Faith vs. Fear - taking charge of your responses

Faith vs. Fear

Hi friends! WOW. What a weird time we are living right now. The difference in emotions from last week to this week couldn't be more palpable! I am seeing so many posts about fear and anxiety surrounding what might happen, restrictions that are being put into place, and just not feeling like you can live a normal life right now....

So I wanted to provide several resources to hopefully support you during this time...

First, I wanted to share my perspective on all of this, and why I'm not personally freaking out. 

1) Faith

Number one, and by far the most impactful is my faith. I know, as I did through my cancer journey, that whatever happens happens. And whatever I may personally experience in my own life, shows up for a reason. It's therefore my ONLY job, to be open to lessons I may learn, stay calm,  and receive it in faith. When things happen in our lives beyond our control, it is the best opportunity to give God all the control. Ultimately He's in control any way so...

2) There is a difference between fear and anxiety, and being proactive and conscientious.

I am certainly being very proactive, and very conscientious, but I choose not to be fearful or full of anxiety about things that may or may not happen. So far, I have survived all scary and negative things that have happened in my life, and there has never been a moment where worry or anxiety helped me navigate those times better.

So what am I doing to be proactive? Well I'm certainly not slacking on my supplements. One of the  things we DO have control over right now, is our bodies and our own personal home environments. Eating healthy foods, getting outside for walks and fresh air, taking immune boosting and detoxifying supplements etc.... my usual.

70% of your immune system lies in your gut. Prioritizing your nutrition, optimizing sleep, stressing less, and dialing in on your supplementation are all supportive.

In addition, when we went grocery shopping we did stock up a little more than usual. Being proactive is something within our control. When we take steps on things that are WITHIN our control, it helps us relax al little more about things that are NOT within our control. 
 

3) Find the good.

Don't tell me that when a few activities were cancelled you didn't feel a LITTLE relieved that your schedule was a little less booked? :) Now, being quarantined for several weeks, not being able to eat out or gather in large groups is NOT ideal.

However, finding the silver linings and maintaining a positive attitude can only HELP your immune system (where stressing lowers it!). I'm choosing to be grateful for less stuff going on. This came after a particularly busy season where our lives and schedules were PACKED and in fact, had this not all happened, we would currently be hosting a German exchange student in our home, and in a little over one week Keegan and Patrick would be flying to Japan and my parents and I would be flying to Prague for vacations.

I could be totally bummed but I'm not. This in no way impacts my life in a negative way in the grand scheme of things, and in fact, it's nice to have some down time.

You don't have to love this, you don't have to LIKE it. But you CAN choose to be happy, positive and joyful. Which is good for YOU, your body, and your family during this time!

4) Find the JOY

Intentionally seek out things that make you laugh. Laugh at all the toilet paper memes. Make jokes yourself. Get on TikTok and watch how silly people can be in the midst of life upheaval. Watch funny Netflix movies. Be purposeful about stress relief!!

How can I help??

In order to support you more fully, I am posting updates in my FB group #Youtrition - in regards to healthy food delivery services, supplements when they are available etc (it may appear the world is out of Vitamin C, but there are options!).... to hopefully encourage you with some ideas and tips through this unprecedented scenario.

I am also offering stand alone coaching calls at a discounted rate from now until the end of March. I don't normally offer stand alone calls, but I wanted to offer this as an option for anyone who wants to ask some questions, get some tips or anything else you feel may be supportive during this time. The hour is all yours to use as you need!

If this would be supportive to you, you can book a call below.

DEEP breaths!!!!!! Take a moment to think about something that makes you happy, visualize it. Feel it in your body. Create a positive emotional state for yourself right now.

Stay safe, and stay healthy.

God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.

We hear this phrase often, but do we really believe it? Over the past 7 months, it would be easy for me to become depressed, discouraged, angry, frustrated and so much more. I mean, who dedicates their life to getting healthy and helping others stay healthy and then gets cancer? Doesn’t seem fair does it…

But because of my faith, I knew from the start that:

1. There was a plan

2. Whether I enjoyed the process or not, there was a purpose and

3. I would come out strong in the end andlearn some yet unknown lessons that needed to be learned

And sure enough, here I am, at the end of this journey (and the beginning of a new one) having fulfilled each of those things.

Plan

Not surprisingly, from day 1, I saw that God had been planning this journey for several years.

• I discovered my tumor had been there for 2 years

• I discovered later that cancer develops (like autoimmune diseases, another form of immune system dysregulation) over 7-10 years

• I knew that had I not gotten sick in 2015, I wouldn’t have become an FDN

• Had I not become and FDN, I wouldn’t have gotten to deep into healing, and already put in several years of work

• Had I not put in the work, this journey may have been much more difficult for me

• Had I not become an FDN and really invested in myself and my business I wouldn’t have gone to Mindshare (a networking summit with some of the top functional medicine docs around the country)

• Had I not gone to Mindshare, I wouldn’t have had access to any of the experts I used to guide me through this process (detox expert, emotional healing expert, integrative naturopath specializing in cancer)

• Had I not had access to these people I may have experiences loads more symptoms and not recovered as quickly in between treatments. I am walking away with no long term effects on my heart, lungs, or nerves and during the process I never experienced severe constipation, or pain of any kind. The most regular symptoms for me were fatigue, nausea and some acid reflux/discomfort from the epithelial lining being so raw from this process. I didn’t even lose all my hair ( I really think it stopped when I started taking beef liver again!) I had some many people praying for me across the country - I know that God protected me in many ways throughout this process.

  So…..You see…..from the beginning I knew there was a plan. God knew that this was part of my journey and he set me up to navigate it as successfully as I possibly could. He blinded my eyes to the tumor ( which I could see in pictures stating 2 years prior) until it was the right time and I knew the right people.

But for whatever reason….this was still something He wanted me to experience.

Purpose

I knew there was some purpose to this. Maybe it was to solidify my stance that there is benefit to both conventional and natural medicines….maybe it was to strengthen my faith….maybe it was to help me empathize with clients and understand the body better….

Whatever the reason, I knew there was a purpose. And while I have learned MANY lessons, and had many A HA! moments, I may learn the ultimate purpose much later….or never at all….

Discovery

The first 3 months were the hardest. My body was shocked with this new treatment, I didn’t know what to expect, and anytime my white blood cells tanked it scared me. Everything was so new. The second treatment was the hardest as I ended up with an infection and an overnight hospital stay. This effectively eliminated my recovery period between treatments and so I wasn’t as strong going into the 3rd. But then around this time, I decided I really needed to continue living my life. I couldn’t just STOP living and so as I felt well, I did things that made me happy like singing and being around people again.

And throughout this last half of treatment I had revelation upon revelation about the kind of person I want to be, the kind of life I want to live, how I want to relate to other people and even how I want to run my business.

This isn’t to diminish the pain, fear, and uncertainty of this process. It’s not fun, and treatment weekends are the worst. Over the next 3 days I’ll spend most of my time in bed, popping nausea pills, sleeping, and forcing myself to drink water that to me tastes disgusting just to avoid dehydration which makes EVERYTHING worse.

But I simply don’t know how I would have navigated this without my faith. Without knowing that God had a plan, I wouldn’t have been looking for it. Without assuming there was a purpose, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my mentality positive and hopeful. Without knowing that there were lessons to be learned, I wouldn’t have be open to receiving all the downloads I was being divinely sent.

This was something I was meant to go through. I’m thankful that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I praise God for knowing what I needed, and I can’t wait to implement my new life goals. Some of the best things in life come from the most painful experiences. I hope I never have to go through this again, but the battle was worth the win.