Life Changing Pain and Reinvention
This is Part III of Wynne’s story. Read Part 1 here: How a Hike and a Leaf Changed my Life
As my marriage ended, I committed to better self-care, worked with therapists, read books on emotional intelligence, and took courses on women power and self-actualization. I started paying attention to the toll stress from the divorce was taking on my body.
STRESS CAUSES PHYSICAL DAMAGE
One year prior to my divorce, my right shoulder froze. I had shooting pains with the slightest movement of my arm. It took a full year of therapeutic massages by my trainer at the gym to feel better. He informed me it was the breaking up of scar tissue in my shoulder/back that was causing the intense pain when he kneaded me.
Wow, my body had scars. Inside.
Several months before the split, I developed painful hemorrhoids and an anal fissure. I never had ailments like this before.
Stress was wearing me down. My body was trying to tell me I was stuck, frozen and petrified to let go.
After the split, I developed welts all over my face and swollen eyes for almost a year. I lost 20 pounds, was fatigued, had trouble concentrating, could not fall asleep at night (was wired and tired) and experienced joint pain.
I was somehow functioning at a full-time job and as a single mom of three.
THE PAIN WILL GO AWAY
I figured my ailments would just go away with the passage of time. I took my health for granted and believed my body was strong and would rebound.
After all, I was a health-conscious person who exercised several times a week. My meals were based on recommendations from The American Dietetic Association and doctors whose study results were published in medical journals and mainstream media. With my professional training in food and science, including a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and having practiced as a Registered Dietitian in the 1980s, I just assumed my health would improve.
I never had a major illness or disease. I had a handle on my health.
Or so I thought.
TIME TO REINVENT MYSELF
At this time, I sought to reinvent myself as a health practitioner. It was time for a change from dietetics, as I felt there was so much more to good health than diet alone.
I became certified as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. I studied the most progressive research in the field of holistic health.
Considering the whole person with regard to wellness, considering genetics, family history, bio individuality, psychology, quality of food supply, exposure to environmental toxins, diet, rest, exercise, stress, and emotions, resonated with me.
I wanted to go deeper into the physiology and function of the body as well as the mind body connection.