I guess it wasn’t until I truly made a type of recovery plan, that things started to come together. I also didn’t do this until three months after diagnosis, on the back of a major relapse. Until you’re diagnosed it’s hard to set any helpful ideas in place, because you’re just in a shitty place wondering what the hell is happening to your body. Sadly I was in this position for a year and a half, which was too long, and which made my health worse because of a spiral of panic.

So the plan comes about, I guess at a different time for everybody. Even though in May 2014, I started to receive more specific help from my local ME/CFS service, it was limited and I needed to create something which I felt would address all areas where there was stress or weakness, not just physically but also psychologically. I knew there were cycles within cycles occurring and I needed to get free of them.

After hitting almost bottom again after a few months of progression, I realised I needed a foundation to see me through and help me gain some greater control. Funnily enough the plan I mapped for healing my body, looks to me now, like areas which contribute to a balanced life. I didn’t know then I was to be re-modelling my world, which continues!

One of the best ways to understand something is through a visual representation, so I made this video which outlines the main areas I added to my plan, and which can hopefully be useful for yours.

It’s normal to have times when you can’t take action, in fact it’s necessary to take lots of time resting and allowing for growth. Other times you will know that although something is tough, it will feel better to use a little willpower to try and do it. The plan ultimately, can help you to feel more contained, especially through setbacks. A setback is simply another test to see how far you have grown in your approaches, management and general personality. It helps me to see them not as a threat, although nasty, but as an opportunity to remain courageous and also to allow for my emotional outpouring when unconscious material arises and needs revisiting.

Additionally it can help to understand that this is an opportunity, not only to heal our physicality, but to transform from certain patterns within us that lead us to become ill. This is why psychology is an important area for me in the recovery plan and it continues to be a deeper road to health. This is a longer journey, but the one worth waiting for when you understand that the body and mind are intrinsically connected. They are like partnerships; symbiotic. You make a change in one and the other is affected.

Share ideas from your recovery plan below…

UPDATE:

Three years on it’s amazing how far I’ve travelled. My life in many ways is so much better than before my dark entry into this abyss where I was at a standstill for a long time, learning necessary things, and growing enough to reach the next juncture. You can read about how my tailored made recovery plan has made my healing visions a reality in my new post.)