Finding Joy with Autoimmune Disease

I didn’t try to be cheery, happy, and positive all the time at my rockbottom.

If I had tried, I would have failed.

And to me, it’s not about being cheery, happy, and positive all the time anyway.

You see, to me, at my rock bottom, it was about:

• having the courage to wake up every morning and find gratitude no matter how broken my body felt
• having the courage to own my story and say “this isn’t how my story ends…I will find a way”
• choosing to belly laugh even on my hardest days…even if it was only through watching my favorite sitcom
• choosing to let myself ugly cry as often as I needed to (and sometimes it was everyday)
• relying on my faith and drawing comfort from my Father in Heaven and Savior
• and more.

You see, my story isn’t ??????.

It isn’t rainbows and butterflies and happily ever after.

It’s raw and filled with pain but also filled with learning and growth and beauty.

I don’t know why you are going through what you are going through.

It’s not fair.

But I believe this experience can turn you into an even better version of yourself and that you will be able to share your story to help others.

I know it can feel extremely stressful…

I had to realize that while I can’t change my diagnosis, I could change my stress levels / reaction to it and my mindset.

If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to focus on lowering stress, self care, self love, and mindset.

It may not change all of your physical symptoms but it will change how you process them and see them.

Don’t give up.

Remember, t’s okay to feel like autoimmune disease is unfair.

It’s okay to feel all the feels.

It’s doesn’t make you a bad person…it makes you human.

And when you’re ready, tackle nutrition and lifestyle.

What we eat and how we live matters.

It may not feel like it today, but you got this.

I believe in you.