World Kindness Day

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Hi Fibro Readers - how are we all? I hope the last month has treated you as well as can be. 

Last month I was absent from the magazine due to some personal struggles regarding the land of social media and the negative impact words from others can have on our mental health. Unfortunately these particular words that impacted me came from a fellow chronic illness sufferer – a person with whom you would expect to show solidarity in fact showed unkindness to a level I had not experienced before – and therefore caught me off guard making me want to stop doing what I enjoy, blogging and writing about my life with multiple chronic illnesses. 

After taking a short break away from writing and a rather therapeutic rant about my experience on my blog, I am back refreshed in time for the rather fitting celebration of World Kindness Day (13th November).

To celebrate World Kindness Day I want to reach out to you the UK Fibro mag readers and demonstrate how as fellow chronic illness sufferers we should be supporting each other and not trying to bring each other down. With this in mind, I have wrote an open letter to you, the readers, to show anyone reading this, there are people out there who genuinely care. I hope you enjoy!

Dear Friend,

How are you? No, I mean how are you really? The you, beneath the persona of pretending to be ok, the you, beneath the pain, beneath the fatigue.  The you, behind Fibromyalgia or any other chronic illness, the real you?

When was the last time somebody asked you how you were and genuinely wanted to hear the answer? Not just asking to tick the box, or to make themselves feel better, or because it was their job, but because they actually wanted to hear what you had to say.

When was the last time you could be honest with those around you, yourself even, about the heavy burden living a life with chronic illness brings. From one chronic illness sufferer to another, I know how it feels to constantly be battling a body that won’t play ball and the exhaustion that brings not only physically, but mentally and emotionally too. The feeling of knowing no matter how much you try to explain yourself to others, they can’t quite get it. You see others living the life you so desperately want to live and it hurts. So you play the blame game, you blame your body, yourself, but this is where me, you, us, we have it all wrong.

Do you ever stop to think how amazing you are? The strength you have to live in a chronic illness body? You may not think you are achieving much day to day especially when you compare yourself to your peers, but you are beyond words. To have to get up every day and fight through the barriers you face, and then do it all again makes you nothing short of amazing and brave.

You may read this and think what a load of old tosh, but that’s only because you don’t hear these kinds of words very often. Not from others, but more importantly not from yourself. Why? Because we don’t give ourselves enough credit for the challenges in normal day-to-day life we face and overcome. We think strength comes in the form of people climbing mountains or bravery as someone trying to change the world, but actually it’s the things closer to home that we are enduring that reflect this so much more.

You hold within you strength and bravery, but also patience, compassion, flexibility and resilience. Patience – The waiting of diagnosis’s and the never-ending doctors’ trips. Compassion - Living with chronic illness helps you to show compassion and love for others which people who haven’t been through the same woes may lack. Flexibility – Chronic Illness life is unpredictable at the best of times, so this has taught you to go with the flow in life a lot more than the norm. Resilience - Dealing with the often flippant nature of those around you hurts, but it has also made you resilient and robust to face life’s challenges head on – you already have the experience!

Pretty amazing, right? This body full of limitations, this body you blame so much.

So I will ask you again – how are you? The you, beyond the pain, beyond the fatigue, beyond the Fibromyalgia, the person I see – the real you?

Sarah xx