So much of it resonates 💖 It's taken my chronic illness to take my body seriously and really give it the attention it deserves. I never hated it or anything, I just assumed it would simply continue to function quite happily on its own merry way. I was more concerned about my brain 🧠. But OH BOY am I listening now! 💖
Dr. Talia, this letter just broke my heart open because I’ve written these exact words to my own body countless times. The line ‘I feel you are constantly betraying me’ hit like lightning because living with autoimmune disease while also healing from childhood trauma, I spent years thinking my body was the enemy.
What I’m learning is that my body was never betraying me, it was actually the most loyal friend I’ve ever had, absorbing every trauma, storing every emotion I couldn’t process, and developing hypervigilance to keep me alive. My chronic illness isn’t a failure, it’s my nervous system saying ‘I’ve been carrying this for you, and now I need help.’
The profound shift happens when we realize our bodies aren’t broken, they’re incredibly intelligent. Your autoimmune symptoms, my flares, our pain, they’re all just our bodies speaking the only language they know, begging us to listen differently. This beautiful letter is so much more than an apology, it’s the beginning of the most important relationship we’ll ever have. The same sensitivity that made us ‘too much’ for others is exactly what allows us to hear our bodies’ whispers before they become screams.
Thank you for modeling this sacred conversation with our bodies. Your courage to write this vulnerable truth is going to help so many of us rewrite our own body stories. I will subscribe to follow your journey because this is the kind of healing work the world desperately needs. 💛
Thank you so much for your kind words and your reflection, Sly 💗 “what I’m learning is that my body was never betraying me, it was actually the most loyal friend” hit me deeply. Sometimes we need to let out the anger and the sadness and grief to find new relationships with our bodies and it sounds like you are doing so beautifully.
That insight about releasing anger, sadness, and grief to find new relationships with our bodies, yes! It’s like we have to grieve the old stories we carried about our bodies before we can step into this deeper partnership with them. What I’m discovering is that every symptom, tension, and “breakdown” was my body’s brilliant way of trying to get my attention, like a friend frantically waving, saying, “Hey, we need to talk about something important here.” Your reframe, from betrayal to loyalty, is revolutionary. It changes everything about how we approach healing. Instead of fighting our bodies, we get to come home to them. Instead of fixing, we get to listen. Thank you for holding space for these discoveries and the wisdom you bring to this community. Your perspective helps normalize what can feel like such a radical shift in our relationship with ourselves. 🙏✨
This letter hurt for me to read, as, due to a life of disability, illness and abuse, I have learned that being in my body and connected to my body is not safe, so I struggle to even feel present and feel my emotions and experiences right now, as I have all my life.
I have dissociated and broken off from myself and my experiences and still experience dissociative amnesia from most of the experiences of the identities of my past.
I feel sad and grief stricken about all of the years that were taken from me by disability, illness and the things that others did to me.
But I am working with my therapist on teaching those past versions of myself that we can have a different experience now.
So much of it resonates 💖 It's taken my chronic illness to take my body seriously and really give it the attention it deserves. I never hated it or anything, I just assumed it would simply continue to function quite happily on its own merry way. I was more concerned about my brain 🧠. But OH BOY am I listening now! 💖
It’s great to hear you’re listening to your body’s cues now, Catherine 🌱
You've helped me so much too 💖
Dr. Talia, this letter just broke my heart open because I’ve written these exact words to my own body countless times. The line ‘I feel you are constantly betraying me’ hit like lightning because living with autoimmune disease while also healing from childhood trauma, I spent years thinking my body was the enemy.
What I’m learning is that my body was never betraying me, it was actually the most loyal friend I’ve ever had, absorbing every trauma, storing every emotion I couldn’t process, and developing hypervigilance to keep me alive. My chronic illness isn’t a failure, it’s my nervous system saying ‘I’ve been carrying this for you, and now I need help.’
The profound shift happens when we realize our bodies aren’t broken, they’re incredibly intelligent. Your autoimmune symptoms, my flares, our pain, they’re all just our bodies speaking the only language they know, begging us to listen differently. This beautiful letter is so much more than an apology, it’s the beginning of the most important relationship we’ll ever have. The same sensitivity that made us ‘too much’ for others is exactly what allows us to hear our bodies’ whispers before they become screams.
Thank you for modeling this sacred conversation with our bodies. Your courage to write this vulnerable truth is going to help so many of us rewrite our own body stories. I will subscribe to follow your journey because this is the kind of healing work the world desperately needs. 💛
Thank you so much for your kind words and your reflection, Sly 💗 “what I’m learning is that my body was never betraying me, it was actually the most loyal friend” hit me deeply. Sometimes we need to let out the anger and the sadness and grief to find new relationships with our bodies and it sounds like you are doing so beautifully.
Dr. Talia, your words just landed so perfectly. 💗
That insight about releasing anger, sadness, and grief to find new relationships with our bodies, yes! It’s like we have to grieve the old stories we carried about our bodies before we can step into this deeper partnership with them. What I’m discovering is that every symptom, tension, and “breakdown” was my body’s brilliant way of trying to get my attention, like a friend frantically waving, saying, “Hey, we need to talk about something important here.” Your reframe, from betrayal to loyalty, is revolutionary. It changes everything about how we approach healing. Instead of fighting our bodies, we get to come home to them. Instead of fixing, we get to listen. Thank you for holding space for these discoveries and the wisdom you bring to this community. Your perspective helps normalize what can feel like such a radical shift in our relationship with ourselves. 🙏✨
This letter hurt for me to read, as, due to a life of disability, illness and abuse, I have learned that being in my body and connected to my body is not safe, so I struggle to even feel present and feel my emotions and experiences right now, as I have all my life.
I have dissociated and broken off from myself and my experiences and still experience dissociative amnesia from most of the experiences of the identities of my past.
I feel sad and grief stricken about all of the years that were taken from me by disability, illness and the things that others did to me.
But I am working with my therapist on teaching those past versions of myself that we can have a different experience now.