06/07/2024
Are you one of the 51% of HSPs and empaths who navigate life with a chronic mental or physical illness? Are you also running a holistic, spiritual or wellness practice, or considering launching a business?
This is for you.
In 2018, I was still working long hours in the corporate world. I had constant pain, dizziness and extreme fatigue, so I went on what I thought would be a fairly short journey to find out what was wrong. I'd been injured before, and the doctors stitched me right up! This should be easy, get a few blood tests and have an answer.
Little did I know that I would spend many years, see over 20 practitioners and spend tens of thousands of dollars searching for answers. I saw one specialist, then another, then another. Each of them told me this was my new normal, science doesn't yet understand the root causes of chronic illness - there is NO CURE. Here's a vague diagnosis, take these pills and learn to live with it.
At first, I rebelled against this idea. I am not a sick person! I am an athlete, a hiker, camper, and dancer. This can't be happening to me!
But it was. The most difficult pill to swallow was accepting my body exactly as it is. Life kept coming and I had to be practical. I made some big changes in my lifestyle, diet and mainly how much I attempt to accomplish. Back then, I would make a list of 8-10 things and by the end of each day, challenged myself to cross all of them off.
Now, I'm happy when I hold space for the participants in my mastermind group or I write one article like this. I've slowed way down and learned to nurture my mind, body and spirit.
I haven't given up on finding a cure. Yes, I'm that person that reads scientific studies for fun. The body and brain are fascinating. But I still need to do the day-to-day, my soul came here to participate.
One of the best metaphors I've come across is 'spoon theory'. Just as we have a certain number of spoons in our kitchen cabinet, and when they're all dirty, you must wash them - a person with chronic illness only has so many spoons per day. In this case, spoons = energy.
Every morning when I awaken, I stretch my body to see how it feels. Some days, the pain and fatigue are minor, while on other days I can barely move. I pay attention to my mindset and emotions; how did I wake up - fairly positive, running through a laundry list of things to do, or kind of grumpy?
Depending on my self-scan, I've become pretty good at calculating how many spoons I have for the day.
This morning, I started with 5 spoons, here's how I've used them:
Morning hug with my husband Juan = plus 1 spoon (I look forward to our hugs and gentle affirmations, it's one of the highlights of my day)
Shower = minus 1 spoon (it takes energy, but also makes my muscles relax)
Washing a sink of dishes = minus 1 spoon (enhanced by listening to an Aries oracle reading)
Cooking breakfast = minus 1 spoon (takes energy, but also provides my body with energy)
Playing with my cat Flecha = minus a 1/2 spoon (chasing her around the apartment in a game of hide and seek makes me laugh and helps with cardiovascular health)
Watering my plants = minus a 1/2 spoon (I really enjoy talking with them and making sure they have the right conditions to thrive)
Writing this article = minus 1 spoon (writing makes my soul shine, but I struggle with arthritis in my hands, slowly learning the talk to text software to replace manual typing)
There are my 5 spoons, used up by 1PM. After I press the button to send you this message, I’ll be done for the day. The only thing on the agenda from now until bedtime is to rest my mind and body.
Be compassionate with the part of myself that still wants to complete an 8-part to-do list. I understand, many of us were taught that hyper-productivity makes us better people, and more respected, you wouldn’t want to be called lazy, right? It takes a while to detox that mentality, I'm still working on it.
Can you run a holistic, wellness or spiritual business with chronic illness(es)? Yes, and you will have to shift a few things to ensure you receive the rest and care you need.
What did I change?
I quit the corporate world and their intense expectations. I had to admit with this illness, I cannot meet their metrics of performance and success, plus, I didn't want to anymore. This change wasn't quick or easy, but now, I'll never go back to working as an employee, spending the majority of my day working on someone else's dream. I'm applying my time, attention and energy towards my family's dreams, while offering something deeply helpful and meaningful.
I became satisfied with making less money. In the capitalist business environment, I was taught that there could never be enough. The higher ups wanted more, more, more. Why couldn't I be satisfied to run a streamlined company and make enough together with my husband, to have our needs met? I shut off my Amazon account, stopped buying stuff I really didn't need, then sold everything and moved with six suitcases to Mexico. Do I like cool, shiny things? Yes. Do I need them? Probably not. We recently moved to a new apartment and all of our belongings, including 32 plants, fit in the back of one pickup truck.
I turned my daily routine upside down. For over a decade, I had to report to work for the 6AM staff meeting (brutal on this night owl to be expected to articulate at that hour). Now, I wake up without an alarm clock and spend the entire morning doing what nurtures and feeds me. Listening to podcasts, meditating, researching random things I'm interested in, baking, and just focusing on filling my energy tanks. Cleaning the spoons and getting them ready for service. I’ve learned that being self-focused isn’t the same as being selfish.
I appreciate what I can do, not what I can’t. For years, I was angry that my body wasn’t functioning the way it used to. Sometimes I forced myself to be ‘normal’ by trying to do all the things. I had to work through the shame of telling people, no I can’t do that, I am chronically ill. Last year, I released that anger and transmuted that emotional energy into gratitude. Here I am, still in the physicality, still going (albeit at a slower pace). What if the slower pace is preferable? What if it's amazing what I do accomplish as a chronically ill entrepreneur?
Some days I do more in my business, some days I can’t get out of bed. I’ve embraced systems that allow me to work ahead and pre-schedule, knowing before and after a period of busyness, I will need a lot of down time. I use technology as a virtual assistant, cutting down on life-sucking repetitive tasks. I’m still learning these patterns and rhythms, but overall, it works.
If you’re living with a chronic illness and running a holistic practice (or considering launching one), the beauty of self-employment is you get to choose how much, when and who you work with. You get to develop business policies (boundaries) that work with, instead of against, the needs of your mind and body. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself, and you don’t have to apologize for not keeping up. Plus, witnessing your clients’ transformations add spoons to the drawer😊
You were born with a nervous system more reactive to the environment, but also a more sensitive body. Entrepreneurship isn’t always easy (more on that topic tomorrow), but it is one potential path to more time freedom.
For people with chronic illness, time freedom is our wealth.
I’d love to answer any questions you have about being an entrepreneur with chronic illness. You can do both, with an increasing commitment to self-awareness in every moment.
The Perceptive Collective: Advanced Sensitivity Practitioner Training is a slow, supportive process, with plenty of time between our live calls to reflect, test out what you’ve learned and integrate personal and professional self-care practices into your life. We’ll spend an entire month focused on cleaning up energy leaks, saying no + meaning it and filling your spoon drawer – so you can serve without burning out.
Our first gathering is next week, Friday, June 14th.
Five incredible practitioners have already joined (and a few more are thinking about it). I'm capping total participants at 8, so we can see everyone's face on Zoom, hear each person's voice and personalize this experience.
There's still space for you to be nurtured, and realistically work at your own pace towards your dreams of more time and energy freedom. All while empowering sensitive, intuitive and empathic souls like us.
Download the program brochure: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EkeHxrPX_8haiBJmOfV-UcRHBMICY4OV/view?usp=drive_link
Schedule a Chat: https://calendly.com/perceptivesouls/perceptive_collective
I appreciate your interest in the upcoming Perceptive Collective - Advanced Sensitivity Practitioner Mastermind.Please be sure to read through all the program details before scheduling our chat and jot down any questions you may have.To help me better understand who you are, and what's important to
