Welcome to the second post in the series! The Celiac Meditations is to encourage, explain and build meaning around some of the experiences that relate to celiacs (and probably a lot of autoimmune or food-related illness). Hope you enjoy! Please comment below and share with anyone you know who has celiacs! xo steph
The truth that I learn from having celiacs is sometimes startling.
It can be startling and liberating all at the same time.
When I first stopped eating gluten, the results came quickly. I felt more energy, I didn't lay in bed for hours, the migraines weren't as frequent... It was an adventure because every week I saw the power of eliminating one single oppressor.
It took a few months. Maybe almost a year. But eventually a light bulb went off.
I didn’t have to feel bad.
In fact, I wasn’t supposed to. What I had accepted as normal, was everyone else’s “horrible.”
But for how long?
As a kid I used to disdain Saturdays, and I never put it together until my adulthood, a few years after my diagnosis. I had always felt weird, spacey and directionless on Saturdays. I was sitting at a barstool eating gluten free pancakes with my husband one Saturday when it hit me. Growing up, Saturdays were pancake day. Can you imagine? Most Saturdays I was dazed and confused and wishing it could quickly become a Monday again....
The thing is that other people like Saturdays. Most people, in fact.
And for my whole life I can now, too.
For years my body was in a prison and I never knew it. Which made this huge shift inside me. A realization that has brought a halo to other categories of my life: my marriage, my work, my health, my friendships.
How I feel now isn’t how I have to feel tomorrow.
Life could change. I could change it.
Through my diagnosis and diet adjustment, I eventually got to taste freedom. Things that I thought were stationary burdens in my life, just disappeared. Even my own personality shifted. I was happier, less moody, less annoyed.
I mean, if my body, my skin, my mind and my energy could change from my one decision ... talk about empowerment. What other issues could I point a magic wand of intention at?
Because, could this be for real? I only knew it was because I was feeling it. Symptoms totally disappeared. And as soon as I’d mis-eat, I’d feel them.
So you're telling me -- freedom is possible. No, I'm telling you -- freedom is possible.
I could escape from the chronic pain. But it was me. For years I was in a prison because of my own actions. Unknowing, yes, but still.
The oppressor was me.
But now, so is the releaser.
t h e c e l i a c m e d i t a t i o n
I c h o o s e f r e e d o m .