Client Celebration: Getting Back in the Game with Fibromyalgia

When Grace* and I first met at her Story Sharing Chat, she had a huge list of things she’d been wanting to accomplish—but just hadn’t been able to make any progress on because of her fibromyalgia.

Grace’s car was in desperate need of new tires; she’d been desperately wanting to replace them for about two months at the point when we met! She was just so overwhelmed with the steps that needed to be done that she was paralyzed: researching the best ones, finding who had the best price and service, then scheduling time to get them installed.

Can you relate? I sure could!

Here’s what Grace said about her to-do list:

When I looked at my list of things that I wanted to get done, and wasn’t getting done, it was huge!

A dream come true

Grace had been working with a counselor, but was thinking that she needed something more. She started to wish she could find someone to coach her through getting her tasks done.  Then, she met one of my other clients.

[Finding out about you] was like a dream come true! I finally found someone who understands what it’s like to go through this. It’s hard for my therapist to understand and believe me because she hasn’t really experienced [pain and fatigue like this].

Confidentiality was key

When Grace and I first met, she was concerned about confidentiality; she wanted to be sure that anything she shared with me would be kept private. The fact that a confidentiality clause is part of my Coaching Agreement made her feel much better. (In fact, I’m sharing this testimonial with you only with Grace’s permission; details have also been changed to protect her privacy.)

Here’s what Grace said:

I figured that I wanted so much to get well, and that other people were going through it too… And I was just getting to know you. So [the confidentiality] was only a concern for the first week or so.

It all has to do with trust. I figured that if I’m going to get help, I have to put something out there in order to get something back.

More confident and optimistic

After working together for a few weeks, I checked in with Grace to see how her to-do list was coming:

I’ve accomplished a lot of small goals along the way these last few weeks and I’m so happy! I’m getting to places on time more, going to sleep earlier, eating better, and even got my new tires installed!

There’s still a lot of things I want to take action on… But things can’t happen for me in life unless I get back in the game. I need to take action in order for my life to move forward.

It gives me hope that I’ve been able to accomplish all these goals with your help. The biggest obstacle for me is my fatigue. I feel much more confident and optimistic that it’s just going to be a matter of how long it will take, not whether or not it will even happen.

— Grace; Beaverton, Oregon

Do YOU have a list of tasks you need help with?

You may wonder what buying tires has to do with Health Coaching.

The thing is, if you have tasks hanging over your head, the stress of that will affect your health! Sometimes, it’s actually our health that keeps us from accomplishing those tasks. For instance, you might need to learn how to manage your energy better, learn how to plan around your pain and fatigue, or find new ways of doing things. This was Grace’s fibromyalgia story.

I help my clients with all of these things and specialize in providing real, practical, do-able goal setting steps—and I can help you too!