AC 002: Why sufferers of the BIG SIX often get poor results and outcomes?
Welcome. Today I’m discussing why women who struggle with THE BIG SIX health issues often get poor results or the results are only short-term.
If you’re anything like the women we work with here at About Courage, you’ve been working on your health for years, taking medications, supplements, seeing multiple practitioners or the same one over and over again, you’ve tried so many different approaches, and yet you’re still struggling with this family of health issues.
What makes this worse is that sometimes it actually feels like things are getting better. It might seem like all your hard work and sacrifices will finally pay off… and then things begin to get worse again or a different symptom suddenly rears its head.
This can be so frustrating and can make you lose hope that things will ever improve. It starts to make you feel as though you are broken and can’t be fixed no matter how hard you try. You start to feel that maybe you just need to learn to live with it, as though this is as good as it gets.
In my experience working with client’s who have come to me after they have been to so many different experts and specialists, and been on so many medications and supplements, nine times out of ten, it comes down to one thing.
You see, most health practitioners, most google searches, most medications, and most supplements are focussed on treating the worst symptom. Whatever you’re struggling with most, that’s where they focus their attention. This makes sense after all – get rid of the worst of it, and life will be easier.
If your anxiety or your hormonal issues have really flared up and you’re really struggling with them, it makes sense to put all of your attention there.
You google search that health issue.
You go to multiple health practitioners asking them to look into that particular health issue.
However, what we have discovered from working with hundreds of women over the past 16 years, using this approach for THE BIG SIX is rarely effective.
You often get poor results, or the results only last a short period of time. But, what else are you meant to do?
What we have found to be the most powerful approach to completely resolving this family of health issues is to ignore the symptoms. This can feel completely counter-intuitive, but stay with me for a moment…
For now, think of your health issues as a screaming, tantrumming toddler. So, your anxiety, stress, sleep issues, exhaustion, hormonal imbalances, digestive complaints – all these “tantrumming toddlers” are basically trying to get your attention.
And of course, when your child screams, all you want to do is to support them and love them in a way that makes them stop screaming and return to a normal level, where you can then begin to discuss ways of moving forward with them. Because if they stop screaming, that means everything is okay. Right?
However, when you think of it, many times when a toddler is screaming, they want more lollies, they want you to not put the car seat on them when you get in the car, they don’t want to eat their broccoli, they don’t want to get in the bath… the point is, as parents we know that what they want is often not what they need… and often isn’t the best thing for them.
Sometimes, as the parent or carer of a toddler, we need to ignore what THEY really want and instead give them what they really need. Healthy food, a seat belt, to go to sleep, for you to show them healthy boundaries so that they can grow up to have healthy boundaries, etc. etc.
So, the next important question to ask is: if you’re not focusing on the symptoms, what ARE you focusing on?
To figure this out, you need to understand several things…
The first thing you need to understand is that THE BIG SIX health issues are all interconnected and related to one another… so you need to have a strategic plan to tackle these health issues that takes that into account.
The second thing you need to understand is that there is a process. There are things that need to happen first, second, and third in order to achieve true progress on your way to break free from these health issues and to thrive.
The third and final thing to understand is that each of the steps that will guide you from where you are right now to where you want to be – where your health is elevated, you feel more confident, and strong, and empowered – that different health and healing strategies need to be implemented at different times and in different situations in order to make profound long-lasting changes in your health.
In the end, focusing on the symptoms is very surface level when you’re dealing with chronic health conditions and complex health pictures, such as THE BIG SIX.
If you’ve fallen and landed on your knee – focusing your attention on the injured knee makes complete sense. If you have eaten old rice and then you get food-poisoning – focusing on the stomach bug makes absolute sense.
However, when you’re addressing THE BIG SIX, you’re dealing with a family of health issues that have been around for years or possibly decades – these are chronic conditions that the body has been coping with for a long time. Focusing on the individual health issues as if they can be compartmentalised makes no sense at all, and doesn’t make for any real, long-lasting change.
I know that what I am saying may seem controversial, and completely flies in the face of how most health practitioners operate, but this is why you’re here searching for new answers… because the ones you’ve been given so far aren’t transforming your health… not even close.
About Courage is here to change that.