Below is a list of the chapters with a tiny excerpt from each one.
Introduction
Help ourselves? Isn’t it the doctor’s job to cure us? That my friends is the first thing I learned on my journey of healing. It is my job to take care of my health. It is my responsibility to make sure that I am doing everything I know to do to live a healthy life.
Chapter One: I know that Fibromyalgia can appear out of nowhere
The only way I can relate to Fibromyalgia and its appearance in my life is on a personal level. The understanding that I have developed comes from years of reading, of talking, of questioning, of wondering, of trying to figure this out. So my understanding is deeply personal…
Chapter Two: I know that pain can become everything there is
And it doesn’t end with being in pain. Because you’re in pain all the time, you’re exhausted. Because you’re exhausted you don’t eat well, you don’t sleep well, you don’t exercise – even going for a walk down the road is beyond you – you don’t go out with your friends, you don’t do anything but try to get through each day with your sanity somewhat intact…
Chapter Three: I know that people will think you are faking
Avoiding your pain or avoiding those in your life who are in pain does not lead to good health. We need to heal ourselves, to heal our lives by being present and aware. Being present to ourselves and being present for others…
Chapter Four: I know that pain has many layers
Healing, for me has been more than learning Pain Management strategies. It’s been about listening to the story that pain is telling and then finding ways to process that story and to heal, not only the surface but deep down inside..
Chapter Five: I know that your life, as you know it, comes to an end
Fibromyalgia brings with it loss. Loss of the life you were leading, of the activities you pursued and perhaps, like me, of the career that was laid out before you. Loss needs to be grieved. Give yourself permission to feel the sorrow, the anguish of losing the life you had before it was consumed by pain..
Chapter Six: I know that it is not about being strong
At what point do you say “I can’t do this anymore”. We need to realize that there is honour, not shame, in acknowledging our limitations and in acknowledging that we have been too strong for too long…
Chapter Seven: I know that change needs to be embraced
The longer we resist change and ignore its call to our heart, the more difficult it is to accept. Changing our behaviours, our thinking patterns, our life, takes courage…
Chapter Eight: I know that my pain is mine alone
So my pain is not like your Aunt Charlotte’s pain or your friend at the library’s pain. It is mine and I experience it in a way that is peculiar to me. The stories that my pain tells me are different from the stories that your pain knows…
Chapter Nine: I know that the journey towards health is mine to take
What I’m saying is that pain is not the enemy; your body is not the enemy. Pain is a messenger that something is out of balance. Listen! Pain Shouts! It shouts to get your attention, to get you to listen to what is going on inside of you…
If you have Fibromyalgia or you know someone who does, this book will bring you joy – the joy of understanding, of knowing that you are not alone. It will also fill you with hope because, if I, a very ordinary woman, can arrive at a place free of pain, so can you.
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Happy reading everyone!
[...] It’s taken several months for that reality to sink in. And then I read in Joss Burnel’s ‘What I Know About Fibro’ about our inability to really connect to what another might be feeling when they are in pain. [...]
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