When I sit down and talk with someone for the first time, I almost always find that I’m the first person that they’ve met with fibromyalgia besides themselves! As scary as it can be for those of us who already have a diagnosis, imagine how hard it is for someone who doesn’t know what’s going on with her body.
I’ve known Jennifer for quite some time. In fact, it was due to Jennifer coaching me that I decided to focus my health coaching business on helping women with fibromyalgia. (You can all leave a note below to thank Jen for that!) When she started experiencing symptoms she didn’t understand, she wasn’t sure who to talk to.
As a woman who had always been basically healthy and completely self-sufficient, Jennifer didn’t have a regular physician to turn to. She also started feeling, as she mentions below, “embarrassed and hopeless” as she had trouble keeping up with the schedule that was so easy for her before.
Jennifer wrote this for me after we had lunch one day and I assured her that she wasn’t going crazy!
There are still lots of people — even medical professionals — who don’t believe chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are real; trying to talk with people about it can make one feel embarrassed and hopeless.
As my symptoms progressed, I called on Tami’s skill and recommendations. She surrounds herself with other experts in the field and was able to recommend specific health care practitioners based on behavioral styles, expertise and my immediate need.
Many business professionals say they care about their clients, and this may be true but there is a difference between care and compassion. Tami has true compassion for her clients.
Because she can relate from personal experience, Tami not only helps her clients along in the process of feeling better by eating better and losing weight, she also helps them feel completely at ease and gives them peace of mind when it comes to the scary and hopeless feelings that accompany chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.
—Jennifer Tolley
Do you have something to celebrate?
If you are a client with something to celebrate, please let me know! I’d love to feature you in a future newsletter, either by name or anonymously. As my good friend Mary says, “Until you get your own hope, find some people who you can borrow theirs from.” Sharing your celebration just might give someone else the hope they need!
