Do you check in on your recovery? Lyme Recovery for many is not a straight line trajectory. Make sure that there is continued growth and healing. Look for progress overall and set some measurable targets. Do this to stay engaged with your own recovery. Don’t settle or stop moving forward because it is taking longer than you thought.
Are you where you want to be health wise and life wise in your recovery? If not what do you need to do to move into the next level of Lyme recovery. Find new ways to make life full and interesting. Identify the treatment help you need and bring it into your health care recovery plan.
The people helping you need to support your goals and have the tools to help you architect change. That might mean new or different team members on your health care team. Members of my team have changed as my needs change. I know that I need to examine and push out all the boundaries that were created in the thick of Lyme disease.
What does your Lyme Recovery Project Look Like?
I look at several areas in my life to measure my progress. I assess my physical, mental & emotional capability as well as how I spend my time. What do you assess? How do you celebrate improvement? Please share in the comments below.
Are your physical capabilities shrinking or growing?
My balance, strength and flexibility were all weakened by Lyme disease. At my sickest, I could hardly walk. Stairs were a major challenge; I went up them one at a time and had to hold on. I couldn’t even sit still for very long, I brought a special chair everywhere. My balance tested worse than the average 90 year old.
Does this sound familiar?
Now I exercise nearly every day. Walking and classes have helped me regain strength. Initially I worked out alone, because I had to adapt everything based on my low strength and endurance. Recently I decided to take a gentle yoga class and a gentle Barre class in part to get stronger and in part to get a good sense of my capability. This is measurable progress.
How are you processing Emotions and Stress with Mental challenges?
For much of my life, I lived as a stress bomb. Worry has been my go to emotion. In the worst of my Lyme, I was full of rage and anxiety. I would forget why I opened a cabinet door or in the middle of driving somewhere have to pull over to remember where I was going and why.
Now the fullness of my life has to be set in part on my ability to handle the stress and emotions in a healthy way. In the past I used food and other destructive habits to block my feelings.
This cannot work anymore, healthier habits need to take precedence. Otherwise I am setting myself up to overextend and invite a relapse. All these negative emotions set up a hormonal environment that hurts not heals. Anger, Anxiety, Fear put up walls that will shrink my life rather than go it.
Creating a life that is rich, full and easeful is and has been a challenge in my life, I know I need to build capacity and set structures in place for healthy emotional release. Shift my operating paradigm to engage challenge as play, and become more comfortable with choice and learning. I am adding work to my schedule in a gradual way watching my response.
Can You do more each day?
When I was first diagnosed with Lyme disease, I spent a significant amount of time with my health care team. I had multiple appointments each week with my doctors, therapist and other care provider. In addition I spent hours each day meditating, on self care. Healing was my occupation.
Now while I still get occasional help from my team, I am not going to the doctors every week and can be much more productive. I have more balance. My time goes to writing, working, teaching and helping others as well as self care.
But I need to pace myself to support my continuing recovery. I put anchors in place around taking my medicines, my selfcare and my rest. I measure my performance. Self Care comes before come before accomplishment for me. It is part of the package. How about you?
The information provided on this website is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment or advice. All the material here is for information purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.