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On Definitions

Writer's picture: Michelle JoyMichelle Joy



For those that know me, they know I was chronically ill for many years. They also know I have recovered and have dedicated the past 10 years advocating for alternative ways to heal and helping those along on their own journeys.


I have met many people that have fully recovered from debilitating illness and I have met people that are still extremely sick. I have noticed over the years that there are really two types of people when disease sets in: those that focus on healing and those that focus on the illness.


Those that focus on healing are all-in about recovery. They usually stick to one path, they talk positive, and they convince themselves and others that they will heal. Their positivity is contagious. So many people will tell them “you are so positive about this, you can’t even tell you are sick!”


Then there are the ones that focus on the illness. They wrap themselves up in a warm blanket that is the diagnosis. Almost as if the label gives them comfort. It’s confirmation finally that it’s not in their head. They are experts at research, googling day and night. They talk to everyone about how to get better. Their counters are littered with pills and tinctures. They also leap from practitioner to practitioner. Desperately seeking answers. And often those answers lead them down more rabbit holes with more diagnoses and more pills. And depression sets in.


I have been both of these people on my journey. And I have found that for me, removing labels and removing the diagnosis from my day to day life enables me the freedom to heal. I am not weighted down by a label someone else has given me.


I use my body as my teacher. When a symptom arrives, I thank that symptom for alerting me something is out of balance. And then I treat that symptom with the intuition I was provided. Sometimes it’s with herbs. Sometimes it’s prayer. Sometimes it’s rest. And on a rare occasion I say to my body “let’s see someone smarter than us to discuss this with.”


The thing is, when we take the power away from ourselves and put it solely into the hands of someone else, we are telling our own body that it’s not valued. I encourage anyone that is seeking answers right now to look within first. If you just got diagnosed, tell your body that the disease does NOT define you. That disease is simply a name affixed to symptoms. Nothing more. It is not YOU. Then thank your body for working to heal.


Your body always wants to heal. Symptoms are a way of showing your body is working to attack something that is throwing the system off balance. So it launched a counterattack. Have a virus? The body produces fever to kill it. Have an injury? The body sends blood cells to the site to heal it, causing the inflammation you see. Lack magnesium? Your muscles twitch to remind you that you need more. Homeostasis is a beautiful thing!


These symptoms are not YOU. You are not cancer. You are not lyme. You are not mold. You are not MS. You are not COVID.


You are a beautiful person with the power to heal. I need you to wake up every morning and thank your body for telling you it needs help. Then I need you to seek help with the person that your gut tells you is correct. And I need you to trust yourself that the process will work. If you doubt yourself or your therapy, it will not work. Empower your body and trust that it will restore itself to homeostasis.


Love to all.

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