14 Days of Self-Love ~ Day One: Moments of Communion by Jenn Gibson

I’m so honoured to be bringing you a collection of guest posts in these coming 14 days, truthful tales of on the path of learning to love ourselves.  To start off the series I am so excited to have the incredible Jenn Gibson, life coach and creator of Roots of She here to share a personal story with you about her journey.

If you somehow have never been to Roots of She, please go over there the moment you finish reading this post and prepare to spend the next hour there falling in love with the incredible community she has created there.  It is truly one of my favourite online spaces and with the motto “Be Heard. Be Seen. Belong” you can see why so many of us are head over heels for ROS.    Thank you Jenn for all you do…now without further ado, lets her Jenn’s powerful offering to the 14 Days of Self-Love titled Moments of Communion.

After months of feeling frustrated with my previous doctor and being sicker than I had been in years, I found a new endocrinologist.

I met with her last month, asked her questions, told her my story, listened while she made suggestions and offered advice.

I shared what my life is like living with an auto-immune disease.

She gave me eye contact, attention, presence. And then she showed me where my thyroid was.

I felt it, it’s so tiny, it’s such a tiny thing but it does so much and I told my thyroid that we’re in this together and we are going to get better and feel good.

Nothing else existed but my heartbeat and my fingertips touching bare skin and my tears.

Tears ran down my cheeks because what I felt was the deepest of communion with my body.

I’ve felt that sort of communion before – during sex and yoga practice and those slow moments moving from sleeping to waking. But for so long my body had been the enemy, something I was fighting against.

In those moments it was my friend, my ally, my comrade.
In those moments, I became my friend, my ally, my comrade.

In those moments, I lived and breathed and cried and hoped in solidarity with the one thing I’d been fighting against for years.

Letting go of that fight, it was another instance of putting down the rope, stopping the tug of war.

For the first time in years, my levels are stable, I don’t have to go back to the doctor for six months. Six long, spacious months.

Every single thing that’s happened over the past year has brought, carried, dragged, and led me here, to this beautiful point where my body is beginning to heal.

Will my auto-immune disease ever be cured? No.

But finally living a life where I can love this tiny hurt piece of myself is worth it. Forgiving this tiny hurt piece of myself makes it all okay.

~

Jenn Gibson is a life coach & the creator of Roots of She — a collection of true stories & tender wisdom for women, by women. As a coach, she focuses on foundational self-care, helping overwhelmed women learn to live simply, and simply live. Connect: Facebook :: Twitter : @rootsofshe.