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The healing journey is often a lonely one.

And when we are dealing with any health issues and trying to find our way back to wellness, it is usually an uphill task too. There are many ups and downs along the way and it can be exhausting trying to cope with the daily challenges.

On top of that, many of us don’t get the support that we need from our family and friends. And even if we do get the support, we may get the information and medical help that we need but nothing further.

Day to day guidance and encouragement around making dietary and lifestyle changes may be completely missing.

A huge stumbling block

In my experience, this is a huge stumbling block for most people dealing with chronic illnesses. They are left on their own trying to figure out what steps they need to take and in which order, and struggle with low levels of motivation when they hit an inevitable roadblock.

I remember a client who I worked with for a period of time. She had been diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diagnoses and unfortunately, her family did really not support her. She was simply not getting the kind of support and encouragement she needed to get through the challenging times.

Before she started working with me she was trying to figure out how to change her diet, lifestyle, and everything else by herself. And it was incredibly difficult for her to do this and find a way to take action and stay on track. This was certainly not due to a lack of intention or effort, but a lack of support and guidance.

It was only after she started working with me that she started making some progress.

The good news is that even if you don’t have support from your family, you have other options that can really help you. And today I will be sharing some ideas about how you can do that.

In fact, I host live sessions on Instagram (@aninditarungta) where I discuss various health related topics like these every Friday at 230 pm. I share practical, actionable tips by simplifying the health creation process and teaching ways to support your body’s healing process.

You can follow me so that you don’s miss out on any of these important topics!

Serious chronic health conditions like autoimmune disease and cancer often go hand in hand with overlapping multiple disease diagnoses. This means that there are many seemingly unrelated symptoms that make it really hard to know which areas to focus on first.

At the same time, most of us are not even aware of the power of our body’s natural healing process. This very important aspect of our health creation is not something that we are ever taught in school or outside of it.

As a result, we are also not aware of the fact that the food we eat is the most powerful tool to change our life.

Irrespective of our disease diagnosis.

I have written about why simply eliminating foods from your diet or following a particular diet (keto, paleo, vegan etc) is NOT enough in an earlier post and you can read it here.

3 key areas that you need to focus on

In my experience of dealing with women with chronic illnesses, I have found that there are certain areas that they need to prioritise right from the beginning. This becomes even more important if you are dealing with a lack of support and guidance

1. Your relationship with food and your diet
2. Your stress response and your thoughts and behaviour
3. Your daily choices

1. Your relationship with food and your diet

Your body needs certain nutrients to function properly. And it cannot manufacture these ingredients out of thin air. Without these nutrients, your body will neither be able to heal nor repair itself.

This is why food is a key area that I teach my clients to focus on as they begin their healing journey.

You have control over what you put inside your body. And hence it makes complete sense to make this a focus area when you are trying to get well

However, food plays many different roles in our lives much beyond calories and providing fuel for energy. Indeed, exploring your relationship with food can help you figure out exactly where you need support and what you can change today. 

I talked about this in details in a recent LIVE that I did and you can watch it below

2. Your stress response – your thoughts and behaviour

The other important area that is often overlooked is the role of stress in our lives. 

Included in this list is the stress of not being heard, acknowledged or having our needs met. This aspect of “stress” is often not even taken into consideration. 

Like all other environmental factors, our thoughts, beliefs and relationships can either be healing and supportive or toxic. In response, our bodies produce stress hormones such as cortisol in response to the messages that we send our bodies through our daily choices.

In effect, our thoughts can either tell our bodies to thrive or to survive. 

A lack of purpose, low self worth, anger, isolation, lack of proper relationships and negative thoughts that accompany these can take a toll on our bodies

I want you take a moment and ask yourself-

Are your thoughts priming your body to thrive and enjoy a pain free, comfortable and pleasurable existence?

Or are they priming your body and your nervous system to suppress vitality so that it can prioritise healing by forcing you to pause, rest and sleep?

Once you become aware of which category you fall into, you can take steps to support your body’s healing process.

3. Your daily choices

Ultimately, this is about your choices. 

What are your choices telling your body about the status of your world?

Some of the choices that you are making are lifestyle choices, the things that you do in your life. 

Even the little decisions that you make on a daily basis

• The time that you go to bed at night
• Whether or not you start your day on a positive note
• The second slice of dessert that you pass on
• Choosing to go off screen an hour before bed time and reading a physical book

As you can see, there are many such decisions that you are making every day that is completely within your control. 

Infact, the 3 pillars (SIMPLIFY, RECONNECT, SUSTAIN)  of my coaching programme covers this in detail so that my clients feel empowered and in charge of their health.

By learning how to prioritise key areas of your life you can take steps today to lay a strong foundation and take care of your body taking into account the current circumstances in your life.

As William James had said

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”