My story

If you had told me in my late twenties that I was going to become a Nutritional Therapist, I wouldn't have believed you. I was a busy professional and dedicated rock climber with an active social life. I loved eating but paid little attention to what I ate.

 

Then again, if you'd told me that I would soon deal with chronic illness, I wouldn't have believed that either. I looked extremely fit and well and enjoyed regular career breaks to rock climb around the world. I took an 'all or nothing' approach to everything I did. I couldn't imagine any other way.

 

It was during one such career break that I started to experience increasingly strange symptoms. Suddenly, I was in and out of the GPs all the time with symptoms like derealisation, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, bloating, hormonal symptoms, light sensitivity, poor temperature regulation… the list went on. I wondered if I had Lyme Disease.

 

I was scared. Blood tests, ECGs and brain scans were clear but I was living with symptoms that often stopped me working and exercising. Worst of all, I lost interest in my partner and climbing, the things that made me feel most alive. I would have done anything to get them back. At a loss, one doctor asked me if I had health anxiety. In other words, was it all “in my head?”

 

I clung to my partner and cried. I had worn out the mainstream medical route for now and couldn't face looking for answers where I wouldn't find them any more. I felt desperate and alone, but knew I had to take matters into my own hands and explore natural routes to health.

 

What I went on to learn about the role of nutrition and lifestyle in preventing and resolving ill health was so effective and empowering that I chose to qualify as a Nutritional Therapist to be able to support others going through similar experiences.

 

I feel more myself than ever. I have learned to trust my body and mind, and get better every day at listening to it. Your own body and mind can tell you what really nourishes you, better than any book. When you learn to listen, you find that symptoms do not define you, they do not have to prevent you from enjoying life and doing what you want to do. You may though need to choose a different way of being that will ultimately be truer to you.

 

My journey continues and my recovery has not been linear. I have had tough lessons to learn, none more so than learning to navigate emotion and feeling, the language of the body. I was a typical go-getter in that I had always been better at mind over matter than listening to subtle bodily cues. For a long time the prospect of feeling must have seemed more uncomfortable than staying unwell. But ultimately I chose not to let fear rule. It took time to learn how to navigate my inner world more smoothly but it has catapulted my recovery, and life has been much richer since. I liken it to experiencing your life in full colour for the first time when you thought it was only black and white.

 

Many of us are a product of our society and conditioning. Knowing what you feel lets you identify who or what makes you feel good. This shows you who or what you want in your life. Then you can voice it or move towards it. And you can more easily set boundaries to protect yourself from people and activities that don't serve you.

 

I now live in a part of the world I love, with a career I love. I have better tools to navigate relationships and challenges and enjoy climbing as much as ever. In fact, I am better at my sport and have a more sustainable approach to it than before.

 

I have learned that the journey to health is really a journey back to you. And it starts by realising that you can make the choice to move towards what gives you most joy.

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Rising son

moonlight buttress

one flew over the cuckoos nest

abseiling flawless

nectar too

mega tsunami

micronesia