Introducing healing acronym, HEADACHE
Taking a health first approach. It'll cost you.
“The woman you are going to become will cost you people, relationships, spaces and material things. Choose her over everything.”
The other year I created a healing acronym around the word headache.
Sharing insights into each letter in a mini podcast.
I always intended to share these in written form with you, now here I am 2 years later!
Whilst migraine, as we know, is SO MUCH MORE than a headache, this healing acronym is designed around taking what is so much more than a headache and transforming it into the best health you could possibly imagine.
Or at the very least is a way to create health, creating a meaningful way of living alongside.
The acronym headache takes into account all the layers of healing I’ve incorporated into my own healing journey and is what I believe sees me being as well as I am today.
So let’s start with H and I’ll return every other week with the following letter.
H = health first approach
Before I learnt to prioritise my health above everything, I’d been suffering with severe attacks for 20 years. Many of them violent and agonising.
The wake-up call for me was finding myself disabled by attack enduring severe pain and agony for 5 solid days. It had increased from several hours to 72 hours as my norm over those decades.
I’d lived with burnout for years, experienced a breakdown 18 months prior and lost my dad to an aggressive form of cancer. But it was no longer physically being able to drag myself to work on top of all this that was what rock bottom looked like to me.
I found myself in a chronic cycle where I was unable to recover before the next attack was full force at the highest level of pain and puking.
It took for this for me to wake up to the truth that “I matter. My health matters”.
Coupled with a deep inner knowing that change was what was needed and that it was going to take a long time.
Health first – above all else, unknowingly to me at the time, acted as a kind of mantra.
This did not mean there were no other priorities. I found myself without any mortgage insurance, no sick pay and no immediate family to help. On top of that I had mortgage payments to make and an appointment with any kind of specialist was still yet to materialise.
When I say my health came first above everything, I mean above work, above what everyone else was saying, above my need to cover mortgage payments, above relationships – above everything.
I did not realise the magnitude of this quote the first few times that I read it but I sure did go on to experience what that looked like later on.
“The women you are going to become will cost you people, relationships, spaces and material things. Choose her over everything.”
Choosing me. choosing to prioritise my health over everything cost me:
My career
A decent income
My relationship
My home
Life as I knew it
You may have seen what other people said to me in part 3 of a recovery series that I’ve currently got running on a Sunday evening.
Friends, loved ones and work colleagues were not used to seeing me put my needs first. At the time, I couldn’t understand why they were reacting in the way they were. To me, it felt incredibly unsupportive and made the dire situation I found myself in feel even more difficult. It was only years later I could appreciate the level of transformation that had taken place within me. I’d spent years feeling as though I had fallen over the cliff edge, as if dangling on a thread that was fraying. Worst still, waiting to be rescued. I’d somehow found it within me to pull myself back over the edge. Meanwhile, they didn’t even know I’d fallen off! My suffering continued on, invisible to all.
People around me had not met this version of me before and what a shock it must have been for them.
Prioritising my health to the extent I have done meant making difficult decisions, often on my own:
Stopping binge-drinking alcohol for good
In fact I stopped everything that numbed me out – even my phone and tv for many months!
Made teeny tiny changes that were in alignment with what I wanted
Became my own best friend, support and cheerleader
Put in place outside support for myself that I desperately needed yet other people didn’t agree with
Been frowned upon for my choice in career and how I generate an income
Declined any and all invites, I didn’t go out at all for 2.5 years
Lived in a static caravan for 3 years
As my health did improve I started saying no irrespective of whether I was ill or not. Recognising that saying no to others was a yes to me and my body approved.
Its meant overcoming many fears of missing out and letting others down. Fear of repercussion and what others think. Money worries and all the stories we have created around money.
All of the above and so much more I’ve found really difficult.
Yet keeping the motto “Health First – above all else” has been like a guiding light. These 5 words have been an anchoring practice, gifting me strength, courage and determination to make the decisions and choices that I’ve had to – for the soul benefit of my health and healing.
Around 18 months in and on the recommendation of my yoga teacher, I came up with a mantra “if it ain’t healing, it ain’t happening”. These 7 words helped steady me further and stopped me from getting side tracked from the one thing I wanted most; to get well.
How have you found prioritising health in your life?
If you were to create a mantra, which words would you choose?
What is it that you want the most?
Tune in to the podcast episode I recorded the other year!
In a couple of weeks we’ll review the next letter of healing acronym, headache. Can you guess what “e” stands for?
This month’s prompt with
12 chapters club is to “celebrate starting!” With a reminder that “the path is never linear”. Highlighting this perfectly here…I recorded the mini podcast episode 2 years ago, always intended to share it in here for you. Now this acronym will be included in my book, Making Peace With Migraine. My 4th book that global publishers, Hay House have expressed interest in (I’m still on with publishing my 2nd!!). Now if that’s not a non-linear journey to celebrate then I don’t know what is!?!
C would definitely have to be chaos. Because Migraine has definitely caused a lot of that!
“I put my health first - always” would he a great mantra for me but also triggers me massively as I know that I don't yet!