My health journey so far.

Navigating chronic illness as an energy worker.

TW: weight, mental health

I’m very lucky to say that I’ve experienced mostly excellent health in my early life. I had a few quirks, here and there, that never impeded my daily activities. I always loved sports and being as active as possible. I wanted to try everything I could. I started with dance, moved to gymnastics, then to school sports, and found my passion in horseback riding. Riding horses was my everyday; I played every sport my parents would allow, and ran around in the woods and swam in lakes on the weekends. When I was in my 20s, I found more confidence than ever when I started strength training. The confidence came from feeling strong in my body, not just how it affected my appearance. I still loved to challenge myself with new activities and was always so grateful for how my body would perform.

Like many, 2020 brought on massive changes for me. At the time, I was working a job that caused me tons of stress and left me feeling directionless. I stayed occupied, so I didn’t have to confront those truths. Anything to keep me busy so that I didn’t have the time or mental space to check in with myself.

In February of 2020, just before lockdown, I took a trip that I had been looking forward to for months. However, I was totally surprised to feel completely exhausted the entire trip. I was unable to leave the Airbnb for more than a few hours, and when I would, I was so irritable and lethargic. Looking back, I believe I had contracted the Corona Virus late in 2019 and was already experiencing some Long Covid symptoms.

A month later, in March of 2020, came COVID lockdown. I was furloughed from my job in March and forced to stay in my one-bedroom apartment with nothing to do. The unknown caused my stress to skyrocket. I tried to distract myself by exercising five hours a day. I also wasn’t eating very much at the time due to stress-related nausea. Pushing myself like this caused my metabolism to reverse, and I ended up gaining 30lbs in a single month. I’d always had a very regular metabolism, so I was very confused about what was happening. I also started to have gut issues, acne, hair loss, and tons and tons of fatigue.

During the second month of my quarantine, things settled down in my mind. I stopped my insane five-hour workouts and took daily walks instead. I started doing yoga and meditation each morning, which gave me time to connect with myself. I started noticing my thoughts and giving them my attention. I finally recognized and admitted a big truth: stress was ruining my health, and I was passively allowing it to.

After this revelation, I had what I would call a spiritual awakening. I’ll discuss this more in another post that’s more woo-woo-focused because there’s a lot to be said! On the physical side, the strange and sudden issues I’d been experiencing started to clear up. My rapid weight gain stopped, my acne cleared, my gut was improving, and my mood was the best it had ever been. I was content in a genuine way for the first time that I could recall.

Alas, I got the call to return to work after two and a half months of being furloughed. I felt like I was returning to old patterns with a new set of eyes. However, I’m very good at keeping my head down and toughing it out, so that’s what I did. And of course, the symptoms returned as I went back to work.

I contracted COVID in November of that year. It worsened my health overall, and I started experiencing more Long Covid symptoms. I didn’t have that awareness at the time and just tried to push through it. However, it eventually forced me to seek medical help for the first time up to this point. Every test always came back fine, and I continued toughing it out. I ended up switching jobs and working part-time, which gave me some extra energy and flexibility.

By 2021, my health had improved but still was not what it was before COVID. I continued seeking medical care, but tons of tests and labs never resulted in any answers or treatment. I started to look into holistic modalities and discovered Reiki. I loved it so much that I became certified myself and started taking on clients. Through energy work, I learned about the connection between my past trauma and my health. I started therapy and had a lot of breakthroughs in that area. I also discovered Ayurvedic medicine and incorporated a lot of its practices into my daily life. I responded well to these holistic modalities and found a new balance in life. I wasn’t quite at the capacity I was before, but life was manageable and fulfilling.

Then things took another turn for me in early 2024. I was being asked to take on more responsibilities at my part-time job. The stress and extra hours quickly overwhelmed me and started to affect me physically. I chose to take a step back from Reiki appointments since I didn’t feel like I had the capacity to show up properly for my clients. Around the same time, I made a big move to a new home, and my stress threshold quickly became totally incapacitated. It took a major physical toll, and I started developing intense migraines that caused me to lose consciousness.

By the time that my job had settled down and I was in my new home. I barely recognized myself. I was so fatigued, inflamed, and weakened. I ended up going through the worst health period of my entire life in 2024-2025. I felt as if I was living in a total stranger’s body. This was an incredibly dark time for me.

The silver lining was that my worsening symptoms led to new testing. I was diagnosed with POTS, and that led to me learning about Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. I was able to get the answers I needed and start putting all the puzzle pieces together. From there, I was able to figure out what my body had been trying to tell me all along.

I currently have a great team of doctors and specialists that I feel supported by. My friends and family have shown up for me in such beautiful ways. My health is more stable, and I’m now trying to pick up the pieces from the last two years. I have the energy to return to some of the activities that I love, like yoga, hiking, swimming… the list goes on, since I absolutely love movement. I’m regaining my strength here and there and learning a lot through trial and error. I recently signed up for a Certified Personal Training Course so I can help coach others to better fitness, as a person who has really been through it myself. I will also be taking a 200 Yoga Teacher Training in the Fall since yoga has become an essential part of my life through these challenges.

While I focus on my physical capacity, I’m feeling called to return to energy work. I’m still dealing with the ups and downs of chronic illness and have been unsure of how to approach taking appointments with the possibility of inconsistent health. I’m still figuring it out but optimistic. I’m excited about this next chapter and looking forward to the beautiful things that are to come!

My relationship with my body has changed drastically throughout this process. I know it might sound insane, but I’m very grateful to have been on this journey. It’s far from over, and it will last a lifetime, but I feel like I’m on the other side of a huge, challenging mountain. I may not be the most physically strong version of myself at the moment, but I am absolutely the most mentally strong I’ve ever been. For that, I could not be more grateful.

“This body has carried me through a hard life. It looked exactly the way it was supposed to.”

-Veronica Roth