How to be a Glow Warrior (Despite a Chronic Illness)

I’ve gone from being a tween in chronic pain to a pill-popping young woman to a woman in charge of her own health and wellness. One thing I learned along the way is that suffering from a chronic health condition should not define who I am. I also learned that I am not alone in my experience. There are so many people out there who, just like me, are dealing with chronic health conditions. One out of every two people in America has at least one. However, you are not your sickness, and defining yourself that way means you will be sick for the rest of your life. There is no way I’m going to let you live the life of a sick person. You are not in a healing crisis; you are being offered a healing opportunity; it is time to seize it! Instead of viewing your condition as a disease in your body, choose to view it as an opportunity to reconnect with yourself and learn to love yourself. You are a beautifully strong, shining, resilient Glow Warrior. Embrace the fact that you are on a journey to do whatever you can to help your physical body work better and heal. Your body is only a part of what you are now committing to taking care of and helping to heal. Healing is a journey, not a destination. It’s time to get in the river and flow. I have created a kicking sick checklist. I have written it as an action plan — a kick-start to kicking sick, if you will. Tackle one action step at a time, and you will see many benefits and positive changes — I guarantee it.

1. Remind Yourself of your True Identity

Today you will give yourself a tender reminder that you are exactly where you need to be at this moment. Today you will recognize that you are a beautiful, whole person. Today you will reframe any negative mindsets that you may have around your chronic condition. Write some mantras on notes and put them where you will see them every single day. Set up your mobile phone to send you the mantra in a reminder message each day. The more you see them, the more you will start to believe what they say. Here are some example mantras for you to use:

With every breath I take, I am healthy, happy, and well.

I am (your name). I am not (your chronic condition).

I am whole.

I am a warrior. My strength is unlimited.

2. Set Yourself Up For Success

Today you take care of business. What do you need to be successful going forward? Get organized. Dedicate this day to getting it together: Gather all your medical files, and put them on a thumb drive that you can keep in your bag. Round up copies of any X-rays, CAT scans, MRIs, doctor’s notes, documentation, paperwork, lab results, and insurance info, and put it all in one place for easy access. You won’t believe how getting organized reduces stress and anxiety.

3. Set Up Your A-Team

Who are your health care providers? Go down the list. Which ones are serving you well, and which ones make you feel uneasy? Make sure the people who you are paying to help you heal give you what you need. If they’re not, have the courage to ask for what you need or simply move on. These people work for you, so you decide who stays and who goes.

4. Clean House

Take a good, long hard look at your life right now, and make the edits needed to get you to where you feel comfortable, a place where you’re doing what you like to do and not doing anything that isn’t serving you well.

5. Practice Self-Care

Self-care is taking care of yourself in a tender, loving way every single day. Self-care is making sure you get what you need every day to thrive. What are the self-care rituals that help you the most?

6. Take Care of Home Base-Your Bod

Clean out your kitchen. Assess what’s on your shelves and in the fridge. Toss everything that you can’t pronounce or that has an ingredient that makes no sense. Make a commitment to get rid of all the foods that are not serving you. Nourish yourself with a plant-based diet; fill the fridge with the colors of the rainbow!

7. Get Moving

Add exercise and movement to your daily routine. Start slow and small. More often than not, your mind says no before your body does. Start from a place of joy and do something that makes you truly happy and free. Move it or lose it.

8. Expand Your Resources

Become an expert on your condition. Keep learning, researching, and staying on top of the latest info about your condition. Re-evaluate where you are: How do you feel? Do you need a change? Who can stay on your A-team, and who can join it? Find and add those wellness workers who enhance your life and health, and ditch the ones who don’t.

9. Connect with Your Higher Self

Do some soul searching. Go deep. Meditate. Remember, just five minutes a day can make a difference. When you feel outside of yourself, stressed from treatment plans, out of body, anything, go within. Remember: tune out to tune in. When you feel fearful thoughts, stop, drop, and breathe. The solution to staying in the present is always inside of you.

10. Create a Tribe You Love

Mend relationships that matter, let go of destructive ones, and cultivate healthy new associations. It’s essential to surround yourself with other Glow Warriors, as well as friends and family who are on your side, understand you, and make you feel supported and loved. Encircle yourself with people who feed your spirit and your mind.

11. Be Your Own Best Friend

Take a good look at how you have been living your life up until now. Your thoughts and feelings are your reality. If you treat yourself like you would your bestie, you will be filled with loving-kindness and unconditional love. Now is the time to begin living with a new outlook. Forgive yourself. Choose to love again. Rise up into living life and approaching difficult situations differently. The time is now to thrive. Life is yours for the taking.

12. Share the Glow

Put your best foot forward, share what you know with others, and give back. The goal of becoming a Glow Warrior is to optimize your well-being. A fabulous side effect of that is you become an ambassador of glowing health. Lead by example.

Adapted from Kicking Sick: Your Go-To Guide to Thriving with Chronic Health Conditions by Amy Kurtz. Copyright © 2017 by Amy Kurtz.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Amy Kurtz is a wellness expert, an AADPcertified Holistic Health Coach, and a regular contributor on popular wellness websites such as MindBodyGreen and Yoganonymous. She is the author of Kicking Sick: Your Go-To Guide to Thriving with Chronic Health Conditions (Sounds True, January 2017) and lives in New York City. For more information, visit amykurtz.com.