Today I’m honored to present a wonderful guest post from friend, Hillary Rubin. Please visit her site and give her a warm welcome to RebuildingWellness!

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It has been 15 years since I was hit by my “mack truck” wake-up call named – Multiple Sclerosis. I thought I was on top of the world back in 1996. My life was “perfect” in so many ways – I had the perfect guy, place in NYC and a plum job at Prada. I defined myself by my work and things. You know the type, the person who lives for the title and is disconnected from the truth.

I was one of them, hiding an abusive past with material things and thought I could keep on pushing through life. But in an instant, all the designer labels were traded in for feelings of failure. Any time I felt something in my body or emotionally, it went into this new category of being because “I had MS.”
I was stuck in such a dark place and it felt horrible with no one to turn to. What hurt the most was when my family would ask me how “my MS” was and after a while I disappeared and the illness took over my life. Can you relate?

Today, I’m living proof that you can live symptom AND medication free and live a healthy lifestyle filled with happiness and beauty.

Here are the 3 simple and profound steps that made a huge difference in my life and have helped me become a champion instead of a victim.

Step 1: Change your language around the “diagnosis.” STOP saying you “have” it and say you were “diagnosed” with it.

I invite you to change this around and when you hear yourself say – “I have ___________.” Instead, stop yourself and say, “I was diagnosed with ____________.” Try this now and feel the changes in your body. Say out loud “I have _______________.”

Close your eyes, say it two more times and feel in your body where it lands. It may be your throat, chest or belly. Do you feel expanded or contracted?

Now say out loud, “I was diagnosed with _________________.” Close your eyes again and say it two more times out loud. Where do you feel it in your body? You may not feel it at all. Do you feel expanded or contracted? When I did this exercise at the MS Society in LA, no one felt it as they said, “I am diagnosed with” rather than “I have.” In the 2nd exercise, the words felt like stated fact rather than as a feeling or emotion.

Step 2: See your diagnosis as an opportunity to grow, as a teacher, a gift and a blessing.

This may not be easy at first but it is the #1 way in which I transformed my diagnosis from taking over my life to being symptom and medication free. I can honestly say the diagnosis of MS gave me the most amazing gift to grow. It was what I call a “course changer.” I learned to pay attention to my body and began to change my life over time to become healthier and happier.

I can now see that through taking care of myself, I only see my life as a blessing and the MS as a way to get there.

Step back and see the diagnosis (notice the language I’m using here). What have you learned from it? How is it a teacher? How is it a gift? How is it a blessing?

Step 3: Remember everyone (really, every human being) has bad days, with or without the diagnosis of a chronic disease.

At first you may feel that you alone have bad days because of your symptoms and from the “what can happen” messages fed to you by your doctors. When I felt icky, I blamed it on my disease and I would feel like crap. Then, when I listened to people who did not “have” a disease, I realized they had good and bad days too.

Everyone has something they are dealing with. There are no humans who do not have to maintain their bodies. When you understand this and see that there is NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU, then you can begin to feel more “normal.” Always get enough sleep, drink plenty of water and exercise. When you feel a bit off, take that as an invitation to rest and reset.

Love to hear how you enjoyed this post. Please leave a comment and if you want to get a free gift from me to see what the 8 Big Health Mistakes You Can Correct Right Now are to up your energy and boost your well-being for life go to Hillary’s FREE gift.

Lots of healing love,

Hillary

Hillary Rubin, wellness + self-esteem coach, is dedicated in her life to help women transform past abuse, incurable diseases and health challenges into opportunities for greater healing and happiness. She is dedicated to help women become the next best version of themselves. You may of seen her featured in Yoga Journal, Fit Yoga, LA Times, LA Yoga, Yoga International, + Fit TV. Drop her a line and let her know your story at Hillary Rubin.