Episode 11. Healing Journey: Beyond Physical Recovery
Mar 19, 2024
LISTENING OPTIONS!
"Healing isn't just about what you can see or touch. It's more profound than that. Healing isn't solely physical. It's an internal journey." That quote is from Teisha Rose. It's from a blog I wrote last year and was revisiting last night. I thought this is such an important discussion to have. Now that I have a podcast, what better way to discuss it than using this as our topic for episode eleven?
So, I think too often we focus on the visible or the tangible, especially in the medical world. However, this negates the profound internal journey that we need to undertake if we truly are to heal. So, when I talk about a healing journey, it's not confined to the physical. That's important, absolutely. But what I want to discuss today is firstly, that limiting our understanding of healing to the physical alone is really restrictive. Secondly, I want to focus on how important it is to embrace the internal journey if we truly are to heal. So, it truly is about our mind, body, and soul.
Teisha Rose’s Healing Story.
Did you know that my concerns about my legs nearly stopped me from creating my business, Hurdle2Hope®? I was worried that others would focus on the obvious: my legs, my walking, and my use of a walker. I thought people might think, "She needs support walking. Look at her legs; they don't look very strong—something's wrong. What would she know about healing?" But I believe we need to change this perception. By focusing solely on that detail, my legs, which at times don't look great—I know that because people often stare at them—we might overlook the deeper story.
You see, it's my healing mindset that has allowed me to be present. It's enabled me to embrace my life with MS. And if you see photos of me on Instagram @hurdle2hope, with the number two, using my walker and exploring our new block, I almost feel compelled to justify the image. I want to say, “MRI scans have shown that my MS has been inactive for over a decade.” And of course, that's really important information to have. But when I look at my legs, I now think about how much they've been through. They represent the narrative of all that I've done to become mobile again.
So sure, my legs don't work great. But somehow, they've recovered from paralysis several times. They're damaged from all those aggressive relapses early on. But that damage doesn't mean I'm not healing. That realisation, and that shift in perspective, made me realise that I can still do my business, Hurdle2Hope®. Seeing me using a walker, I want to—not convince but encourage—others to look more broadly at that narrative.
So, when you see me use a walker, I want you to know that doesn't mean MS has won. Instead, I'm using it to enable me to live well. And it's that shift of perspective that enables true healing to occur for all of us. And that's the focus of today's episode.
Healing is More Than a Physical Experience.
First of all let's focus on healing is more than physical. Healing isn't just about what you can see or touch. It's so much more profound than that. Healing as I mentioned before, isn't solely physical. It's an internal journey. And for the longest time I really equated healing with the physical.
These were my early days with MS and what thoughts filled my head. So I would be constantly…writing down new symptoms, and I was constantly…worried about any sign that I was going to have another relapse because I thought if I caught it quick enough, then I can go to hospital get treated and get back to work without missing many days
I remember walking to work and my right foot was tapping the pavement harder than my left foot. And I was in panic mode I thought what does that mean Does that mean there's weakness? Does that mean another relapse does that mean I need steroids to get my, um strength back in that leg or when my fingers were a bit numb? I thought, what does that mean Does that mean that relapse I experienced in two thousand and three when I could use my hands or arms does that mean I'm on a slippery slope and that's going happen again? Or if my vision was blurry I think oh no. Does that mean I'm going to lose my sight again? And that happened to me in 2006 and everything went so blurry. I couldn't see and there was that fear that that would happen again. So these thoughts became so consuming for a number of years.
And then I realized now what are you to do is measure my healing from external sources. So they provided validation…of whether I was healing or not. So think MRI scans reports doctors' opinions, what the physios were saying. And I'm not saying that's not important because that feedback is so important, but because a scan…still shows elision, which is an area of inflammation on my brain or spine. Does that mean that I'm not healing? And fortunately, I came to realise that just because a scan showed a lesion it didn't mean that I wasn't healing. So my measurement now of whether I'm doing well whether I'm healing whether I'm embracing life is so much broader than a scan or what the doctor is saying.
And it's funny I was having a chat to my good friend who's a neuroscientist, and I said, this is what I have issue with in terms of the medical world. You could look at two MRI scans of me both exactly the same, yet one Doctor's appointment, I walk with my walk with my walking stick and we chat about the results. And another appointment with the same scan, I use my walker to get to the doctor's appointment.
And in my mind I think I'm healing. I'm now doing so much more physical activity I walk three blocks to get to this appointment compared to being dropped off at the front door and hobbling in with my walking stick. But in my doctor's mind, I'm not healing, I'm progressing, even though the scans are the same I'm now relying on a walker.
So you see only relying…on the physical component, something that's tangible to measure healing, that does not communicate how internally I am doing.
Embracing The Full-Spectrum Of Healing: Mind Body and Soul!
So the second point I really want you to take away from this episode is the importance of embracing the full spectrum of healing…So physical healing is really important. Absolutely. But it's just the tip of the iceberg. There's so much more we need to do to truly heal. Lucky I've got so many examples. I've had so many experiences with my two illnesses.
After my mastectomies, I needed the wounds to heal, absolutely. Because the scars are enormous. I was as I said to Andrew you know I'm cut from one armpit almost to the next so massive scars across my chest. And they needed to heal.
But to truly heal there is so much more than I had to do to just looking after my wounds. Having a mastectomy is brutal. Emotionally trying to process no longer have breasts as a woman. It's so much to deal with and to process, and I knew from my experience with MS that to truly process this I needed to look way beyond wound care.
When I was in your rooms of my surgeon, saying when my second single mastectomy was to happen, I said I really want to go on this healing retreat in early September. So she got out her diary, and I said it is so important. I know it's only three weeks in between operations but if I'm to truly heal, I need to go on this retreat.
And I was so blessed with such an amazing surgeon that we scheduled the next surgery so it would give me six weeks to recover, make sure my physical wounds were healed, but then I could focus on the rest of my healing. And going on that retreat was the best decision I made because for three days the focus was inward. Because it was about my spiritual wellbeing and my emotional wellbeing as well.
Part of the healing journey is really to, yes, focus on your physical wellbeing. But recognising that that can be limiting, and we need to turn our attention inward. We need to prioritise our emotional wellbeing, our mental health, and our spirituality.
Healing really is about our personal growth. And the irony is that when I was diagnosed with MS it just twenty-two, I thought MS would stifle my evolution. But I was thinking about the corporate version of myself of the 22-year-old who had just started her new career. Whereas I know now that to embrace life with two significant diseases. This has demanded my growth and I will never stop growing and I'll never stop focusing inwardly to ensure that I live well. That hasn't happened overnight. It's a never-ending process. And that's where I think we also get it wrong. We think of healing as a final destination, and it's not. It's something that continues to happen.
But if you're fixated only on the physical aspects of your health, I really encourage you to broaden your focus to your attention inwardly to take time to work on yourself as this is the key to healing. And for you, that might be different to how it looks for me.
For me I know I've really focused on energy healing for example. But for you it might be something different it doesn't matter. It's about focusing inwardly and working out how to make sense and navigate through the challenge you're facing.
And I won't go through all of the different options now because that's definitely something I'll be focusing more on Wellbeing Interrupted and getting different guests on to help us start thinking about our healing. But what's really important now is that we recognise that to heal, it’s more than focusing on just the physical. Absolutely, that's important. I know I do my exercises for MS every morning. I try to walk I try and do everything to improve my physical wellbeing. But to truly heal we need to look more broadly than that.
The Healing Journey Quiz
And this leads beautifully into the quiz I've been talking about. The healing journey quiz so after listening to this podcast you now know that by healing, I really do mean this is a journey. And it's a journey that involves more than just our physical wellbeing which is absolutely important but it also involves our evolution and really challenging how we think about and experience our health.
And what we've been talking about today really fits into the new beginning stage of healing because this is our growth zone. And this is where we evolve and build resilience so we can keep moving forward and embrace…our lives. I really encourage you to do the quiz. It only takes a few minutes. And when you complete the quiz, I can help you to start moving forward because what it does is point where you are on your healing journey and what we can do to help you to keep moving forward.
Visit hurdle2hope.com/quiz. Remember hurdle 2 hope with the number 2. Also I'll put a link in the show notes below this episode and it really is worth it.
This is something I wish I had done early on when I was living with MS. It's funny because I'm thinking if I was told to do a quiz years and years ago I would have thought that sounds ridiculous. I'm not going to do that, but it was then years ago when I had a closed mind when it wasn't open to doing things differently, that's when I was at my lowest that's when I wasn't healing, and I wasn't doing well. So have an open mind, do the quiz, and then we can work together to find out what we can do to help you.
Embracing Your Healing Journey
Thank you for being here for another episode. Today we've explored why healing is so much more than just physical. It really is an internal journey. One that encompasses our mind, body and spirit.
Although we haven’t gone through all the different things that you can do to work on yourself. That will be a focus on future episodes. But for now, I really think it's important for you to broaden your perspective to start thinking about healing more than what's physically happening to you more. More than just the scans and the results and things that are tangible. But to start thinking that this is more about my mind, how I'm doing emotionally, mentally, and from a spiritual dimension as well.
But remember, healing isn't a final destination. And what I'm talking about with Hurdle2Hope® is challenging how we think about our lives, and this is an ongoing process because we continue to evolve and grow. And the silver lining is as we continue to learn and grow we can apply that to all aspects of our life. And to know that we can deal with whatever challenges we face.
So that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. Go to the show notes and get the quiz. And I'll also put a link to the blog I wrote last year and read last night which was about – “Healing isn't just about what you can see or touch. It's more profound than that. Healing isn't solely physical. It's an internal journey.”
