western Medicine (except for emergencies). I have begun to tell a new story based on the belief that food is medicine. And also the holistic realization my spiritual (not religious), human community, nature, exercising this 69-year old bedridden body is where I need to rewrite everything.

    My biggest challenge today is recovering from the loss of my dear sister and mother to cancer and COVID. Grief and Pandemic isolation has driven me even further into a limited view of my future.

    So, the second part of the change of my story, is always asking or feeling: is it too late for me?
    Intellectually I know the answer is it’s never too late, I go through the motions of creating a new and healthier story…. it takes visualizing what I want to see and be, addressing my overwhelming grief, and each day doing at least a couple hours of activity checking off a list. I read constantly things that inspire and help. Though immunocompromised, I am fully vaccinated and beginning to see friends again.

    I am revisiting gratitude each day, as I know I am blessed with resources.

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    1. Hello Suzie – first, I am so sorry about the tragic deaths of your mother and sister. What an unspeakably sad loss for you and your family.

      I suspect that the wise directions you have adopted (the food you choose to eat, your spiritual life, being in nature, exercise, etc.) will help you get through this grief, one day at a time. Sometimes it can feel like just one hour at a time…

      Thank you for sharing your unique perspective – it makes me stop and think that consciously seeking what “inspires and helps” me each day could make a real difference in my healing, too.

      Take care, stay safe. . . ♥

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  4. Many years ago, I said to a very good friend of mine. “If we ever go out to lunch and all we can talk about is our bowels, just shoot me!”

    As a nurse and a Spiritual Health Counselor, I am a magnet for people’s stories of ill health. I listen closely, I offer compassion and then I invariably pose questions like … how is that affecting your life on a day to day basis? What would you like to see happen with this situation? Are your expectations realistic? Is this where you want to place your time and energy?

    My emphasis is that we are souls, Spirits with temporary bodies and we need to give time and attention to our mental and Spiritual selves in equal, preferably greater, amounts than we do to our physical form.

    I am 72 years old and have a medical problem list as long as my arm. Each day I ask the Universe once, to please inform me if I need to direct attention to any of my pills or pains. Then I move on to the work of the day.

    My illnesses do not define me, though my experience with them allow me to be of service to others.
    Blessings!

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    1. Hello Jill – I really like the way you describe listening with compassion – while also asking good questions, most of which, I’m guessing, few if any other listeners have asked. The questions are like a little interruption to the flow. The issue with being newly-diagnosed (or long-ago diagnosed but obsessed with retelling each health crisis story) is that the teller is rarely aware of the experience of listeners. And for many – especially as we get older – the world has begun to shrink, meaning less interest in focus on the outside world and more focus on ourselves.

      I suspect this is also true for various stages of life. When I was a first-time new parent, all my girlfriends and I talked about were our babies. When I was a distance runner, all my running group wanted to talk about was running or training or our last road race. It’s like shop talk- which is okay when you’re with your colleagues but (as I used to warn my scientist hubby) people at dinner parties do NOT want to hear about zinc and copper sediment in the Fraser River estuary all night long… That’s just boring.

      Thanks for sharing your unique perspective, Jill. Take care and stay safe. . . ♥

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  5. Perfect timing for me to receive this, Carolyn. Thank you.

    May 19, 2021 was my very significant SEVEN year Near Death Experience Rebirthday! Seven brave soul pals acknowledged it! Must continue on my Wellness Warrior path so I can inspire others.

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