March 3, 2026
From Pain to Purpose: Turning Chronic Struggles into Community
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S1E21 - Welcome to Be Life Changers – https://linktr.ee/kathycoatesevents
Sharing Local Love… stories of purpose, impact, and growth in business and life.
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In this moving episode of Be Life Changers, we welcome a close friend and guest, Sarah Buckley, who has spent her entire life navigating the complexities of chronic illness. She candidly recounts a lifelong history of medical challenges, beginning with severe malnutrition and celiac disease as an infant, leading into a grueling cycle of repeated infections, migraines, and persistent misdiagnoses. She details the physical and emotional toll of being told her symptoms were "in her head," including the trauma of medical gaslighting and the unique hurdles of managing conditions like Lyme disease and ADHD that went unrecognized for decades.
Through her vulnerability, Sarah explains how she transformed her "superpower" of resilience into a mission to serve others.
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Brought to you by your host Kathy Coates
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WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_03]: She realized that she was getting so used to seeing herself with filters.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So she posted on her timeline and I asked her to post it in the group and said, would you please share this in the group?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm sure so many others of us, you know, that do rely on Photoshop, you know, and filters and stuff like that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so then I asked everyone else to then share an authentic raw unfiltered version of themselves to and so many people did.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And it was the most beautiful inspirational thing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to be like changers where we share stories of purpose, passion, and people who are truly making a difference right here in our community.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Today's episode is extra special because we're talking about something so many people quietly carry and that is chronic illness and how one woman turned her story into a mission to serve others and I'm proud to say this woman is a good
00:58.283 --> 01:06.758
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sitting here with Sarah Buckley and she's the founder of the chronic confessions and a healing mentor.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It is a support group on Facebook, what we say is not just a support group.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a revolution of healing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah, I am so glad to have you here on BeeLiveChangers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I could not have had a better person join me today.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I'm already going to start crying.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So man, it's really hard for me to just accept a compliment.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And that's honestly one thing that I have to say that as someone who has had chronic illness for her entire life to just say thank you and not try to explain.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
01:45.078 --> 01:46.520
[SPEAKER_03]: Just I'm just going to leave it like that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So well, they are so glad to have you and I am glad to have you here at JT visuals.
01:52.988 --> 02:00.297
[SPEAKER_00]: They are definitely more than meets the eye and as you can see, you're coming in the mirror and meeting them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They're so warm and welcoming.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They make it so easy to come in and record my podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I love it because you know me being a busy mom and a business owner, you know, I knew the calling was to start be life changers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I knew it was to do this very podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But I saw how am I going to do this.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, how am I going to do this.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was so blessed when I was introduced to Jared and his team, and they welcomed me in with open arms and wanted to be here to create be life changers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm so excited to have you here today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I am completely honored to be here today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You're so welcome.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So let's start at the beginning, tell me a little bit about you before chronic confessions.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I was literally born with chronic illness and you could pretty much sum up of my entire life with one word, misdiagnosed because that happened repeatedly and still to the state is happening repeatedly.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I kind of have, you know,
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[SPEAKER_03]: written, this was actually a story that I wrote about myself, let's see, trying to see if I'd date on it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I think probably back in 2022, maybe.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, and actually even more things have come out since then.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, this is what I wrote at this time, is that when I was born, my mother had pre-clampsia.
03:31.327 --> 03:33.991
[SPEAKER_03]: At eight months old, I had my first bout with Strip Throat.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Throughout my childhood,
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[SPEAKER_03]: living in the pediatric office, so
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[SPEAKER_03]: At eight months old, I was diagnosed with celiac.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I had the Distended Stomach, my muscles and teeth started to deteriorate, and that's why, like, a few Zoom and close to my teeth, you'll see that they're, like, stained yellow.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That's not because I was ever, like, well, I did smoke, but that they were, they started, like, literally, like, I had such severe malnutrition.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I was literally allergic to everything I ate, including my mother's own breast milk.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So all everything started like all my permanent teeth everything so they said that they would always be this way and it was something that I was really kind of ashamed of for a long time And wanted and I even looked into having like cosmetic surgery, but then it was like you know, that's that's a vanity thing So it doesn't really bother me so much
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[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, so they decided not to, at that time, the only way to test if you were a true celiac was to do a biopsy of your small intestine, and back then they were like, no way are we going to do this to an 18-month-old?
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, they put me on a rotation diet, and so at 20-month-old,
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[SPEAKER_03]: I had a total body rash and particularly I as well as other GI problems.
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[SPEAKER_03]: In elementary school, I had again repeated bouts of step-throat and third grade.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I started to have migraines and also started my first round of therapy for self-esteem, because what I viewed as
05:14.260 --> 05:24.199
[SPEAKER_03]: bullying at the time would not even compare to what my stuff dollars went through, but when I was in third grade, I always rooted for the underdog, and I never really understood why.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So there's a girl named Samantha.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'll never ever forget her.
05:29.650 --> 05:49.839
[SPEAKER_03]: which is interesting that I remember her name because with going through period menopause and you know brain fog, we're searching like it's very rare that I actually remember anything these days um so her name was Samantha and she was head to two covered in warts and so in third grade kids are very mean and no one wanted to be her friend and they all made fun of her so what did I do?
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[SPEAKER_03]: I became her friend and I was the only one that would hang out with her on the playground
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[SPEAKER_03]: So then, of course, everyone turned on me.
05:55.589 --> 05:56.652
[SPEAKER_03]: Ew, well, you're going to catch it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And you're going to be like, you know, like, they're going to be like, three, two, three, two, three.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Me and kids, right?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Me and kids.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so then I went into therapy because I was like, well, why does everybody hate me?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm just trying to be nice to someone.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I didn't understand that concept.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_03]: and eventually, you know, therapy helped, and so then in middle school, it says I continue to have more bouts of strep throat, and so if you know anything about pans or pandas, which was not around at the time.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I probably, from all of the repeated step-throughs, appearances that I had, had a form of pans or pandas.
06:37.338 --> 06:37.960
[SPEAKER_03]: It's suspected.
06:39.223 --> 06:44.477
[SPEAKER_03]: So starting my freshman year in high school, I had a swollen lymph node behind my left ear.
06:44.457 --> 06:47.422
[SPEAKER_03]: Um, then they started developing in my armpits and drawing.
06:47.623 --> 06:55.778
[SPEAKER_03]: I had a lace it lacy rash that covered my entire body except like this rink white ring around my belly button, which will come into play later.
06:55.798 --> 06:58.603
[SPEAKER_03]: I had joint pain severe fatigue.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Um,
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[SPEAKER_03]: My ANA was positive, so my pediatrician sent me to an infectious disease specialist and a rheumatologist, but because they couldn't find evidence of a tick bite because they searched me head to toe, they diagnosed me with long-term parabro virus.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Are you familiar with that at all?
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[SPEAKER_03]: So if you ever hear a parable virus, you normally hear it in sense of like puddles, right?
07:21.059 --> 07:27.990
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so in human form is also known as fist disease or like you get the butterfly rash over your face.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I had all of that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I probably did all, so have the power of Iris, but that wasn't the root cause.
07:36.448 --> 07:41.657
[SPEAKER_03]: So then I developed major depressive disorder with psychotic features.
07:42.338 --> 07:46.184
[SPEAKER_03]: So I literally would hear things that were not actually there.
07:46.585 --> 07:53.175
[SPEAKER_03]: And I was in a not of a mental wellness center three different times until I finally could graduate into like a,
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[SPEAKER_03]: a day treatment facility and so I went away to college my freshman year and they thought what I had was my first manic episode.
08:04.703 --> 08:09.149
[SPEAKER_03]: But like again this is a story of how I've been missed diagnosed my entire life.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So my psychiatrist might get recommended that I medically withdraw from college that year which I did and as soon as I came home he diagnosed me with bipolar
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I started going to college locally and at one point, I was hospitalized with pneumonia.
08:23.347 --> 08:29.893
[SPEAKER_03]: In 2006, I was coming home from a conference and ended up in the hospital with the worst migraine of my entire life.
08:29.913 --> 08:33.376
[SPEAKER_03]: I literally thought my brain was going to explode at my head.
08:34.077 --> 08:36.639
[SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, actually, I actually wrote that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And they ended up doing a spinal tap which they botched.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And the woman was like, you can't possibly be feeling this.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, I'm screaming, like, my, I probably crushed my father's hand.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I was screaming, my mom said,
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, no, I can feel what is happening.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so, and then, you know, so they had to do it again.
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[SPEAKER_03]: This time under, I had warned her that I had scoliosis.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And she still was like, I've never botched one in my entire life.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So she was like, oh, well, congratulations.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You're now the second patient I've ever screwed up.
09:04.337 --> 09:06.060
[SPEAKER_03]: And I've done, you know, millions of them.
09:06.080 --> 09:07.403
[SPEAKER_03]: And I was like, lucky me.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, like,
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like I've already went through all this, like now I have to do it again because you bought anyways.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The second time through when I did it like with a x-ray, I didn't even feel like going.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So if they had tested my spinal fluid that day, they would have seen that I had Lyme disease.
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[SPEAKER_03]: but it wasn't even a blip on the radar back then.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So they didn't, and so they ended up admitting me for a couple of days and released me staying that I couldn't stay there just for pain management.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So then my mother took me to her pain specialist and I'll always for remember what he said.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Sarah, I'm not this kind of doctor, but if I didn't know better, you have Lyme disease just like your mother.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so my mother had just been diagnosed with Lyme disease in, like, I think 2003, which was the year that I graduated from college.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so I did find an infectious disease specialist.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I, when I before I went there, I looked up on the Lyme disease, uh,
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[SPEAKER_03]: association.org and printed out the symptom list and just cried as I circled every single one in red and there's like a huge list.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so when I met with him I just handed it to him and I said this is me and he's like well let's just you know he's like hold up we need to talk about this and as I told him my story he was like
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[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, he's like, we're going to do a Western blot, which at the time was like, you know, what they do.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And he's like, but honestly, they're not very reliable because they're not.
10:43.855 --> 10:53.208
[SPEAKER_03]: And we're going to he's like, but no matter what we're going to start you on antibiotics because it's probably going to come back negative, but clinically you present with every single symptom of mind disease.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So of course, it did come back negative and we started me on, let's see.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, so I did two months of an antibiotic and when I wasn't better in those two months, he was like, I don't get it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like, why aren't you getting better?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as I think, when you look at when you go through things, you know, there's so much, you know, that we're learning as we go.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And doctors are learning too.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And not everybody is the same.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so, of course, we do have symptoms that mean like you may have the cold or flu or whatever, but then you have other symptoms that are close to some other kind of disease.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so, it makes us so hard.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then when you are dealing with this from such a young age, to being older, it creates, you know, other issues emotionally, mentally.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I think, you know, is,
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, we just have to sit there and observe and wonder, you know, like, wow, you know, a person, it's frustrating enough when we go through one about a sickness, but when you look at people that are chronically ill, to have that empathy and to understand,
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[SPEAKER_00]: and relate just with us being sick one time what it would be like if you got the wrong diagnosis and then go in and again and you know the doctor is feeling frustrated too because it's outside the box so they're wondering like what is going on here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so what would you think is probably the hardest part emotionally and mentally from going through that from such a young age to now?
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[SPEAKER_00]: How could you wrap that up in this one to let the listeners kind of know how that's so we could have a better understanding of people who deal with chronic pain versus those of us who may have an illness or some type of pain for a short moment.
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[SPEAKER_03]: that's an excellent question because the thing that I always say is that the only thing predictable about chronic anything is that it's unpredictable.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so we are seen as flaky or you know inconsistent.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, I purposely did not put on any makeup except for some lip gloss, and I'm currently dealing with a science infection, if you zoomed in, I have like period oral dermatitis going on.
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[SPEAKER_03]: My body is in a full blown flare right now.
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[SPEAKER_03]: yet I'm still here.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm still showing up.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm still, you know, anyway, but we can't always do that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It's not always like, you know, like we, as some of the chronic illness, we have, like, this will probably take me about two days to recover from.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But it was that important to me to be here to say this today.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, um, so then we can make other people aware.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know that it isn't just something that people are making up in their head.
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[SPEAKER_00]: No, this really does happen.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And then
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[SPEAKER_03]: throughout my life because no one could ever really truly find out what was wrong with me.
13:59.789 --> 14:06.778
[SPEAKER_03]: I often heard you really should go see a psychiatrist and let me tell you that that happens way more in women than it does men.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so a medical gaslighting and a medical trauma is real.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I hate when they
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[SPEAKER_03]: they put trauma and the categories of big tea and little tea.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, to me, trauma is trauma.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It's all how it affects you.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It feels, you know, your entire body mind spirit soul.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
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[UNKNOWN]: So.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Repeat the question again, because I don't know.
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[SPEAKER_00]: No, I said, what was the hardest part, emotionally and mentally?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So just being misunderstood is all in my head.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That it's not real.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, so I started the chronic confessions as a faceless Instagram because I was going through a divorce.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And
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[SPEAKER_03]: I also just needed a safe place to just then, to where nobody knew my name, nobody knew what I looked like.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was just my little place on the internet to just express myself freely.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So then, as my divorce president to myself, I hired a life coach.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I,
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[SPEAKER_03]: really started to heal parts of myself that had been told to not speak out and not speak up and, you know, stay quite and be a lady like it, you know, all those things that society puts on us.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I just kind of was like, so one piece of my story that we didn't get to is that in 2021, I went through a psychary evaluation.
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[SPEAKER_03]: was found out that I actually am not bipolar, but the entire time I've actually been ADHD combined.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so for so many people, like when they first get a diagnosis, they're like, oh, like finally my world makes sense.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But since I've never known a life without some kind of diagnosis, right?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And...
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[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't like, oh, a sense of relief.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like, oh, my life finally made sense.
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[SPEAKER_03]: To me, it was anger and resentment because I was like, why didn't anyone catch this?
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[SPEAKER_03]: When I was 18, and then I think I told you that, you know, Mel Robbins did this,
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[SPEAKER_03]: brilliant podcast episode about how the same thing happened to her, you know, she didn't even, she was late diagnosed ADHD.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I didn't even have a clue that I possibly was ADHD until, well, we can get into that, but okay, so to go, sorry, you know, I'm not scrolling all over the place.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, um, anyway, so it's just really just the misunderstanding and I even saw this yesterday when I was sitting in court with a friend.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And he got pulled over for being under the influence of marijuana because he self-medicated for having anxiety attacks.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And they charged him with a D-W-I for that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so actually, his lawyer was trying to say, like, look, this man has dealt with anxiety and he was self-medicating and he just happened to be speeding and you know, like,
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[SPEAKER_03]: We're not saying it excuses the behavior, but it explains why and could you please just, you know, like lower the, you know, make us a better deal, right?
17:15.288 --> 17:16.290
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
17:16.872 --> 17:19.236
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we're coming in a long ways.
17:19.337 --> 17:21.661
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of states are finally starting.
17:22.463 --> 17:23.164
[SPEAKER_03]: Remark west.
17:24.227 --> 17:25.930
[SPEAKER_03]: We all deal with anxiety.
17:25.910 --> 17:36.044
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's the kind of thing that I hear all the time, and it literally took every restraining bone in my body not to get up and want you just like reach over and choke that man.
17:36.064 --> 17:45.117
[SPEAKER_03]: And I mean, honestly, if I were being completely honest, because it's, right, people when with chronic anxiety or, you know, any type of chronic mental illness,
17:45.097 --> 17:51.106
[SPEAKER_03]: we have a completely different level of mental on this or chronic pain or chronic illness.
17:51.546 --> 17:54.250
[SPEAKER_03]: Like when it comes to the pain scale, you know what I mean?
17:54.270 --> 17:55.232
[SPEAKER_03]: Like it's usually one to ten.
17:55.592 --> 17:56.914
[SPEAKER_03]: And I've been in the hospital so many times.
17:56.934 --> 17:58.316
[SPEAKER_03]: They're like, you know, where's your pain?
17:58.376 --> 18:07.209
[SPEAKER_03]: And I want to be like, I don't even, I don't even register on your pain scale because like what you may deal with as a ten, that would be like a hundred to me.
18:07.249 --> 18:07.730
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you know what I mean?
18:07.750 --> 18:08.832
[SPEAKER_03]: Like it's all relative.
18:08.872 --> 18:11.155
[SPEAKER_03]: So I'm like,
18:11.135 --> 18:17.405
[SPEAKER_03]: crap to someone who has chronic illness because there's not a day where I don't wake up and I'm in some type of pain or I'm dealing with some kind of symptom.
18:17.926 --> 18:18.947
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's my reality.
18:19.047 --> 18:35.053
[SPEAKER_03]: And so anyway, the reason I told you that I was misdi-nosed with bipolar disorders because when I was put on all those meds, they made me gain so much weight so rapidly and then I just kept gaining gaining gaining.
18:35.133 --> 18:37.817
[SPEAKER_03]: So when I went off all those meds, guess what happened?
18:39.232 --> 18:40.715
[SPEAKER_03]: all the weight just melted off.
18:41.496 --> 18:46.184
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I'm now finally at a healthy weight, but I had lots of things.
18:46.204 --> 18:49.750
[SPEAKER_00]: That's another thing that you deal with as the fluctuation.
18:50.110 --> 19:03.433
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, people who struggle with weight, no, that's a whole other issue of again, making you feel like you don't feel like you belong or,
19:03.413 --> 19:05.295
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, all of that kind of stuff.
19:05.735 --> 19:13.683
[SPEAKER_00]: So with the chronic confessions, I know I always like to take what people's, I always call it our superpower.
19:13.843 --> 19:18.748
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people say, you know, may differ, but I say, what is your superpower?
19:19.289 --> 19:24.454
[SPEAKER_00]: And the things that we go through in life, we have two decisions that we can do.
19:25.195 --> 19:31.581
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we can either give up and let that pain take us over, whether that be the,
19:31.561 --> 19:38.171
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, loss of a loved one growing up, divorce, and a family chronic pain.
19:38.191 --> 19:41.216
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be many, it's massed as many things.
19:42.097 --> 19:45.863
[SPEAKER_00]: And I always say those are things that try to defeat us in life.
19:45.943 --> 19:46.203
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
19:46.304 --> 19:51.331
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can just let it defeat you or you can take that and make it your superpower.
19:52.012 --> 19:54.336
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I like about your story.
19:54.376 --> 19:55.678
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I really wanted to pull out.
19:55.658 --> 19:56.259
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
19:56.360 --> 20:09.008
[SPEAKER_00]: It's first of all, you know, we're making people aware that these pain is real, and chronic illness is real, and anxiety is in different levels for different people.
20:09.148 --> 20:09.970
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
20:10.231 --> 20:12.115
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time,
20:12.095 --> 20:15.441
[SPEAKER_00]: those things don't have to stop you, right?
20:15.722 --> 20:17.084
[SPEAKER_00]: It is your superpower.
20:17.144 --> 20:18.166
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
20:18.186 --> 20:28.986
[SPEAKER_00]: And by this, your superpower, you chose instead of letting it defeat you, just feeling like I can't do anything in society.
20:29.146 --> 20:30.228
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't have a job.
20:30.409 --> 20:31.150
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't.
20:31.130 --> 20:33.535
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I can't do these things.
20:34.016 --> 20:39.227
[SPEAKER_00]: You chose to help others in the same and bring awareness to all of us.
20:39.307 --> 20:41.131
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, some things that I've learned today.
20:42.073 --> 20:44.077
[SPEAKER_00]: You've helped us bring awareness to that.
20:44.678 --> 20:47.504
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what I see with the chronic confessions.
20:48.045 --> 20:50.691
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me a few,
20:50.671 --> 20:55.841
[SPEAKER_00]: like highlights, I know you've started it and it's more than what you ever thought it would be because it's grew.
20:55.861 --> 20:57.525
[SPEAKER_00]: You're very talented at that.
20:58.066 --> 21:06.182
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm as grew to a lot of members and I know don't say nobody's name or anything but like what I'm saying is like
21:06.162 --> 21:16.035
[SPEAKER_00]: tell us a couple of your favorite moments of like, man, I'm so glad I did this because I know when we help people, it helps us.
21:16.255 --> 21:17.417
[SPEAKER_00]: It helps that pain.
21:17.717 --> 21:18.438
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go down.
21:18.718 --> 21:19.059
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
21:19.079 --> 21:24.746
[SPEAKER_00]: And so give us a couple of examples of why you are glad that you started the chronic confessions.
21:25.007 --> 21:33.638
[SPEAKER_03]: I want to go back and answer what my superpower is first because I love this answer because mine has always been
21:33.955 --> 21:37.805
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm resilient AF, I will not curse, but everyone knows what that means.
21:39.208 --> 21:45.784
[SPEAKER_03]: And also, I am really great at community and connection.
21:45.925 --> 21:48.371
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I know how to connect the right people with other people.
21:48.451 --> 21:50.817
[SPEAKER_03]: And I know how to build authentic,
21:50.797 --> 21:51.418
[SPEAKER_03]: community.
21:51.718 --> 22:01.312
[SPEAKER_03]: I've done it millions of times from millions of people like where they'll hire me just to grow their community because I am real like I am an open book.
22:01.473 --> 22:07.341
[SPEAKER_03]: I decided to heal loudly and unapologetically and show us my authentic self.
22:07.562 --> 22:12.028
[SPEAKER_03]: And so in terms of your question now, um,
22:12.008 --> 22:24.305
[SPEAKER_03]: Some of my favorite moments, one of them is just yesterday, which was a girl who posted just a, you know, she realized that she was getting so used to seeing herself with filters.
22:24.545 --> 22:30.012
[SPEAKER_03]: So she posted on her timeline and I asked her to post it in the group and said, would you please share us in the group?
22:30.032 --> 22:31.975
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm sure so many other of it.
22:31.955 --> 22:43.229
[SPEAKER_03]: others of us, you know, that deal with all of this, like do rely on Photoshop, you know, and filters, and stuff like that to make us look, you know, not with the dark circles, and you know, like all the things going on or rashes, like, you know.
22:43.929 --> 22:50.417
[SPEAKER_03]: And so she really inspired me, and so she finally, you know, she was like, oh, think about it, and then so she posted it in there, and it is a private group.
22:51.118 --> 22:53.541
[SPEAKER_03]: And, um, and
22:53.521 --> 23:15.584
[SPEAKER_03]: And so then I asked everyone else to then share an authentic raw unfiltered version of themselves too, and so many people did, and it was the most beautiful, inspirational thing, and that was just, it was amazing to just be like, okay, in your own skin, and not care what anybody else thinks, and just show up, and it'd be enough.
23:17.286 --> 23:22.431
[SPEAKER_03]: So that was really powerful.
23:25.280 --> 23:30.692
[SPEAKER_03]: you just really know what kind of like acts of kindness are going to affect someone's life.
23:30.912 --> 23:39.070
[SPEAKER_03]: And I had shared this with you before that there's a woman in there who reached out to me privately and said, no, no, my friends or family will listen to me.
23:39.771 --> 23:41.274
[SPEAKER_03]: Could I just need someone to talk to you?
23:41.335 --> 23:42.497
[SPEAKER_03]: I just need someone to vent to.
23:42.657 --> 23:44.000
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I gave her my phone and ran.
23:44.020 --> 23:45.263
[SPEAKER_03]: I said, call me.
23:45.243 --> 23:56.441
[SPEAKER_03]: I said, I will gladly listen, if you just want to vent, I will, you know, just let you vent, I will not give you any opinion whatsoever because so often people want to say, well, have you tried this, have you tried this, have you tried this?
23:57.202 --> 24:08.820
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's like, okay, like, I know you have good intentions, but trust me, like, I've been doing this my entire life and my, like, it's not going to be erased with yoga.
24:08.800 --> 24:16.747
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I mean, like, like, or I, like, I've already tried that, you know, I mean, like, you know, um, so people have good intentions.
24:16.767 --> 24:17.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, absolutely.
24:17.748 --> 24:24.234
[SPEAKER_00]: They have good intentions, but I think sometimes, you know, when I always say, put yourself in a person's shoes.
24:24.254 --> 24:24.534
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
24:24.814 --> 24:30.219
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's the one thing I'm in my mom taught me growing up is like, you know, sis, you know, call me sis.
24:30.239 --> 24:38.807
[SPEAKER_00]: So sis, I want you to think about this before you make a judgment, put yourself in their shoes.
24:38.787 --> 24:44.572
[SPEAKER_00]: or make a different decision, but when you really put someone in their shoes, would you?
24:45.413 --> 24:55.022
[SPEAKER_00]: And I always think that's really good advice for people especially on my world, we think we all have an opinion, we all need to share it, just because you know, doesn't mean you need to share it.
24:55.582 --> 24:58.785
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there is times people want that advice, then give it.
24:59.285 --> 25:05.271
[SPEAKER_00]: The people that are dealing with pain every single day, they have tried many, many things.
25:05.491 --> 25:08.794
[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes the answer is just listening.
25:08.774 --> 25:10.778
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I did have in that year.
25:10.818 --> 25:16.468
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what I love about the chronic confessions is that it's just people listening.
25:17.029 --> 25:27.508
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, or or sharing what works for them because right everyone in that group is either dealing with any type of chronic condition or is a caregiver of someone who is dealing with the chronic.
25:27.488 --> 25:38.586
[SPEAKER_03]: And so not only that, but it's also just people who are aging because as you age, your body starts to break down and you start to have health condition.
25:38.947 --> 25:45.357
[SPEAKER_03]: So there was a lot of original members who were like, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be in this group because I don't have anything diagnosed as chronic.
25:45.718 --> 25:51.387
[SPEAKER_03]: And I said, that's just the name that I carry over from my Instagram, you know, brand, right?
25:51.367 --> 26:04.989
[SPEAKER_03]: So, and I said no, please post because you like dealing with aging and going through like a menopause and, you know, now like, you know, health, you know, back pain, you know, whatever it is that you start developing later in life.
26:05.751 --> 26:06.973
[SPEAKER_03]: This is a place for that too.
26:07.273 --> 26:12.582
[SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't have to, and you can just even be going through the navigation process of trying to get a diagnosis, which is,
26:13.220 --> 26:13.661
[SPEAKER_03]: A lot.
26:14.582 --> 26:15.583
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be a lot.
26:15.683 --> 26:16.544
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be a lot.
26:16.945 --> 26:21.731
[SPEAKER_00]: So who, let's tell the audience, because I know of this is probably resuming maybe with a lot of people.
26:22.372 --> 26:23.573
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people can say that.
26:24.034 --> 26:24.314
[SPEAKER_00]: That's me.
26:24.334 --> 26:26.577
[SPEAKER_00]: I need a group like this.
26:27.378 --> 26:28.740
[SPEAKER_00]: How do they find you?
26:29.060 --> 26:29.901
[SPEAKER_00]: How do they find you?
26:29.921 --> 26:32.805
[SPEAKER_00]: Where is your hashtag for Instagram, Facebook?
26:32.865 --> 26:38.813
[SPEAKER_03]: So it is just the chronic confessions on Instagram, it's just the chronic confessions.
26:38.933 --> 26:42.838
[SPEAKER_03]: And then on Facebook, our free support group, I want to make sure that
26:42.818 --> 26:49.471
[SPEAKER_03]: that it's really important for me to start this and to make it free and accessible for all.
26:49.511 --> 26:51.195
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's why I started it on Facebook.
26:51.916 --> 26:58.229
[SPEAKER_03]: And it would just be a private group that you would look up in the only thing that's different is that it has the word community at the end.
26:58.389 --> 27:03.038
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a chronic confession community because it's this beautiful community of humans.
27:03.018 --> 27:30.527
[SPEAKER_03]: who are so understanding, so supportive of one another, come from all different walks of life, and literally, from across the globe, I women in there, women in men who do not live in the United States, and it's just, and I even tell people, I'm like, just join even if you never participate, there's never any pressure to participate, but if you ever need support or just want a quiet place on the internet to learn, you know, and just absorb other people's information, and so, you know,
27:30.507 --> 27:32.651
[SPEAKER_03]: It's there for if and when you ever need it.
27:33.011 --> 27:33.712
[SPEAKER_03]: So just join.
27:34.013 --> 27:38.740
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, because there's story matters and that's one thing I like about be life changers is this people's story.
27:39.221 --> 27:39.301
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
27:39.321 --> 27:43.188
[SPEAKER_00]: Because everybody has a story and everybody's story is important.
27:43.669 --> 27:47.014
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody has a gift, a God-giving gift to be here.
27:46.994 --> 28:09.087
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, you're even though you've went through a lot of pain, you've let God use that to bless many, and not everybody makes that decision, and so this group is there to help people, and so I just wanted to share that and bring that out and let everybody know, you know, these are these are life changing stories, yeah.
28:09.067 --> 28:13.111
[SPEAKER_00]: and the chronic confession is full of life-changing story.
28:13.131 --> 28:13.672
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is.
28:13.872 --> 28:19.978
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're going through these things sometimes you just need to outlet or even just to share your story to help and uplift others.
28:20.298 --> 28:20.398
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
28:20.418 --> 28:22.901
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's about, it's not a pity party.
28:23.041 --> 28:25.123
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not about toxic positivity.
28:25.183 --> 28:25.864
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
28:25.904 --> 28:30.649
[SPEAKER_03]: Like so we have one vent every Monday that's called our Monday event thread and no judgment zone.
28:31.029 --> 28:33.332
[SPEAKER_03]: And I will either say like, do you want me to respond to this?
28:33.412 --> 28:34.753
[SPEAKER_03]: Or did you just need a vent?
28:34.733 --> 28:38.320
[SPEAKER_03]: And if they say, yes, I would love your advice, then I might say something.
28:38.340 --> 28:43.911
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but otherwise, it's just event thread, because it's a woman who is like road raging, right?
28:44.111 --> 28:50.363
[SPEAKER_03]: But it's just kind of automated every Monday at posts and sometimes people post a lot and sometimes it's crickets with.
28:50.343 --> 28:53.709
[SPEAKER_03]: Which is great, but you know, I love that no one has something to vent.
28:53.829 --> 29:00.099
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's always on Mondays because Mondays are just hard in general, and then especially, you know, I just said adulting is hard, right?
29:00.199 --> 29:02.123
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, just give it off your chest.
29:02.403 --> 29:03.004
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we'd be good.
29:03.605 --> 29:06.630
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, just let it all out.
29:06.610 --> 29:25.699
[SPEAKER_03]: So because I don't want it to be a place where all we're doing is complaining because that's what most Support groups do so we I am there to uplift and inspire and empower others to exactly know continue with their healing journey And to keep going and to just know that they were the even if they just wake up That's enough that should be enough
29:25.679 --> 29:32.487
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I love that and that's what I love about your story and thank you so much for telling everybody about it Sarah.
29:32.527 --> 29:34.069
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your heart.
29:34.950 --> 29:45.383
[SPEAKER_00]: You are building something a safe place for people to be feel seen, heard, and supported and that is exactly what be life changes is all about.
29:45.904 --> 29:47.966
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember your story matters too.
29:48.387 --> 29:55.095
[SPEAKER_00]: Your struggles don't disqualify you and sometimes the very thing that you've walked through becomes the light for someone else.
29:55.075 --> 29:58.487
[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, go out and be a life changer.
00:00.031 --> 00:03.296
[SPEAKER_03]: She realized that she was getting so used to seeing herself with filters.
00:03.537 --> 00:09.005
[SPEAKER_03]: So she posted on her timeline and I asked her to post it in the group and said, would you please share this in the group?
00:09.025 --> 00:14.254
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm sure so many others of us, you know, that do rely on Photoshop, you know, and filters and stuff like that.
00:14.274 --> 00:22.968
[SPEAKER_03]: And so then I asked everyone else to then share an authentic raw unfiltered version of themselves to and so many people did.
00:23.168 --> 00:26.173
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was the most beautiful inspirational thing.
00:31.418 --> 00:39.886
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to be like changers where we share stories of purpose, passion, and people who are truly making a difference right here in our community.
00:40.466 --> 00:58.303
[SPEAKER_00]: Today's episode is extra special because we're talking about something so many people quietly carry and that is chronic illness and how one woman turned her story into a mission to serve others and I'm proud to say this woman is a good
00:58.283 --> 01:06.758
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sitting here with Sarah Buckley and she's the founder of the chronic confessions and a healing mentor.
01:07.640 --> 01:13.911
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a support group on Facebook, what we say is not just a support group.
01:13.931 --> 01:16.275
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a revolution of healing.
01:16.255 --> 01:21.002
[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah, I am so glad to have you here on BeeLiveChangers.
01:21.042 --> 01:24.668
[SPEAKER_00]: I could not have had a better person join me today.
01:24.728 --> 01:27.352
[SPEAKER_03]: So I'm already going to start crying.
01:27.412 --> 01:32.159
[SPEAKER_03]: So man, it's really hard for me to just accept a compliment.
01:32.199 --> 01:41.773
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's honestly one thing that I have to say that as someone who has had chronic illness for her entire life to just say thank you and not try to explain.
01:41.813 --> 01:45.098
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
01:45.078 --> 01:46.520
[SPEAKER_03]: Just I'm just going to leave it like that.
01:46.620 --> 01:52.027
[SPEAKER_00]: So well, they are so glad to have you and I am glad to have you here at JT visuals.
01:52.988 --> 02:00.297
[SPEAKER_00]: They are definitely more than meets the eye and as you can see, you're coming in the mirror and meeting them.
02:00.317 --> 02:02.200
[SPEAKER_00]: They're so warm and welcoming.
02:03.041 --> 02:07.086
[SPEAKER_00]: They make it so easy to come in and record my podcast.
02:07.066 --> 02:15.949
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I love it because you know me being a busy mom and a business owner, you know, I knew the calling was to start be life changers.
02:16.189 --> 02:18.716
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew it was to do this very podcast.
02:18.736 --> 02:21.503
[SPEAKER_00]: But I saw how am I going to do this.
02:21.764 --> 02:23.488
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, how am I going to do this.
02:23.468 --> 02:35.640
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was so blessed when I was introduced to Jared and his team, and they welcomed me in with open arms and wanted to be here to create be life changers.
02:35.801 --> 02:38.984
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm so excited to have you here today.
02:39.004 --> 02:41.266
[SPEAKER_00]: I am completely honored to be here today.
02:41.346 --> 02:41.707
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
02:41.767 --> 02:42.027
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
02:42.127 --> 02:43.609
[SPEAKER_00]: You're so welcome.
02:44.209 --> 02:51.957
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's start at the beginning, tell me a little bit about you before chronic confessions.
02:51.937 --> 03:07.958
[SPEAKER_03]: So I was literally born with chronic illness and you could pretty much sum up of my entire life with one word, misdiagnosed because that happened repeatedly and still to the state is happening repeatedly.
03:08.478 --> 03:11.262
[SPEAKER_03]: So I kind of have, you know,
03:11.242 --> 03:17.950
[SPEAKER_03]: written, this was actually a story that I wrote about myself, let's see, trying to see if I'd date on it.
03:18.711 --> 03:21.875
[SPEAKER_03]: I think probably back in 2022, maybe.
03:21.895 --> 03:26.001
[SPEAKER_03]: So, and actually even more things have come out since then.
03:26.121 --> 03:30.887
[SPEAKER_03]: So, this is what I wrote at this time, is that when I was born, my mother had pre-clampsia.
03:31.327 --> 03:33.991
[SPEAKER_03]: At eight months old, I had my first bout with Strip Throat.
03:34.171 --> 03:39.898
[SPEAKER_03]: Throughout my childhood,
03:39.878 --> 03:45.282
[SPEAKER_03]: living in the pediatric office, so
03:46.797 --> 03:49.880
[SPEAKER_03]: At eight months old, I was diagnosed with celiac.
03:49.900 --> 03:59.792
[SPEAKER_03]: I had the Distended Stomach, my muscles and teeth started to deteriorate, and that's why, like, a few Zoom and close to my teeth, you'll see that they're, like, stained yellow.
03:59.812 --> 04:08.902
[SPEAKER_03]: That's not because I was ever, like, well, I did smoke, but that they were, they started, like, literally, like, I had such severe malnutrition.
04:08.922 --> 04:14.408
[SPEAKER_03]: I was literally allergic to everything I ate, including my mother's own breast milk.
04:14.388 --> 04:31.603
[SPEAKER_03]: So all everything started like all my permanent teeth everything so they said that they would always be this way and it was something that I was really kind of ashamed of for a long time And wanted and I even looked into having like cosmetic surgery, but then it was like you know, that's that's a vanity thing So it doesn't really bother me so much
04:32.478 --> 04:47.681
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, so they decided not to, at that time, the only way to test if you were a true celiac was to do a biopsy of your small intestine, and back then they were like, no way are we going to do this to an 18-month-old?
04:47.821 --> 04:56.815
[SPEAKER_03]: So, they put me on a rotation diet, and so at 20-month-old,
04:56.795 --> 05:01.041
[SPEAKER_03]: I had a total body rash and particularly I as well as other GI problems.
05:01.622 --> 05:05.768
[SPEAKER_03]: In elementary school, I had again repeated bouts of step-throat and third grade.
05:05.848 --> 05:14.280
[SPEAKER_03]: I started to have migraines and also started my first round of therapy for self-esteem, because what I viewed as
05:14.260 --> 05:24.199
[SPEAKER_03]: bullying at the time would not even compare to what my stuff dollars went through, but when I was in third grade, I always rooted for the underdog, and I never really understood why.
05:24.239 --> 05:27.446
[SPEAKER_03]: So there's a girl named Samantha.
05:27.566 --> 05:29.670
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll never ever forget her.
05:29.650 --> 05:49.839
[SPEAKER_03]: which is interesting that I remember her name because with going through period menopause and you know brain fog, we're searching like it's very rare that I actually remember anything these days um so her name was Samantha and she was head to two covered in warts and so in third grade kids are very mean and no one wanted to be her friend and they all made fun of her so what did I do?
05:49.879 --> 05:53.785
[SPEAKER_03]: I became her friend and I was the only one that would hang out with her on the playground
05:53.765 --> 05:55.228
[SPEAKER_03]: So then, of course, everyone turned on me.
05:55.589 --> 05:56.652
[SPEAKER_03]: Ew, well, you're going to catch it.
05:56.672 --> 06:00.301
[SPEAKER_03]: And you're going to be like, you know, like, they're going to be like, three, two, three, two, three.
06:00.321 --> 06:00.982
[SPEAKER_00]: Me and kids, right?
06:01.042 --> 06:01.744
[SPEAKER_03]: Me and kids.
06:02.125 --> 06:06.094
[SPEAKER_03]: And so then I went into therapy because I was like, well, why does everybody hate me?
06:06.114 --> 06:07.758
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm just trying to be nice to someone.
06:07.778 --> 06:10.044
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I didn't understand that concept.
06:10.404 --> 06:11.908
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
06:11.888 --> 06:29.188
[SPEAKER_03]: and eventually, you know, therapy helped, and so then in middle school, it says I continue to have more bouts of strep throat, and so if you know anything about pans or pandas, which was not around at the time.
06:29.337 --> 06:37.098
[SPEAKER_03]: I probably, from all of the repeated step-throughs, appearances that I had, had a form of pans or pandas.
06:37.338 --> 06:37.960
[SPEAKER_03]: It's suspected.
06:39.223 --> 06:44.477
[SPEAKER_03]: So starting my freshman year in high school, I had a swollen lymph node behind my left ear.
06:44.457 --> 06:47.422
[SPEAKER_03]: Um, then they started developing in my armpits and drawing.
06:47.623 --> 06:55.778
[SPEAKER_03]: I had a lace it lacy rash that covered my entire body except like this rink white ring around my belly button, which will come into play later.
06:55.798 --> 06:58.603
[SPEAKER_03]: I had joint pain severe fatigue.
06:59.124 --> 06:59.665
[SPEAKER_03]: Um,
06:59.645 --> 07:14.027
[SPEAKER_03]: My ANA was positive, so my pediatrician sent me to an infectious disease specialist and a rheumatologist, but because they couldn't find evidence of a tick bite because they searched me head to toe, they diagnosed me with long-term parabro virus.
07:14.148 --> 07:15.730
[SPEAKER_03]: Are you familiar with that at all?
07:15.710 --> 07:21.039
[SPEAKER_03]: So if you ever hear a parable virus, you normally hear it in sense of like puddles, right?
07:21.059 --> 07:27.990
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so in human form is also known as fist disease or like you get the butterfly rash over your face.
07:28.131 --> 07:28.411
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
07:28.632 --> 07:30.715
[SPEAKER_03]: So I had all of that.
07:31.100 --> 07:36.268
[SPEAKER_03]: And I probably did all, so have the power of Iris, but that wasn't the root cause.
07:36.448 --> 07:41.657
[SPEAKER_03]: So then I developed major depressive disorder with psychotic features.
07:42.338 --> 07:46.184
[SPEAKER_03]: So I literally would hear things that were not actually there.
07:46.585 --> 07:53.175
[SPEAKER_03]: And I was in a not of a mental wellness center three different times until I finally could graduate into like a,
07:54.067 --> 08:03.721
[SPEAKER_03]: a day treatment facility and so I went away to college my freshman year and they thought what I had was my first manic episode.
08:04.703 --> 08:09.149
[SPEAKER_03]: But like again this is a story of how I've been missed diagnosed my entire life.
08:09.650 --> 08:18.623
[SPEAKER_03]: So my psychiatrist might get recommended that I medically withdraw from college that year which I did and as soon as I came home he diagnosed me with bipolar
08:18.603 --> 08:23.047
[SPEAKER_03]: So I started going to college locally and at one point, I was hospitalized with pneumonia.
08:23.347 --> 08:29.893
[SPEAKER_03]: In 2006, I was coming home from a conference and ended up in the hospital with the worst migraine of my entire life.
08:29.913 --> 08:33.376
[SPEAKER_03]: I literally thought my brain was going to explode at my head.
08:34.077 --> 08:36.639
[SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, actually, I actually wrote that.
08:37.000 --> 08:39.642
[SPEAKER_03]: And they ended up doing a spinal tap which they botched.
08:40.222 --> 08:42.464
[SPEAKER_03]: And the woman was like, you can't possibly be feeling this.
08:42.505 --> 08:46.148
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, I'm screaming, like, my, I probably crushed my father's hand.
08:46.168 --> 08:48.610
[SPEAKER_03]: I was screaming, my mom said,
08:48.590 --> 08:51.715
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, no, I can feel what is happening.
08:51.735 --> 08:54.240
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, and then, you know, so they had to do it again.
08:54.280 --> 08:57.205
[SPEAKER_03]: This time under, I had warned her that I had scoliosis.
08:57.245 --> 08:59.709
[SPEAKER_03]: And she still was like, I've never botched one in my entire life.
09:00.110 --> 09:01.733
[SPEAKER_03]: So she was like, oh, well, congratulations.
09:01.753 --> 09:04.317
[SPEAKER_03]: You're now the second patient I've ever screwed up.
09:04.337 --> 09:06.060
[SPEAKER_03]: And I've done, you know, millions of them.
09:06.080 --> 09:07.403
[SPEAKER_03]: And I was like, lucky me.
09:07.423 --> 09:08.725
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, like,
09:08.705 --> 09:13.895
[SPEAKER_03]: Like I've already went through all this, like now I have to do it again because you bought anyways.
09:13.955 --> 09:19.025
[SPEAKER_03]: The second time through when I did it like with a x-ray, I didn't even feel like going.
09:20.107 --> 09:27.321
[SPEAKER_03]: So if they had tested my spinal fluid that day, they would have seen that I had Lyme disease.
09:27.301 --> 09:30.025
[SPEAKER_03]: but it wasn't even a blip on the radar back then.
09:30.165 --> 09:37.997
[SPEAKER_03]: So they didn't, and so they ended up admitting me for a couple of days and released me staying that I couldn't stay there just for pain management.
09:38.097 --> 09:43.866
[SPEAKER_03]: So then my mother took me to her pain specialist and I'll always for remember what he said.
09:44.507 --> 09:50.676
[SPEAKER_03]: Sarah, I'm not this kind of doctor, but if I didn't know better, you have Lyme disease just like your mother.
09:51.061 --> 09:51.422
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
09:51.442 --> 09:59.895
[SPEAKER_03]: And so my mother had just been diagnosed with Lyme disease in, like, I think 2003, which was the year that I graduated from college.
10:01.417 --> 10:07.947
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I did find an infectious disease specialist.
10:08.107 --> 10:13.035
[SPEAKER_03]: And I, when I before I went there, I looked up on the Lyme disease, uh,
10:13.015 --> 10:23.348
[SPEAKER_03]: association.org and printed out the symptom list and just cried as I circled every single one in red and there's like a huge list.
10:23.368 --> 10:35.023
[SPEAKER_03]: And so when I met with him I just handed it to him and I said this is me and he's like well let's just you know he's like hold up we need to talk about this and as I told him my story he was like
10:35.003 --> 10:39.349
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, he's like, we're going to do a Western blot, which at the time was like, you know, what they do.
10:40.070 --> 10:43.154
[SPEAKER_03]: And he's like, but honestly, they're not very reliable because they're not.
10:43.855 --> 10:53.208
[SPEAKER_03]: And we're going to he's like, but no matter what we're going to start you on antibiotics because it's probably going to come back negative, but clinically you present with every single symptom of mind disease.
10:53.809 --> 10:58.716
[SPEAKER_03]: So of course, it did come back negative and we started me on, let's see.
11:01.143 --> 11:08.635
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, so I did two months of an antibiotic and when I wasn't better in those two months, he was like, I don't get it.
11:08.916 --> 11:10.859
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, why aren't you getting better?
11:10.939 --> 11:20.795
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as I think, when you look at when you go through things, you know, there's so much, you know, that we're learning as we go.
11:20.956 --> 11:22.438
[SPEAKER_00]: And doctors are learning too.
11:22.518 --> 11:25.263
[SPEAKER_00]: And not everybody is the same.
11:25.663 --> 11:26.104
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
11:26.084 --> 11:37.118
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, of course, we do have symptoms that mean like you may have the cold or flu or whatever, but then you have other symptoms that are close to some other kind of disease.
11:37.238 --> 11:39.181
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, it makes us so hard.
11:39.361 --> 11:49.714
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when you are dealing with this from such a young age, to being older, it creates, you know, other issues emotionally, mentally.
11:49.754 --> 11:52.918
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I think, you know, is,
11:52.898 --> 12:10.654
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, we just have to sit there and observe and wonder, you know, like, wow, you know, a person, it's frustrating enough when we go through one about a sickness, but when you look at people that are chronically ill, to have that empathy and to understand,
12:10.634 --> 12:26.331
[SPEAKER_00]: and relate just with us being sick one time what it would be like if you got the wrong diagnosis and then go in and again and you know the doctor is feeling frustrated too because it's outside the box so they're wondering like what is going on here.
12:26.311 --> 12:35.541
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what would you think is probably the hardest part emotionally and mentally from going through that from such a young age to now?
12:36.082 --> 12:54.242
[SPEAKER_00]: How could you wrap that up in this one to let the listeners kind of know how that's so we could have a better understanding of people who deal with chronic pain versus those of us who may have an illness or some type of pain for a short moment.
12:54.222 --> 13:06.143
[SPEAKER_03]: that's an excellent question because the thing that I always say is that the only thing predictable about chronic anything is that it's unpredictable.
13:06.624 --> 13:11.252
[SPEAKER_03]: And so we are seen as flaky or you know inconsistent.
13:11.232 --> 13:23.537
[SPEAKER_03]: So, I purposely did not put on any makeup except for some lip gloss, and I'm currently dealing with a science infection, if you zoomed in, I have like period oral dermatitis going on.
13:23.617 --> 13:27.705
[SPEAKER_03]: My body is in a full blown flare right now.
13:27.685 --> 13:28.887
[SPEAKER_03]: yet I'm still here.
13:28.947 --> 13:29.708
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm still showing up.
13:29.788 --> 13:33.273
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm still, you know, anyway, but we can't always do that.
13:33.293 --> 13:40.462
[SPEAKER_03]: It's not always like, you know, like we, as some of the chronic illness, we have, like, this will probably take me about two days to recover from.
13:40.623 --> 13:43.787
[SPEAKER_03]: But it was that important to me to be here to say this today.
13:43.947 --> 13:44.087
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
13:44.107 --> 13:44.227
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
13:44.328 --> 13:46.831
[SPEAKER_03]: So, um, so then we can make other people aware.
13:46.991 --> 13:47.312
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
13:47.372 --> 13:50.816
[SPEAKER_00]: You know that it isn't just something that people are making up in their head.
13:51.197 --> 13:52.939
[SPEAKER_00]: No, this really does happen.
13:53.039 --> 13:54.942
[SPEAKER_03]: And then
13:54.922 --> 13:59.669
[SPEAKER_03]: throughout my life because no one could ever really truly find out what was wrong with me.
13:59.789 --> 14:06.778
[SPEAKER_03]: I often heard you really should go see a psychiatrist and let me tell you that that happens way more in women than it does men.
14:07.760 --> 14:14.229
[SPEAKER_03]: And so a medical gaslighting and a medical trauma is real.
14:14.569 --> 14:15.951
[SPEAKER_03]: And I hate when they
14:15.931 --> 14:19.522
[SPEAKER_03]: they put trauma and the categories of big tea and little tea.
14:19.803 --> 14:22.070
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, to me, trauma is trauma.
14:22.271 --> 14:22.772
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
14:22.793 --> 14:24.799
[SPEAKER_03]: It's all how it affects you.
14:24.819 --> 14:27.969
[SPEAKER_03]: It feels, you know, your entire body mind spirit soul.
14:28.370 --> 14:28.691
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
14:28.952 --> 14:29.012
[UNKNOWN]: So.
14:30.072 --> 14:33.658
[SPEAKER_03]: Repeat the question again, because I don't know.
14:33.719 --> 14:36.624
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I said, what was the hardest part, emotionally and mentally?
14:36.644 --> 14:36.964
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
14:37.105 --> 14:40.411
[SPEAKER_03]: So just being misunderstood is all in my head.
14:40.431 --> 14:41.412
[SPEAKER_03]: That it's not real.
14:41.433 --> 14:49.748
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, so I started the chronic confessions as a faceless Instagram because I was going through a divorce.
14:50.669 --> 14:52.232
[SPEAKER_03]: And
14:52.212 --> 14:59.644
[SPEAKER_03]: I also just needed a safe place to just then, to where nobody knew my name, nobody knew what I looked like.
14:59.885 --> 15:03.510
[SPEAKER_03]: It was just my little place on the internet to just express myself freely.
15:04.051 --> 15:04.172
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
15:04.192 --> 15:08.679
[SPEAKER_03]: So then, as my divorce president to myself, I hired a life coach.
15:09.260 --> 15:11.183
[SPEAKER_03]: And I,
15:11.990 --> 15:25.066
[SPEAKER_03]: really started to heal parts of myself that had been told to not speak out and not speak up and, you know, stay quite and be a lady like it, you know, all those things that society puts on us.
15:25.306 --> 15:41.406
[SPEAKER_03]: And I just kind of was like, so one piece of my story that we didn't get to is that in 2021, I went through a psychary evaluation.
15:41.858 --> 15:48.366
[SPEAKER_03]: was found out that I actually am not bipolar, but the entire time I've actually been ADHD combined.
15:49.127 --> 15:54.975
[SPEAKER_03]: And so for so many people, like when they first get a diagnosis, they're like, oh, like finally my world makes sense.
15:55.075 --> 15:59.360
[SPEAKER_03]: But since I've never known a life without some kind of diagnosis, right?
16:00.121 --> 16:00.682
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
16:00.702 --> 16:01.403
[SPEAKER_03]: And...
16:01.619 --> 16:03.843
[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't like, oh, a sense of relief.
16:03.863 --> 16:05.326
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, oh, my life finally made sense.
16:05.366 --> 16:10.254
[SPEAKER_03]: To me, it was anger and resentment because I was like, why didn't anyone catch this?
16:10.956 --> 16:17.367
[SPEAKER_03]: When I was 18, and then I think I told you that, you know, Mel Robbins did this,
16:17.347 --> 16:23.036
[SPEAKER_03]: brilliant podcast episode about how the same thing happened to her, you know, she didn't even, she was late diagnosed ADHD.
16:23.497 --> 16:31.250
[SPEAKER_03]: So I didn't even have a clue that I possibly was ADHD until, well, we can get into that, but okay, so to go, sorry, you know, I'm not scrolling all over the place.
16:31.871 --> 16:39.844
[SPEAKER_03]: So, um, anyway, so it's just really just the misunderstanding and I even saw this yesterday when I was sitting in court with a friend.
16:41.782 --> 16:49.391
[SPEAKER_03]: And he got pulled over for being under the influence of marijuana because he self-medicated for having anxiety attacks.
16:50.092 --> 16:53.896
[SPEAKER_03]: And they charged him with a D-W-I for that.
16:54.737 --> 17:06.270
[SPEAKER_03]: And so actually, his lawyer was trying to say, like, look, this man has dealt with anxiety and he was self-medicating and he just happened to be speeding and you know, like,
17:06.250 --> 17:15.248
[SPEAKER_03]: We're not saying it excuses the behavior, but it explains why and could you please just, you know, like lower the, you know, make us a better deal, right?
17:15.288 --> 17:16.290
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
17:16.872 --> 17:19.236
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we're coming in a long ways.
17:19.337 --> 17:21.661
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of states are finally starting.
17:22.463 --> 17:23.164
[SPEAKER_03]: Remark west.
17:24.227 --> 17:25.930
[SPEAKER_03]: We all deal with anxiety.
17:25.910 --> 17:36.044
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's the kind of thing that I hear all the time, and it literally took every restraining bone in my body not to get up and want you just like reach over and choke that man.
17:36.064 --> 17:45.117
[SPEAKER_03]: And I mean, honestly, if I were being completely honest, because it's, right, people when with chronic anxiety or, you know, any type of chronic mental illness,
17:45.097 --> 17:51.106
[SPEAKER_03]: we have a completely different level of mental on this or chronic pain or chronic illness.
17:51.546 --> 17:54.250
[SPEAKER_03]: Like when it comes to the pain scale, you know what I mean?
17:54.270 --> 17:55.232
[SPEAKER_03]: Like it's usually one to ten.
17:55.592 --> 17:56.914
[SPEAKER_03]: And I've been in the hospital so many times.
17:56.934 --> 17:58.316
[SPEAKER_03]: They're like, you know, where's your pain?
17:58.376 --> 18:07.209
[SPEAKER_03]: And I want to be like, I don't even, I don't even register on your pain scale because like what you may deal with as a ten, that would be like a hundred to me.
18:07.249 --> 18:07.730
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you know what I mean?
18:07.750 --> 18:08.832
[SPEAKER_03]: Like it's all relative.
18:08.872 --> 18:11.155
[SPEAKER_03]: So I'm like,
18:11.135 --> 18:17.405
[SPEAKER_03]: crap to someone who has chronic illness because there's not a day where I don't wake up and I'm in some type of pain or I'm dealing with some kind of symptom.
18:17.926 --> 18:18.947
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's my reality.
18:19.047 --> 18:35.053
[SPEAKER_03]: And so anyway, the reason I told you that I was misdi-nosed with bipolar disorders because when I was put on all those meds, they made me gain so much weight so rapidly and then I just kept gaining gaining gaining.
18:35.133 --> 18:37.817
[SPEAKER_03]: So when I went off all those meds, guess what happened?
18:39.232 --> 18:40.715
[SPEAKER_03]: all the weight just melted off.
18:41.496 --> 18:46.184
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I'm now finally at a healthy weight, but I had lots of things.
18:46.204 --> 18:49.750
[SPEAKER_00]: That's another thing that you deal with as the fluctuation.
18:50.110 --> 19:03.433
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, people who struggle with weight, no, that's a whole other issue of again, making you feel like you don't feel like you belong or,
19:03.413 --> 19:05.295
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, all of that kind of stuff.
19:05.735 --> 19:13.683
[SPEAKER_00]: So with the chronic confessions, I know I always like to take what people's, I always call it our superpower.
19:13.843 --> 19:18.748
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people say, you know, may differ, but I say, what is your superpower?
19:19.289 --> 19:24.454
[SPEAKER_00]: And the things that we go through in life, we have two decisions that we can do.
19:25.195 --> 19:31.581
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we can either give up and let that pain take us over, whether that be the,
19:31.561 --> 19:38.171
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, loss of a loved one growing up, divorce, and a family chronic pain.
19:38.191 --> 19:41.216
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be many, it's massed as many things.
19:42.097 --> 19:45.863
[SPEAKER_00]: And I always say those are things that try to defeat us in life.
19:45.943 --> 19:46.203
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
19:46.304 --> 19:51.331
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can just let it defeat you or you can take that and make it your superpower.
19:52.012 --> 19:54.336
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I like about your story.
19:54.376 --> 19:55.678
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I really wanted to pull out.
19:55.658 --> 19:56.259
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
19:56.360 --> 20:09.008
[SPEAKER_00]: It's first of all, you know, we're making people aware that these pain is real, and chronic illness is real, and anxiety is in different levels for different people.
20:09.148 --> 20:09.970
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
20:10.231 --> 20:12.115
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time,
20:12.095 --> 20:15.441
[SPEAKER_00]: those things don't have to stop you, right?
20:15.722 --> 20:17.084
[SPEAKER_00]: It is your superpower.
20:17.144 --> 20:18.166
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
20:18.186 --> 20:28.986
[SPEAKER_00]: And by this, your superpower, you chose instead of letting it defeat you, just feeling like I can't do anything in society.
20:29.146 --> 20:30.228
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't have a job.
20:30.409 --> 20:31.150
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't.
20:31.130 --> 20:33.535
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I can't do these things.
20:34.016 --> 20:39.227
[SPEAKER_00]: You chose to help others in the same and bring awareness to all of us.
20:39.307 --> 20:41.131
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, some things that I've learned today.
20:42.073 --> 20:44.077
[SPEAKER_00]: You've helped us bring awareness to that.
20:44.678 --> 20:47.504
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what I see with the chronic confessions.
20:48.045 --> 20:50.691
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me a few,
20:50.671 --> 20:55.841
[SPEAKER_00]: like highlights, I know you've started it and it's more than what you ever thought it would be because it's grew.
20:55.861 --> 20:57.525
[SPEAKER_00]: You're very talented at that.
20:58.066 --> 21:06.182
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm as grew to a lot of members and I know don't say nobody's name or anything but like what I'm saying is like
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[SPEAKER_00]: tell us a couple of your favorite moments of like, man, I'm so glad I did this because I know when we help people, it helps us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It helps that pain.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go down.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so give us a couple of examples of why you are glad that you started the chronic confessions.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I want to go back and answer what my superpower is first because I love this answer because mine has always been
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm resilient AF, I will not curse, but everyone knows what that means.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And also, I am really great at community and connection.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I know how to connect the right people with other people.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I know how to build authentic,
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[SPEAKER_03]: community.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I've done it millions of times from millions of people like where they'll hire me just to grow their community because I am real like I am an open book.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I decided to heal loudly and unapologetically and show us my authentic self.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so in terms of your question now, um,
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[SPEAKER_03]: Some of my favorite moments, one of them is just yesterday, which was a girl who posted just a, you know, she realized that she was getting so used to seeing herself with filters.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So she posted on her timeline and I asked her to post it in the group and said, would you please share us in the group?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm sure so many other of it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: others of us, you know, that deal with all of this, like do rely on Photoshop, you know, and filters, and stuff like that to make us look, you know, not with the dark circles, and you know, like all the things going on or rashes, like, you know.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so she really inspired me, and so she finally, you know, she was like, oh, think about it, and then so she posted it in there, and it is a private group.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And, um, and
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so then I asked everyone else to then share an authentic raw unfiltered version of themselves too, and so many people did, and it was the most beautiful, inspirational thing, and that was just, it was amazing to just be like, okay, in your own skin, and not care what anybody else thinks, and just show up, and it'd be enough.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So that was really powerful.
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[SPEAKER_03]: you just really know what kind of like acts of kindness are going to affect someone's life.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I had shared this with you before that there's a woman in there who reached out to me privately and said, no, no, my friends or family will listen to me.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Could I just need someone to talk to you?
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[SPEAKER_03]: I just need someone to vent to.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so I gave her my phone and ran.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I said, call me.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I said, I will gladly listen, if you just want to vent, I will, you know, just let you vent, I will not give you any opinion whatsoever because so often people want to say, well, have you tried this, have you tried this, have you tried this?
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[SPEAKER_03]: And it's like, okay, like, I know you have good intentions, but trust me, like, I've been doing this my entire life and my, like, it's not going to be erased with yoga.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I mean, like, like, or I, like, I've already tried that, you know, I mean, like, you know, um, so people have good intentions.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They have good intentions, but I think sometimes, you know, when I always say, put yourself in a person's shoes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's the one thing I'm in my mom taught me growing up is like, you know, sis, you know, call me sis.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So sis, I want you to think about this before you make a judgment, put yourself in their shoes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: or make a different decision, but when you really put someone in their shoes, would you?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I always think that's really good advice for people especially on my world, we think we all have an opinion, we all need to share it, just because you know, doesn't mean you need to share it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there is times people want that advice, then give it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The people that are dealing with pain every single day, they have tried many, many things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes the answer is just listening.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so I did have in that year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what I love about the chronic confessions is that it's just people listening.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, or or sharing what works for them because right everyone in that group is either dealing with any type of chronic condition or is a caregiver of someone who is dealing with the chronic.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so not only that, but it's also just people who are aging because as you age, your body starts to break down and you start to have health condition.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So there was a lot of original members who were like, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be in this group because I don't have anything diagnosed as chronic.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I said, that's just the name that I carry over from my Instagram, you know, brand, right?
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, and I said no, please post because you like dealing with aging and going through like a menopause and, you know, now like, you know, health, you know, back pain, you know, whatever it is that you start developing later in life.
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[SPEAKER_03]: This is a place for that too.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't have to, and you can just even be going through the navigation process of trying to get a diagnosis, which is,
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[SPEAKER_03]: A lot.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It can be a lot.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It can be a lot.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So who, let's tell the audience, because I know of this is probably resuming maybe with a lot of people.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people can say that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I need a group like this.
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[SPEAKER_00]: How do they find you?
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[SPEAKER_00]: How do they find you?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Where is your hashtag for Instagram, Facebook?
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[SPEAKER_03]: So it is just the chronic confessions on Instagram, it's just the chronic confessions.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And then on Facebook, our free support group, I want to make sure that
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[SPEAKER_03]: that it's really important for me to start this and to make it free and accessible for all.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And that's why I started it on Facebook.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And it would just be a private group that you would look up in the only thing that's different is that it has the word community at the end.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It's a chronic confession community because it's this beautiful community of humans.
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[SPEAKER_03]: who are so understanding, so supportive of one another, come from all different walks of life, and literally, from across the globe, I women in there, women in men who do not live in the United States, and it's just, and I even tell people, I'm like, just join even if you never participate, there's never any pressure to participate, but if you ever need support or just want a quiet place on the internet to learn, you know, and just absorb other people's information, and so, you know,
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[SPEAKER_03]: It's there for if and when you ever need it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So just join.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, because there's story matters and that's one thing I like about be life changers is this people's story.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Because everybody has a story and everybody's story is important.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody has a gift, a God-giving gift to be here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, you're even though you've went through a lot of pain, you've let God use that to bless many, and not everybody makes that decision, and so this group is there to help people, and so I just wanted to share that and bring that out and let everybody know, you know, these are these are life changing stories, yeah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: and the chronic confession is full of life-changing story.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It really is.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're going through these things sometimes you just need to outlet or even just to share your story to help and uplift others.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's about, it's not a pity party.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not about toxic positivity.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like so we have one vent every Monday that's called our Monday event thread and no judgment zone.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I will either say like, do you want me to respond to this?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Or did you just need a vent?
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[SPEAKER_03]: And if they say, yes, I would love your advice, then I might say something.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but otherwise, it's just event thread, because it's a woman who is like road raging, right?
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[SPEAKER_03]: But it's just kind of automated every Monday at posts and sometimes people post a lot and sometimes it's crickets with.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Which is great, but you know, I love that no one has something to vent.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So it's always on Mondays because Mondays are just hard in general, and then especially, you know, I just said adulting is hard, right?
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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, just give it off your chest.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we'd be good.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, just let it all out.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So because I don't want it to be a place where all we're doing is complaining because that's what most Support groups do so we I am there to uplift and inspire and empower others to exactly know continue with their healing journey And to keep going and to just know that they were the even if they just wake up That's enough that should be enough
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I love that and that's what I love about your story and thank you so much for telling everybody about it Sarah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your heart.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You are building something a safe place for people to be feel seen, heard, and supported and that is exactly what be life changes is all about.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Remember your story matters too.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Your struggles don't disqualify you and sometimes the very thing that you've walked through becomes the light for someone else.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, go out and be a life changer.