What if symptoms weren’t symptoms of physical illness…
Mary had a stomach ache, stomach ache, stomach ache. Mary had a stomach ache, the pain was deep and tight. Everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went, everywhere that Mary went, that ache did appear. It followed her to work each day, work each day, work each day. It followed her to work each day, where Mary did not fit.
You see, when Mary finished college and needed money to pay off her student loans, she took the first job that paid her enough to live. Mary loved to write, but her job was managing a restaurant. She made good money and had been working there for 10 years. She had a husband, 2 kids, a mortgage, and a dog. And her stomach hurt every day. It had been hurting for about 2 months and it was getting worse. She could barely eat, she was losing weight, which she liked at first, but now she was worried. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Given some medicine and sent on her way. She googled irritable bowel syndrome and found some diet things to try. Her stomach felt better. Then she started getting headaches.
Every day around 9 AM her head would start to hurt. She tried drinking water, she took over the counter medicine. Everything worked for a while. Then she got scared that she might have a brain tumor. She went to the doctor, had a CT scan of her head. No tumor. She was diagnosed with migraine headaches and given some medicine. It worked. Mary kept on with her restaurant manager job, keeping all of her daily tasks under control.
One day she noticed that her back was sore. She didn’t think about it, must be age, she was 40. She figured running around with the kids caused the pain. It got worse. One day she could barely get out of bed, it hurt so much. She got to the doctor, x-rays were taken, an examination was done. Nothing serious was found. Physical therapy was recommended and rest. The doctor recommended a week off of work.
Mary was bored after being off from work for one day. She was fooling around on her computer and ran across a writing seminar, an online course. She remembered how much she liked to write. The course cost $200. She worried about the cost. She thought about it for 2 days, she dreamed about it. She talked to her husband about it. Finally, she decided to pay the money and take the course. She did the whole 6-week course during the week that she was home recuperating. She started to write. She felt good.
She went back to work at the restaurant and she continued her physical therapy. She continued to write. At first a journal entry every day, letters to her children now and then. She started writing stories. One day she realized that her back didn’t hurt anymore. She hadn’t taken her migraine medicine for some time and hadn’t had a headache. She had forgotten to take her stomach medicine for a month and her stomach was not bothering her. She felt good.
Are you like Mary? Doing everything “right” and not feeling well. Maybe, it’s not right. Take some time listen, especially if your physical body is talking to you. What is it trying to tell you? Is there something you should be doing? Are you holding back? Only you know. Your health could depend on you working it out.
Remember, your health is your responsibility.
